According to reports, the Department of Justice is preparing to file a lawsuit against the multimedia entertainment business Life Nation and its company, Ticketmaster, for alleged antitrust violations.
The circumstance may alter how Americans purchase and sell tickets to sporting events and music.
The main problem for the feds is Life Nation’s and Ticketmaster’s level of power over the solution sale marketplace. The cost of attending activities has increased, which is blamed on Live Nation, and it has caused consumer discontent. Venue exclusivity agreements, wherein venues agree to utilize Ticketmaster as the only method of selling tickets, are one of the qualified business practices. The DOJ’s sights also include a number of legal restraints that restrict or prevent the sale of tickets.

The American Antitrust Institute points out that Ticketmaster supposedly requires locations to pack sports and concert tickets when they are threatened with losing an event. Over the past 15 years, the Justice Department has raised issues with sports-related solution issues relating to Ticketmaster at various times. In 2010, the company stressed that ( at the time ) 66 major music venues hosted expert groups, including those that sell time tickets. Life Nation and activities have a storied history, with Liberty Media, which owns a sizable stake in the company through its Liberty Live division, having a sizable play in the organization last year.
Sports and musical solution sales are distinct from one another. That stems from the part of time tickets, the increased emphasis on operating sports tickets, and that, according to a Congressional statement on ticket sales, teams sell as much as 30 % of seats directly to brokers. However, any disruption to the larger ticket sales business brought on by prosecution would cause transitions for sports fans as well.
Taylor Swift viewers attempted to purchase tickets for her Eras Tour, but Live Nation’s problems are n’t fresh and have piqued the interest of elected officials and officials. It was a disaster for Swifties. They endured website crashes and were confronted with quickly expensive processing fees because of irrelevant codes to purchase tickets. According to scholar Sebastian Ederer, some people believed that Ticketmaster “abused its powerful market position by underinvesting in page security and customer service.”
Ederer noted that there are frequent allegations that the business” caused harm by providing substandard quality—which it could not have done if it faced reputable competitors.”
Congress held sessions and customers filed lawsuits. The firm regulating the sale of tickets to major events had the same fundamental flaws, and as a result, consumers are suffering. Ticketmaster officially controls more than 70 % of the market for live events and ticket sales despite StubHub, Airbnb, and other businesses competing for the same audience.
Until their acquisition in 2010, Life Nation and Ticketmaster were rivals. Despite fears that it would lead to a monopolistic giant that ( to some extent ) controls multiple levels of the shipping of entertainment service, the Justice Department approved their acquisition. The same organization has a hand in the bowl, from designers to organizers to venues to seat dealers.

Life Nation and Ticketmaster agreed to a 10-year consent decree as a state of approval, which is essentially a performance-improvement strategy for a business suspected of using anticompetitive practices. Live Nation pledged to work with venues that do n’t use Ticketmaster, among other things, and Ticketmaster agreed to grant self-restricted licenses to self-reimbursement software.
In 2019, the DOJ claimed Life Nation had “repeatedly” engaged in prohibited do, such as applying undue strain on facilities to employ Ticketmaster. To alleviate federal prosecutors, Life Nation agreed to heightened actions and penalties. The amended acceptance order will come into effect in 2025.
Reviewers contend the consent decree structure has proven inadequate, slower- moving and antiquated. Some academics and competitive attorneys think the solution sale industry needs to be completely reorganized. In order to accomplish this, the DOJ may file a lawsuit demanding the dissolution of Life Nation and Ticketmaster and for price fixing, fraud, and other related competitive claims. Venues ‘ obligations to combine sports and music may become a common practice.
No slam dunks are required when a DOJ petition is filed to force a business divorce.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Life Nation CFO and president Joe Berchtold has vehemently defended his business while indicating that he is willing to make changes to minimize a DOJ lawsuit. According to Berchtold,” we do n’t believe a breakup of Live Nation and Ticketmaster would be a legally permissible remedy,” he stated recently. He added that his firm is “prepared to support” itself in court.
As a demo of probable legal threats, Live Nation posted a declaration in 2022 that effectively serves as a response without legalese. The statement acknowledges that Ticketmaster has a” considerable share of the main ticketing services market,” but it contends that the share represents merit rather than antitrust practices, which is crucial for an competitive defense. As Live Nation sees it, there is a “large difference” in “quality” between Ticketmaster’s program and those offered by competitors.
The business also contends that Ticketmaster does not” set or control ticket prices,” that it has adopted consumer-friendly measures, such as transparency in pricing and strategies to reduce bots, and that it does not use” speculative ticketing” tactics like those used by some websites. Expect Life Nation attorneys to contend that the government’s decision to impose Ticketmaster may harm consumers rather than help them by preventing them from receiving a better product and service.
Additionally, Live Nation refutes the claim that it is n’t encouraged to innovate. According to the company, users have switched from report cards to scannable cards on smartphones as a result of technological advancement, and Ticket Master has been at the vanguard of this change. Live Nation also insists that the market for extra ticket is “extremely aggressive”, with Ticketmaster fending off issues from” StubHub, SeatGeek and Vivid” for customers ‘ money.
In any DOJ dispute, Life Nation attorneys may also emphasize the existence of a acceptance order. The former federal prosecutor who was in charge of compliance is highlighted in Live Nation’s statement, which highlights how” there never has been and is not then any evidence of structural violations.”
Live Nation can assert that there are already measures in place to address the issue if there is actionable proof that the company punishes venues that do n’t use Ticketmaster.
If U. S. v. Live Nation occur, the prosecution was last many years, mainly given that antitrust cases are usually complicated and dependent on financial analysis and expert witness. The publicly traded company, which is worth about$ 23 billion, has the financial resources to play the long game and pay the necessary millions in attorneys ‘ fees.
The government does n’t sell tickets to trials, but if there’s one for U. S. v. Live Nation, expect heavy competition for a courtroom seat.