announced an antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation Entertainment, accusing the world's largest concert promoter and ticketing company of monopolistic practices and calling to break up its merger with Ticketmaster.“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,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a news release.
Senators also took aim at Ticketmaster's fees. U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat, recalled piling into a friend’s car in high school to go to concerts by Led Zeppelin, The Cars and Aerosmith. These days, she said, ticket prices have gotten so high that shows are too expensive for many fans. Klobuchar said ticket fees now average 27% of the ticket cost and can climb as high as 75%.
But competitors, like Seat Geek CEO Jack Groetzinger, said even if Live Nation doesn't own a venue, it prevents competition by signing multi-year contracts with arenas and concert halls to provide ticketing services. If those venues don't agree to use Ticketmaster, Live Nation may withhold acts. That makes it tough for competitors to disrupt the market.
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