It’s about time — and it offers a reason for hope.
That was the reaction from several of Chicago’s small-venue owners to the Justice Department announcing Thursday that it has filed a sweeping anti-trust lawsuit against Ticketmaster and parent company Live Nation Entertainment, accusing them of running an illegal monopoly over live events in America — squelching competition and driving up price for fans.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Manhattan, was being brought with 30 state and district attorneys general and seeks to break up the monopoly they say is squeezing out smaller promotors and hurting artists.
“One of the things we’ve learned through COVID as an industry is not giving up hope,” said Chris Bauman, who owns Patio Theater on Chicago’s Northwest Side and Avondale Music Hall, and is a member of the Chicago Independent Venue League (CIVL). “Everyone told us surviving COVID when we went to zero revenue overnight was going to be impossible and yet, the government and the SBA (U.S. Small Business Administration) really stepped up to help us get through that. … I don’t know if I’ve had more hope in a long time.”
In a statement, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said of the lawsuit: “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.”
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Bauman and others with CIVL said they’re simply asking for fair treatment.
“It’s very hard to compete against a publicly traded, endless-capital company and it is refreshing to see that something is happening to level the playing field and allow us to survive,” he said.
The Justice Department accuses Live Nation of a slew of practices that allow it to maintain a stronghold over the live music scene, including using long-term contracts to keep venues from choosing rival ticketers, blocking venues from using multiple ticket sellers and threatening venues that they could lose money and fans if they don’t choose Ticketmaster. The Justice Department says Live Nation also threatened to retaliate against one firm if it didn’t stop a subsidiary from competing for artist promotion contracts.
“If you can imagine up-and-coming artists who are eager to get out there on tour being offered a contract but being told they can only play Live Nation venues. That immediately cuts them out of being able to play many venues all around the country and it sets the pricing for everywhere they go,” said Jennifer Estlin, executive producer of Annoyance Theatre & Bar in Lake View. “The small, independent venues are hugely responsible for cultivating artists and yet, the minute it gets to the point where that artist starts breaking big on the scene, then all of a sudden it’s not possible for them to play these indy venues.”
Live Nation has denied that it engages in practices that violate antitrust laws. When it was reported that the company was under federal investigation in 2022, the concert promoter said in a statement that Ticketmaster enjoys a such a large share of the market because of “the large gap that exists between the quality of the Ticketmaster system and the next best primary ticketing system.”
But competitor ticket sellers have long complained that Live Nation makes it difficult for them to disrupt the market with practices such as withholding acts if those venues don’t agree to use Ticketmaster’s service.
The lawsuit is the latest example of the Biden administration’s aggressive antitrust enforcement approach targeting companies accused of engaging in illegal monopolies that box out competitors and drive up prices. In March, the Justice Department filed a lawsuit against Apple alleging that the tech giant has monopoly power in the smartphone market. The Democratic administration has also taken on Google, Amazon and other tech giants.
“Today’s action is a step forward in making this era of live music more accessible for the fans, the artists, and the industry that supports them,” Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said in a statement.
Ticketmaster, which merged with Live Nation in 2010, is the world’s largest ticket seller, processing 500 million tickets each year in more than 30 countries. Around 70% of tickets for major concert venues in the U.S. are sold through Ticketmaster, according to data in a federal lawsuit filed by consumers in 2022. The company owns or controls more than 265 of North America’s concert venues and dozens of top amphitheaters, according to the Justice Department.
The ticket seller sparked outrage in November 2022 when its site crashed during a presale event for a Taylor Swift stadium tour. The company said its site was overwhelmed by both fans and attacks from bots, which were posing as consumers to scoop up tickets and sell them on secondary sites. The debacle prompted congressional hearings and bills in state legislatures aimed at better protecting consumers.
The Justice Department allowed Live Nation and Ticketmaster to merge as long as Live Nation agreed not to retaliate against concert venues for using other ticket companies for 10 years. In 2019, the department investigated and found that Live Nation had “repeatedly” violated that agreement and extended the prohibition on retaliating against concert venues to 2025
