After years of complaints against Ticketmaster’s ticket-buying process, the United States Justice Department is finally taking legal action against its parent company.
On Monday, April 15, the Wall Street Journal confirmed the DOJ’s plan to file an antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation Entertainment as soon as next month. The lawsuit could accuse Live Nation of controlling tickets for live events and weeding out competition.
This comes after complaints surrounding the sale of tickets for Taylor Swift’s “Eras” tour in 2022 when consumers complained about the ticketing giant’s dominance of live events. A hearing was held in June 2023 where senators criticized Live Nation’s lack of transparency, fee structure, and inability to block bot purchases of tickets for live events.
The company has blamed bots purchased by scalpers as the cause for how quickly tour tickets sell out before being resold at higher prices. Joe Berchtold, Live Nation’s president and chief financial officer, apologized to Taylor Swift fans during the hearing.
Fans became skeptical about what was to come when federal regulators allowed Ticketmaster to merge with Live Nation under a settlement agreement in 2010. By 2019, the DOJ accused Live Nation of forcing venues into using Ticketmaster to sell their tickets. A revised agreement was made that extended restrictions on the company through 2025.
In a blog post last month, Live Nation accused
artists and their teams of setting the high ticket prices. Analysts believe the lawsuit would only end in a settlement as the DOJ won’t target the company’s business model, but only some of its business practices.However, fans are hopeful the lawsuit could help bring about change to the live event space and return to a time when attending a live show didn’t cost as much as your rent.
“Good. They are ripping off customers so bad with their insane prices,” one X user wrote
.
“Should’ve been a class action lawsuit,” added someone else.
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