The Justice Department on Thursday sued Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation, accusing the ticket sellers of stifling competition in the live entertainment industry.
The Justice Department, which filed the antitrust lawsuit with 30 state and local attorneys general, said Ticketmaster and Live Nation’s anticompetitive practices deprived American music fans of innovation in ticket sales and forced them to pay higher prices than fans in other countries. They claim they are making them pay.
“We allege that Live Nation relies on illegal and anti-competitive conduct to exert monopoly control over the U.S. live events industry, at the expense of fans, artists, small promoters and venue operators,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.
“As a result, fans pay more, artists have fewer opportunities to perform concerts, smaller promoters are squeezed out, and venues have fewer practical options for ticketing services,” he added. “It’s time to break up Live Nation-Ticketmaster.”
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