The American authorities are launching a lawsuit against concert organizer Live Nation. The company is unlawfully sidelining competitors, Attorney General Merrick Garland said at a press conference.
“It’s time to break up Live Nation Ticketmaster,” Garland said. The competition case is against both Live Nation and its subsidiary Ticketmaster, which regulates ticket sales. Because Live Nation controls both concert halls and ticket sales, it has significant market power in the music sector
The company has more than 260 concert halls in North America in its portfolio, manages more than 400 artists and controls at least 80 percent of ticket sales for major concert halls.
And Live Nation has unlawfully used that dominance to push competitors out of the market, the complaint says. It keeps concert halls under its thumb with exclusive long-term contracts and it strategically buys up competitors. Fans who buy tickets will then face an “endless list” of additional fees, Garland said. Artists also have little choice but to work with Live Nation. According to the minister, the company sometimes preferred to leave a room empty rather than admit artists who did not want to use their services.
Live Nation acquired Ticketmaster in 2010. Regulators then agreed on the condition that Ticketmaster would do enough to maintain healthy competition in the ticket seller market. That promise has been violated several times and in 2019 an amended settlement followed additional requirements to keep the ticket sales market open to competitors.
Live Nation is also active in Belgium, including as an organizer of festivals such as Rock Werchter. Ticketmaster is also active in Belgium.