It’s time for “Look What You Made Me Do” (the Justice Department version).
More than a year after Ticketmaster crashed, preventing rabid Taylor Swift fans from purchasing tickets to her concert tour, the DOJ announced an antitrust lawsuit against Ticketmaster’s parent company, Live Nation Entertainment. The suit accuses the ticket giant of illegally dominating the market.
“We are not here today because Live Nation-Ticketmaster’s behavior is inconvenient or frustrating. We are here because, as we allege, this behavior is anti-competitive and illegal,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. of a press conference on Thursday. “It’s time to break up.”
In its suit, the Justice Department claims that Live Nation and Ticketmaster used “their power and influence to insert themselves into the center and periphery of virtually every aspect of the live music ecosystem,” allowing them to to stifle innovation and exert control over how fans can buy tickets and where artists can perform.
“This has given Live Nation and Ticketmaster the opportunity to freeze innovation and bend the industry for their own benefit. While this may be a boon to Live Nation’s bottom line, it comes at a real cost to Americans,” the Justice Department said in the lawsuit. .
The investigation follows a clumsy pre-sale of tickets in late 2022 for Taylor Swift’s Eras tour, when fans competed with bots for a limited number of tickets.
“It’s truly amazing that 2.4 million people got tickets, but it really annoys me that many of them feel like they suffered multiple bear attacks to get them,” said Swift after publishing.
A spokesperson for Swift did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
In response to the antitrust lawsuit, Live Nation said that “calling Ticketmaster a monopoly might be a public relations victory for the DOJ in the short term, but it will lose in court.”
“The DOJ lawsuit will not resolve the issues fans are concerned about regarding ticket prices, service fees and access to high-demand shows,” the company said in a statement. “Our growth comes from helping artists tour globally, creating lasting memories for millions of fans, and supporting local economies across the country by maintaining quality jobs.”
This is a developing story. Please check again for updates.
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