DOJ suing Ticketmaster and Live Nation over ‘illegal monopoly’

Break it up. That’s the message from the Department of Justice to Ticketmaster and Live Nation.

“We allege that live nation has illegally monopolized markets across the live concert industry in the United States for far too long. It is time to break it up,” says U.S. Attorney General, Merrick Garland.

The two event promoters merged back in 2010. But Thursday, the DOJ served them with a lawsuit, alleging a slew of anti-trust violations. Violations that the department says has impacted concertgoers across the nation.

Including Seattleite Isai Valdez. He’s a Taylor Swift fan, who was also victim of the infamous Ticketmaster meltdown in late 2022. That’s when millions of ticket-buyers faced website errors, price gouging, and sold-out stadiums in minutes, when relying on the site for tickets to see Taylor Swift.

“It was a terrible experience. It was a terrible experience,” says Valdez, who is part of a class action lawsuit against Ticketmaster.

While inconvenience isn’t an anti-trust violation, it can be the effect of one, says Washington Attorney General, Bob Ferguson.

“That is an example of what happens when you don’t have the competition. And that’s part of the reason why we’re bringing this lawsuit.”

A lawsuit is brought forward by Ferguson, 28 other state attorneys general, and the DOJ. Ferguson says the effort is to break up a years-long monopoly.

“Ticketmaster, Live Nation, they control by their own admissions 70 to 80-percent of the market,” says Ferguson. “Once you have an entity that controls that amount of a market, guess what happens? You don’t have competition. Without competition that means often reduced innovation, and decreased service to Washingtonians and to customers.”

Customers who are seeing higher prices and hidden fees as a result, says Ferguson.

“For a single ticket, just over a thousand dollars,” says Valdez about how much he spent to see Taylor Swift in Seattle. “Looking at the receipt it was like 130 dollars for Ticketmaster fees alone.”

Live Nation weighed in on the lawsuit in a statement to CBS News. “Calling Ticketmaster a monopoly may be a PR win for the DOJ in the short term, but it will lose in court because it ignores the basic economics of live entertainment.”

Ferguson says this litigation could take years.

In addition to splitting up Live Nation and Ticketmaster, the DOJ also hopes to fine the company for their alleged illegal profits from their monopoly.

“It’s our hope that money can actually end up going back to consumers at the end of the day,” says Ferguson.

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