The Justice Department filed a sweeping antitrust lawsuit against Ticketmaster and parent company Live Nation Entertainment on Thursday, accusing them of running an illegal monopoly over live events in America — squelching competition and driving up prices for fans.
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00:00Earlier today, the Department of Justice, joined by 29 states and the District of Columbia,
00:06sued Live Nation Entertainment and its wholly owned subsidiary, Ticketmaster,
00:11for violating the Sherman Antitrust Act.
00:14In recent years, Live Nation Ticketmaster's exorbitant fees and technological failures
00:20have been criticized by fans and artists alike.
00:24But we are not here today because Live Nation Ticketmaster's conduct is inconvenient or frustrating.
00:32We are here because, as we allege, that conduct is anti-competitive and illegal.
00:38Our complaint makes clear what happens when a monopolist dedicates its resources
00:43to entrenching its monopoly power and insulating itself from competition
00:48rather than investing in better products and services.
00:52We allege that Live Nation has illegally monopolized markets across the live concert industry
00:58in the United States for far too long.
01:01It is time to break it up.
01:04The result is that fans pay more in fees,
01:08artists have fewer opportunities to play concerts,
01:11smaller promoters get squeezed out,
01:14and venues have fewer real choices for ticketing services.
01:18Ticketmaster can impose a seemingly endless list of fees on fans.
01:24Those include ticketing fees, service fees, convenience fees,
01:30platinum fees, Pricemaster fees, per-order fees,
01:34handling fees, and payment processing fees, among others.
01:40For fans in the United States, this illegal conduct means higher prices.
01:46In other countries, where venues are not bound by Ticketmaster's exclusive ticketing contracts,
01:52venues often use multiple ticketing companies for the same event,
01:56and fans see lower fees and more innovative ticketing products as a result.
02:01As detailed in our complaint, Live Nation suffocates its competition
02:06using a variety of tactics, from acquisitions of smaller regional promoters and venues,
02:12to threats and retaliation, to agreements with rivals designed to neutralize them.
02:18I still remember, as a senior in college, going to a Bonnie Raitt concert
02:23and seeing a then-up-and-coming musician named Bruce Springsteen play as a warm-up act.
02:30We all knew that we had just seen the future of rock and roll.
02:36The Justice Department filed this lawsuit on behalf of fans
02:41who should be able to go to concerts without a monopoly standing in their way.
02:46We have filed this lawsuit on behalf of artists who should be able to plan their tours around their fans
02:52and not be dictated by an unlawful monopolist.
02:56We have filed this lawsuit on behalf of the independent promoters and venues
03:01which should be able to compete on a level playing field.
03:05It is time for fans and artists to stop paying the price for Live Nation's monopoly.
03:12It is time to restore competition and innovation in the entertainment industry.
03:18It is time to break up Live Nation Ticketmaster.
03:23The American people are ready for it.