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Surprising absolutely no one, the US Government and multiple states are officially suing Live Nation Entertainment, according to CNN.
This groundbreaking lawsuit, filed in New York by the US Department of Justice and 30 state & district attorneys general on Thursday (May 23), alleges that the Ticketmaster parent company abused its reputation as the country’s biggest ticketing website and concert promoter to stifle the competition and harm consumers.
The governments are seeking a jury trial and a breakup of the massive company. If successful, this could lead to some major changes in the live event industry.
The public first raised the red flags on Live Nation in 2022, when glitches on the Ticketmaster website blocked millions of Taylor Swift fans from buying tickets to her blockbuster “Eras” tour.
Many critics believe that a lack of competition led to major harm for Live Nation’s consumers, including poor customer service, expensive ticketing fees and restrictions on ticket resales.
Prosecutors are alleging that Live Nation’s plan was to create a monopoly on the industry by cutting deals with large venues to ticket all future events.
Here’s a statement from Attorney General Merrick Garland:
“We allege that 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. The result is that fans pay more in fees, artists have fewer opportunities to play concerts, smaller promoters get squeezed out, and venues have fewer real choices for ticketing services. It is time to break up Live Nation-Ticketmaster.”
Representatives for Live Nation did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
This is a developing story. For more, click here.
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