It is not good to be too big in the United States and the American government is going on the offensive without hesitation on the competition front. After countering the mergers between the publishers Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster in November 2022 then between the airlines Spirit and JetBlue in March, the time has come, according to the American administration, to separate the live entertainment giant Live Nation of its ticketing subsidiary Ticketmaster. Especially since the hegemonic position of Ticketmaster – which merged with Live Nation in 2010 to create Live Nation Entertainment – has been denounced many times by artists and politicians alike.
Read the decryption: Article reserved for our subscribers Music concerts top the list of ticket purchases in France in 2022
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The US Department of Justice sued the group on Thursday May 23, accusing it of anti-competitive practices. Live Nation’s methods “allow it to exercise monopolistic control over the live entertainment industry in the United States”, Justice Minister Merrick Garland said in a statement. He says this leads to higher fees for fans, fewer concert opportunities for artists and a sidelining of smaller promoters.
World number one, Live Nation organized more than 50,000 events across the planet in 2023, welcomed 145 million spectators and generated $22.7 billion in revenue (20.9 billion euros).
Live Nation considers these accusations unfounded
According to the summons filed in federal court in Manhattan, and consulted by AFP, the government accuses the group of having threatened competitors in the promotion of concerts as well as venues that worked with competitors. Also denounced are the exclusivity contracts negotiated by Live Nation to force performance venues to use Ticketmaster’s ticketing services. Or the obligation imposed on artists to use the services of the group as soon as they perform in an enclosure controlled by Live Nation.
For its part, Live Nation considers these accusations unfounded and sees, on the contrary, the result of “intense political pressure and a lobbying campaign from rivals and ticket scalpers.” The group denies having any monopolistic power by ensuring that the commissions and fees collected by its ticketing subsidiary do not “are no higher than elsewhere and frequently lower”.
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The management of ticket sales for Taylor Swift’s American tour in November 2022 proved so seriously disastrous that Ticketmaster executives were interviewed by the Senate Affairs Committee. Placing the blame on “bot attacks”they had to recognize their ” responsibility “ in this failure. The singer then criticized the platform in an Instagram post, ensuring that she was “out of it” after seeing so many of his fans “living a nightmare”.
