The Justice Department could prosecute Live Nation, the concert giant that owns Ticketmaster, as early as next month following an investigation into its handling of venue and ticket negotiations, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday.
The company has long been criticized for its stranglehold on the live events industry, high pricing and practices of forcing venues to sign long-term exclusive contracts, angering fans and artists.
The department is prepared to file an antitrust suit alleging that Live Nation exploited its dominant market position to suppress competition, the Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Ticketmaster has an 80% market share of event sales at the nation’s largest venues, holding exclusive contracts with several stadiums and arenas, according to the outlet.
Violating antitrust laws can result in criminal and civil penalties, with criminal penalties capped at 10 years in prison and $100,000,000 per violation, according to the Legal Information Institute at Cornell Law School.
Representatives for LiveNation and the Justice Department did not immediately respond to Business Insider’s requests for comment.
The investigation into the company gained momentum following massive fan outrage when the Ticketmaster website crashed during a pre-sale for Taylor Swift’s November 2022 “Eras Tour” event.
Swift released a statement shortly after the incident, saying she was “pissed off” and described the outage as “excruciating,” The New York Times reported at the time.
“It’s really hard for me to trust an outside entity with those relationships and that loyalty, and it’s unbearable for me to just see mistakes happen without any recourse,” Swift reported, according to the Times. “There are a multitude of reasons why people have had such difficulty getting tickets and I’m trying to understand how this situation can be improved in the future. I’m not going to make excuses for anyone because we We asked them several times if they could handle this kind of request and we were assured that they could.”
Some Swifties then took action against the company, filing suit against the ticketing giant for violating antitrust laws and “intentional and deliberate” deception of fans, Billboard reported — prompting federal authorities to take a closer look at it. closer.
The company has denied any wrongdoing.
“Ticketmaster has more competition today than ever, and the terms of the agreements with the venues show that it has nothing close to monopoly power,” a Ticketmaster spokeswoman said in response to the request. announcement of the expected trial, according to the Journal.
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