BREAKING: Justice Department sues Ticketmaster and owner Live Nation, alleging an illegal monopoly over live events in the U.S. https://t.co/yMlRYo0WqR
Originally Posted by :
“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,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. “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.”
Originally Posted by ChiefsCountry:
It's not a monopoly in legal terms. It's like people arguing that Walmart is a monopoly. You have other choices in the marketplace. Artists have other venues they can choose in a market. You don't have to play Sprint Center - you can play Arrowhead, Kauffman, Sandstone, or even Joe's neighborhood bar. The fees are bullshit and almost racketeering but legally it's okay. I just don't see much of a case legally. Shitty business practices but not much from a legal standpoint.
..seems like they were basically calling out the fact they were playing with fire by allowing the merger in the first place, with some guidelines on how to play nice, and they think it's been ignored. [Reply]
..seems like they were basically calling out the fact they were playing with fire by allowing the merger in the first place, with some guidelines on how to play nice, and they think it's been ignored.
Originally Posted by ChiefsCountry:
It's not a monopoly in legal terms. It's like people arguing that Walmart is a monopoly. You have other choices in the marketplace. Artists have other venues they can choose in a market. You don't have to play Sprint Center - you can play Arrowhead, Kauffman, Sandstone, or even Joe's neighborhood bar. The fees are bullshit and almost racketeering but legally it's okay. I just don't see much of a case legally. Shitty business practices but not much from a legal standpoint.
About the only hope is getting them for controlling the talent and what venues they can use and how they control what gets back to the talent, especially with their "loans". But it is hard to find companies that haven't earned distaste more than these. [Reply]
One thing that got lost in this is it's not just a federal thing, there are 29 other states that have joined this lawsuit with the DOJ, including states like Texas and Oklahoma. That's over half the state governments in the country. Arizona just passed a "Taylor Swift" law to address some of this stuff. There is a lot to this at a state level, although I know that's a mixed bag too. The Cure tried to limit ticket resellers but had limited success based on various state laws. I know Billie Eilish was trying to sell no-transfer tickets too. But even with that, you play venues even like Kauffman or Sandstone it seems almost everyone there uses Ticketmaster. You can't really escape it. [Reply]
Why is LiveNation/Ticketmaster the bad guy when people pay $500 for a seat that was bought for $100 and the person who originally bought it makes a ton? That's free market.
The entertainment industry should find a way to help resolve this.
It seems that non-transferable tickets could work with todays technology.
It seems fairly obvious they've done some stuff that shouldn't have been allowed. I'm not convinced they'll receive any more than a slap on the wrist and a "please don't do that" though, which they will promptly find a work around for.
It is interesting watching people get all pissed over ticket prices while continuing to ignore the monopolies within their food supply running wild. Perhaps it's just ignorance, but that doesn't make the entertainment vs food comparison any less comical. [Reply]
Originally Posted by scho63:
Why is LiveNation/Ticketmaster the bad guy when people pay $500 for a seat that was bought for $100 and the person who originally bought it makes a ton? That's free market.
The entertainment industry should find a way to help resolve this.
It seems that non-transferable tickets could work with todays technology.
I think it is a slippery slope.
Show me another outlet outside of Live Nation that provides people with the same choice of seats they do. Even going to the venue directly as tickets go on sale won't get you the choice of seat you can get through Ticketmaster these days.
You could have a point if there were another cometitor on Live Nation's level giving a choice of who you spend your money with, and therefore bringing down prices, but there isn't one. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Bowser:
Show me another outlet outside of Live Nation that provides people with the same choice of seats they do. Even going to the venue directly as tickets go on sale won't get you the choice of seat you can get through Ticketmaster these days.
You could have a point if there were another cometitor on Live Nation's level giving a choice of who you spend your money with, and therefore bringing down prices, but there isn't one.
How much blame do the artists and their management deserve for this? [Reply]
