The Justice Department and state governments plan to file a lawsuit as early as Thursday against Live Nation Entertainment, the concert giant that owns Ticketmaster, alleging that it illegally maintained a monopoly on the live-entertainment industry, according to three people familiar with the matter.
The government plans to argue in its lawsuit that Live Nation consolidated its power through exclusive ticket-sales agreements with Ticketmaster and concert venues, as well as the company's control over other businesses such as concert touring and venue management, said two of the people, who asked not to be identified because the litigation is still private. That helped the company maintain its monopoly, raising prices and fees for consumers and limiting innovation in the ticketing industry, the people said.
The government will likely argue that tours promoted by the company were more likely to play at venues where Ticketmaster provides exclusive ticketing services and that Live Nation artists played at venues the company owns, one of the people said.
Live Nation is a concert industry giant, impacting the lives of musicians and fans alike with a scale and influence far beyond any of its competitors, encompassing concert promotion, ticket sales, artist management and operations at hundreds of venues and festivals around the world.
The Ticketmaster division alone sells 600 million tickets a year to events around the world. By some estimates, the department handles tickets for 70 to 80 percent of his major concert venues in the United States.
Lawmakers, fans and competitors have accused the company of inflating ticket prices and fees to harm competitors. At a congressional hearing early last year, senators from both parties called Live Nation a monopoly after Ticketmaster pre-sold tickets to Taylor Swift's tour, blocking millions of people from buying tickets.
The company denies setting high fees and charges, insisting that artists, major venues and other parties are responsible.
A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment. A Live Nation spokesman also declined to comment. Bloomberg News previously reported that a lawsuit was imminent.
In recent years, U.S. regulators have brought charges against other big companies, testing century-old antitrust laws against the new powers they wield over consumers. The Justice Department sued Apple in March, accusing it of making it difficult for customers to get rid of their devices, and Google has already filed two lawsuits accusing it of violating antitrust laws. The Federal Trade Commission filed an antitrust lawsuit against Amazon last year for harming sellers on its platform, and also filed an antitrust lawsuit against Meta for its acquisitions of Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp. A lawsuit is being filed.
The Justice Department allowed Live Nation, the world's largest concert promoter, to buy Ticketmaster in 2010, under certain conditions outlined in a legal agreement: For example, Live Nation could not threaten to cancel concert tours if venues didn't use Ticketmaster.
However, in 2019, the Department of Justice determined that Live Nation had violated these terms and amended and extended the contract.
The most recent Department of Justice investigation into Live Nation began in 2022. Live Nation also ramped up its lobbying efforts at the same time, spending $2.4 million on federal lobbying efforts in 2023, up from $1.1 million in 2022, according to documents available on the bipartisan website OpenSecrets.
In April, the company co-hosted a lavish party in Washington ahead of the White House Correspondents Association's annual banquet, which included a performance by country singer Jelly Roll and the billions Live Nation says it pays artists. and cocktail napkins with facts about the company's positive impact on the economy.
Under pressure from the White House, Live Nation announced in June that it would begin displaying the price of performances at company-owned venues, including all fees, including surcharges. The Federal Trade Commission is proposing rules to ban hidden fees.
Bill Kovacic, former chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, said Wednesday that the lawsuit against the company would be an indictment of past antitrust officials who allowed the company to grow to its current size.
“This is a restatement of previous policies that failed and were a huge failure,” he said.