By Diana Moss
The Biden administration’s antitrust enforcers are newly focused on policing monopolies under Section 2 of the Sherman Act, a historically under-enforced area of antitrust law. The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have brought a number of cases against the large digital technology companies. With antitrust in the news, there is growing public awareness of enforcement decisions about which monopolies are pursued, and which are not.
For example, public sentiment is that antitrust cases are also needed to address high impact “paycheck and pocketbook” issues for consumers and workers. These cases would correct serious market power problems in food, healthcare, and manufacturing that hit consumers and workers hard, through higher prices and lower wages, and a lack of choice. Given the consumer-facing nature of the live events markets, a rumored DOJ monopolization case against Live Nation-Ticketmaster is likely to generate deep public interest and support.
The 2010 merger between Live Nation and Ticketmaster vertically integrated the former’s concert promotion and venue operation services with the latter’s ticketing and artist management services. At the time, Ticketmaster, controlled a whopping 80% of the ticketing market. With this dominance in ticketing, the merger supercharged Live Nation-Ticketmaster’s incentives to stifle competition from smaller rivals, to the detriment of fans and artists.
