New York Attorney General Letitia James, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), and a bipartisan coalition of 30 attorneys general today sued Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. and its subsidiary Ticketmaster for monopolizing the live events industry and harming consumers, artists, venues, and competitors.
The lawsuit accuses Live Nation of controlling all aspects of live events and abusing that power of having dominance over the market.
“For too long, Live Nation and Ticketmaster have unfairly and illegally run the world of live events, abusing their dominance to overcharge fans, bully venues, and limit artists,” James said. “When companies like Live Nation control every aspect of an event, it leads to bad blood – concertgoers and sports fans suffer and are forced to pay cruel prices. Everybody agrees, Live Nation and Ticketmaster are the problem, and it’s time for a new era. Today, we are taking this important action to protect consumers and force big companies to stop abusing their influence and get in formation.”
James, the DOJ, and the bipartisan multistate coalition argue that, due to Live Nation’s anticompetitive conduct:
- Fans have paid more fees that are not transparent, have limited options when purchasing tickets, and have fewer concert choices
- Artists have had fewer opportunities to play concerts, and fewer choices for promoting their concerts and selling tickets to their own shows
- Venues have fewer options for obtaining concerts and ticketing services, which forces them to continue using Live Nation and Ticketmaster and pass the higher costs onto consumers
Live Nation is a live entertainment company that owns, operates, and has exclusive booking rights for multiple venues including New York’s Madison Square Garden, Radio City Hall, Barclays Center, Long Island’s Northwell Health Jones Beach Amphitheater, Nassau Coliseum, Catholic Health Bald Hill Amphithetaerand other venues across the state. Live Nation controls many aspects of sports events and live performances, from producing and promoting events to renting venues they own and selling tickets through Ticketmaster, which accounts for nearly 80 percent of the ticketing industry. Due to Live Nation’s wide-ranging control of various aspects of the live events industry, competitors have been forced out, leaving consumers, venues, and artists with limited options and forcing them to endure high costs.
Joining James and DOJ in today’s lawsuit are attorneys general of Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, and the District of Columbia.