US prosecutors file lawsuit against Live Nation, alleging monopolistic control
US prosecutors have filed a lawsuit against live nation, accusing the entertainment giant of hurting artists and fans by monopolising the live music industry. Live Nation has called the claims absurd.
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00:00 The suit claims that Live Nation controls promotions for about 60% of the major events
00:08 at major US venues and then through its ticketing arm, Ticketmaster, that it controls about
00:14 80% of the ticket sales at those major venues.
00:18 Live Nation Entertainment for its part says that this is something they will be fighting
00:24 in court and they're confident they can win.
00:26 It's suggested that this is a politically motivated action seeking to make it the scapegoat
00:31 for more broad consumer complaints about the live music sector.
00:35 Live Nation says that this action won't do anything to address some of those problems
00:41 that fans are experiencing with high ticket prices.
00:44 We've all seen them skyrocket in the last couple of years.
00:48 Live Nation says that it only takes a modest proportion of the ticketing fees through Ticketmaster
00:54 and that some of its competitors in fact charge more.
00:58 It's called this claim that it's maintained a monopoly absurd.
01:02 Now Live Nation is a very large global player in the live events sector and have quite a
01:08 presence in Australia as well.
01:09 They're major players there.
01:11 A lot of Australians have probably used Ticketmaster to purchase tickets for whether it's live
01:16 music or another kind of live event or a major event.
01:20 So whatever happens when this case goes to court will no doubt be very closely watched.
01:26 The US Department of Justice will ask the court that Live Nation should at the very
01:32 least divest itself of Ticketmaster.
01:35 So this is quite an extraordinary antitrust move by the US government to seek to break
01:40 up what it calls a monopoly.
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