If there’s one thing people know about pop star Taylor Swift, it’s that she has some of the most dedicated fans on the planet.
And Swifties will spend whatever it takes to see her at a live event, but they are furious at the ticket providers’ business practices.
Now, these obsessed music fans have caused such a stir that the DOJ is planning to sue one of the nation’s largest ticket providers.
DOJ prepares anti-trust lawsuit against Live Nation
The Department of Justice (DOJ) is preparing to file a massive anti-trust lawsuit against Live Nation, Ticketmaster’s parent company.
According to a report, the lawsuit could be filed as soon as next month and will accuse America’s biggest concert promoter of leveraging dominance in a way that undermines competition.
Sources familiar with the matter spoke to The Wall Street Journal, but they did not reveal any specific allegations that may be brought against the company.
The DOJ first opened a probe into Live Nation to determine whether it maintains a monopoly over the industry in 2022 when Ticketmaster crashed as Taylor Swift fans, also known as Swifties, were trying to buy pre-sale tickets to her massive international “Eras Tour” concerts.
The merger between Live Nation and Ticketmaster was approved by the Justice Department in 2010, and at the time, regulators promised they would allow more competition in the entertainment ticketing business.
Critics said the stipulations would only make tickets more expensive instead of helping to lower prices.
They also feared that Live Nation, which already owned or ran approximately 135 major concert venues around the world in 2010, would pressure those venues to use its new ticketing arm exclusively.
Conditions of the 2010 deal were set to expire in 2019 until anti-trust regulators extended it to 2025.
The settlement was also revised to include an anti-retaliation clause that would charge Live Nation a $1 million penalty every time it threatened to withhold shows if venues opted to sell tickets through a company other than Ticketmaster.
Ticketmaster and Live Nation fight back
Both Ticketmaster and Live Nation deny the claims that they have a monopoly over the ticketing industry.
A Ticketmaster spokeswoman told the Journal, “Ticketmaster has more competition today than it has ever had, and the deal terms with venues show it has nothing close to monopoly power.”
Last month, Live Nation’s head of corporate affairs Dan Wall published an essay on the company website addressing the issue.
He pushed back against the monopoly allegations and said tickets are actually priced by the artists and their teams.
Wall also said that Ticketmaster and other “primary ticketing companies” simply provide “the technology and services that venues need to manage and market shows, sell tickets, and validate tickets for entry.”
As for the Swifties, only time will tell whether or not their concerns about ticket sales will make a difference for concertgoers moving forward.
Informed American will keep you up-to-date on any developments to this ongoing story.
