Washington, D.C. — Following a lawsuit filed last Thursday by the Federal Trade Commission and seven bipartisan state attorneys general against Live Nation-Ticketmaster’s use of deceptive pricing schemes and exploitative resale tactics, the Break Up Ticketmaster Coalition released the following statement.
“We’re encouraged to see the FTC take on Ticketmaster’s egregious violations of the BOTS Act,” the Break Up Ticketmaster Coalition said in a statement. “Their complaint demonstrates that Live Nation–Ticketmaster’s vertical monopoly doesn’t just fleece fans with sky-high fees and exclusive deals; it encourages and profits from the chaos that lawbreaking brokers create. Ticketmaster has full power to stop these bots and ensure more fans have access to tickets. They choose not to because a broken, rigged system keeps their monopoly fat and happy, allowing the company to collect multiple rounds of fees as prices climb higher and higher. While this suit is a positive step, it should not replace ongoing efforts from the Department of Justice to break up this company’s monopoly power once and for all. Getting to the root of consolidation in this industry is the only way to build a fair ticketing and live events marketplace for fans, independent venue owners, and performers alike.”
The FTC’s new complaint builds on investigative work begun under former Chair Lina Khan’s leadership, reinforcing that this is a long-running, bipartisan effort to rein in Live Nation-Ticketmaster’s abuses. The DOJ Antitrust Division’s suit filed in May 2024 under the Biden Administration challenges and proposes structural remedies to curtail Live Nation-Ticketmaster’s monopoly power across business lines: ticket selling, concert promotion, venue ownership, and more. The suit orders, at a minimum, the divestiture of Ticketmaster, along with termination of Live Nation’s ticketing agreement with Oak View Group, enjoining Live Nation from continuing to engage in anticompetitive practices, and other structural relief to restore competition to the live events market.
But in the time since this new suit was filed, Live Nation-Ticketmaster has continued to squeeze fans, artists, and independent venues via anti-competitive practices, while reporting record high revenue and concert profits. In April of this year, the coalition sent a letter to the Department of Justice to continue the Biden administration’s lawsuit into Live Nation-Ticketmaster’s monopoly power across live events and pushing for a break up. Since 2022, over 100,000 fans, artists, and industry professionals sent letters to the DOJ through Economic Liberties’ Break Up Ticketmaster campaign launched in October 2022, ratcheting up the pressure on the agency.
Learn more about the Break Up Ticketmaster Coalition here.
Learn more about Economic Liberties here.
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The American Economic Liberties Project works to ensure America’s system of commerce is structured to advance, rather than undermine, economic liberty, fair commerce, and a secure, inclusive democracy. Economic Liberties believes true economic liberty means entrepreneurs and businesses large and small succeed on the merits of their ideas and hard work; commerce empowers consumers, workers, farmers, and engineers instead of subjecting them to discrimination and abuse from financiers and monopolists; foreign trade arrangements support domestic security and democracy; and wealth is broadly distributed to support equitable political power.