Washington, D.C. — Today, Diana Moss, Vice President and Director of Competition Policy at the Progressive Policy Institute, released the following statement in response to the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) antitrust lawsuit against live events behemoth Live Nation-Ticketmaster.
“PPI applauds the DOJ for moving enforcement against the Live Nation-Ticketmaster monopoly to the front lines of antitrust. A successful suit would bring justice to the millions of American consumers who pay the heavy price of Live Nation-Ticketmaster’s ongoing dominance in live events. The company’s wingspan blankets the entire live events supply chain, where it deploys exclusionary practices that have long stifled competition, to the detriment of fans, artists, and smaller competitors. These practices have driven business repeatedly back to Ticketmaster, where it extracts its monopoly “toll” in the form of sky-high ticket fees. Antitrust enforcement against Live Nation-Ticketmaster is long overdue.
“The Live Nation-Ticketmaster merger was allowed to proceed in 2010, but the decision was an abject failure of antitrust enforcement. Instead of blocking the merger, the DOJ required the company, then with an 80% share of the ticketing market, to comply with ineffective conditions. Live Nation-Ticketmaster violated these anti-discrimination and anti-retaliation requirements, entrenching its dominance and keeping smaller competitors in live events in fear and in check.
“Thirty states joined the DOJ’s complaint, a strong endorsement of the gravity of harms imposed on consumers, artists, and smaller rivals by the Live Nation-Ticketmaster monopoly. The complaint is notable in that it uses all tools in the arsenal of antitrust enforcement to hold Live Nation-Ticketmaster accountable for illegal conduct. This includes claims under both Section 1 and Section 2 of the Sherman Act. Moreover, structural relief, achieved by breaking up the company, is the only effective way to fully restore competition.
“PPI’s analysis of the ticketing industry has explained what a break-up remedy for Live Nation-Ticketmaster might look like. Restoring competition to live events markets would require breaking Ticketmaster off from Live Nation, as well as breaking it up into smaller companies. More competition would create stronger incentives to compete on ticket fees, quality of service, protecting ticket buyers’ privacy and data, and improving ticketing platform technology.
“PPI has also been a leading voice in opposing legislation that has been backed by Live Nation-Ticketmaster targeting the resale market. The only place where there is a semblance of competition in ticketing is in resale, but some state and federal legislative proposals would hand more market power to Live Nation by hindering the resale market.”
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Media Contact: Tommy Kaelin, tkaelin@ppionline.org
