Promotion and ticketing company has faced scrutiny for years, particularly after it botched ticket sales to Taylor Swift’s Eras tour
The US Department of Justice has sued the owner of Ticketmaster, Live Nation, seeking a break-up of the concert promotion and ticketing giant.
“It is time to break up Live Nation-Ticketmaster,” said Merrick Garland, the US attorney general. “Live Nation relies on unlawful, anticompetitive conduct to exercise its monopolistic control over the live events industry in the United States at the cost of fans, artists, smaller promoters, and venue operators.”
Wednesday’s lawsuit, filed in the southern district of New York , follows years of scrutiny of Live Nation’s domination of global ticket sales. Attorneys general from 29 states and Washington DC joined the lawsuit.
The company, which merged with Ticketmaster in 2010, faced a torrent of criticism in the wake of the botched sale of tickets to Taylor Swift’s Eras tour in 2022. As fury over the debacle mounted, officials are said to have started an antitrust investigation.
Live Nation has used a monopoly to suppress competition, the justice department and a string of states alleged in a court filing.
