The DOJ sues to split up Ticketmaster and Live Nation as concert beef boils over

Better than revenge… Yesterday, the US Justice Department filed an antitrust lawsuit against Ticketmaster parent Live Nation, aiming to break up the country's largest concert promoter. The DOJ launched an investigation into the concert colossus in 2022, and the probe heated up in November of that year when Ticketmaster crashed after millions of Swifties tried to snag Eras Tour tix. Now the DOJ has accused Live Nation of running an illegal live-events monopoly.

• The DOJ says: Ticketmaster controls at least 80% of primary ticket sales at major concert venues and uses its dominance to lock out rivals and drive up ticket prices with obscure fees (the DOJ calls it “the Ticketmaster tax”).

• Live Nation says: The DOJ's monopoly allegations are “absurd” and don’t take into account “24/7 scalpers” and fans’ willingness to pay way over primary prices.

• FYI: Last year, stars like Beyoncé and T. Swift helped drive Live Nation’s record attendance and ticket sales, pushing its revenue up 36% to nearly $23B.

Live domination… The US gov’t approved the Ticketmaster and Live Nation merger in 2010, on the condition that it licensed its ticket software to rivals and didn’t retaliate against venues that didn’t use Ticketmaster. But in 2019 the DOJ said it had violated those terms by pressuring venues to use Ticketmaster as a condition for using Live Nation performers. Under pressure from the Biden admin, last year Live Nation and SeatGeek said they would start showing customers the full price of shows before checkout. ICYMI: concert ticket fees can often add up to over 30% of the total order.