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The United States Department of Justice and 30 state attorneys full general filed a suit against Live Nation Entertainment , the parent company of Ticketmaster , for alleged monopolistic practices .
Live Nation and Ticketmaster merged in 2010 , creating a dominant amusement automobile that controls the bulk of ticket sales event and locus bookings in the country . But Taylor Swift fan ’ experience buy tickets for the Eras tour of duty in late 2022 wasso horrificthat legislator take a closer look at the amusement giant ’s control over the industry — the presale was riddled with glitches and hours - long delay times , while the public sale was canceled due to high-pitched traffic .
“ Live Nation suffocate its competition using a miscellany of tactics , from acquisitions of pocket-size regional promoters and locus , to scourge and retaliation to agreements with rivals , ” said U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland in a press conference on Thursday .
This is n’t just a Swiftie problem — rather , the pop genius ’s cultural ubiquitousness shed a bright spotlight on the frustrations hoi polloi have with Live Nation - Ticketmaster . From hood bands to podcast hosts , wretched experience with Ticketmaster have made the party loathsome to fans . In April , when the Dungeons & Dragons existent play show Dimension 20 put tickets on sales event for its performance at Madison Square Garden , Ticketmaster’sdynamic pricing structuremade just the ticket damage so astronomically high that they were unachievable for most fan . Dropout , the company that produces Dimension 20 , afterward posit that dynamic pricing — which automatically raises tag prices based on demand — was not explain to them before ticket cut-rate sale .
If a breakup were to occur , it could also pave the way for other ticketing startups to clear traction in an manufacture where they now confront an acclivitous battle when going against Ticketmaster . That ’s led to business organisation in this outer space hear to interrupt the current organization by build up a new one — like on the blockchain , for example , or byfocusing only on the secondary market .
Live Nation executive frailty president Dan Wall published astatementresponding to the allegations in the Department of Justice ’s lawsuit .
“ The complaint — and even more so the press league announcing it — attempt to impersonate resilient Nation and Ticketmaster as the suit of sports fan foiling with the lively amusement industriousness , ” the statement says . “ It blames concert booster and ticketing company — neither of which manipulate just the ticket cost — for high ticket prices . It push aside everything that is actually responsible for for higher ticket prices , from increase output costs to artist popularity , to 24/7 on-line ticket scalping that reveals the public ’s willingness to bear far more than main tickets toll . ”
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Wall goes on to compare Ticketmaster ’s 5 % take charge per unit with that of companies like Twitch ( 50 % ) , StubHub ( 37 % ) , Uber ( 25 % ) and several more . But with the exception of StubHub — a resale platform — the comparing are not quite one - to - one . Ticketmaster also charges various kinds of inspection and repair fee , which outperform 5 % . The fact remain that it ’s difficult for younger companies to disrupt alive res publica ’s hold on the industriousness since the Brobdingnagian majority of American venues are in business organization with them .
Garland claims that the public frustration with Live Nation ’s aver monopolistic behavior is more acuate in America than in other countries .
“ In other countries , where venues are not bound by Ticketmaster ’s single ticketing contracts , venues often use multiple ticketing company for the same outcome , and fans see low fees and more groundbreaking ticketing product as a final result , ” Garland said .
