Attorney General William Tong, the Justice Department, and attorneys general from 29 other states and the District of Columbia have filed a civil antitrust lawsuit against Ticketmaster LLC and its parent company Live Nation Entertainment Inc. The suit alleges monopolization and other unlawful conduct that hinders competition in the live entertainment industry. The complaint, lodged in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, seeks structural relief to restore competition, aiming to provide better choices at lower prices for fans and more opportunities for artists.
The lawsuit claims that Ticketmaster-Live Nation exercises monopoly power in violation of Section 2 of the Sherman Act. According to the complaint, this conduct deprives U.S. music fans of ticketing innovation while forcing them to use outdated technology and pay higher prices compared to other countries. Additionally, it alleges that Ticketmaster-Live Nation's dominance harms performers, venues, and independent promoters by imposing barriers that limit competitive entry and expansion.
The plaintiffs request that the court order Live Nation to divest Ticketmaster and prohibit it from engaging in anticompetitive practices.
"Ticketmaster-Live Nation is an unavoidable behemoth for fans, artists, and venues," said Attorney General Tong. "Our investigation has amassed evidence of systematic, unlawful anticompetitive conduct designed to extract maximum control over every level of the live event industry."
Attorney General Merrick B. Garland stated: "We allege that Live Nation relies on unlawful, anticompetitive conduct to exercise its monopolistic control over the live events industry in the United States at the cost of fans, artists, smaller promoters, and venue operators."
Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter added: "Our antitrust lawsuit seeks to break up the Live-Nation-Ticketmaster monopoly, which will restore competition to benefit fans and artists alike."
The complaint details various exclusionary tactics employed by Ticketmaster-Live Nation:
- Exploiting its relationship with Oak View Group.
- Threatening financial retaliation against potential competitors.
- Retaliating against venues working with rivals.
- Locking concert venues into long-term exclusive contracts.
- Blocking venues from using multiple ticketing services.
- Restricting artists' access to key venues unless they use their promotion services.
- Acquiring smaller competitors identified as threats.
Live Nation Entertainment Inc., headquartered in Beverly Hills, California, describes itself as "the largest live entertainment company in the world." It owns or controls over 265 concert venues in North America and generates more than $22 billion annually across three business segments: concerts, ticketing (through Ticketmaster), and sponsorship/advertising.
Ticketmaster L.L.C., also based in Beverly Hills as a subsidiary of Live Nation, is recognized as the largest concert ticketing company in the United States.
Connecticut is part of an executive committee leading this bipartisan complaint along with several other states including Tennessee, Pennsylvania, California, Florida among others.
Assistant Attorneys General Kim McGee and Rahul Dawar along with Deputy Associate Attorney General Nicole Demers are assisting Attorney General Tong on this matter.