Washington (November 21, 2022) – Following the disastrous launch of ticket sales for the Taylor Swift Era’s Tour, Senators Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) in calling on the Department of Justice (DOJ) to hold Ticketmaster-Live Nation Entertainment Inc. accountable for anticompetitive behavior and investigate the state of competition in the market for live entertainment. While the senators welcomed the news that DOJ is reportedly taking steps to investigate the company for possible antitrust violations, the group urged the Department to protect consumers, artists, and venue operators by considering the strongest possible remedies, including the breakup of the Ticketmaster and Live Nation merger, if misconduct is found. 

“If the investigation reveals that Live Nation has continued to abuse its dominant market position notwithstanding two prior consent decrees, we urge the Department to consider unwinding the Ticketmaster-Live Nation merger and breaking up the company,” the senators wrote. “This may be the only way to truly protect consumers, artists, and venue operators and to restore competition in the ticketing market.”

After last week’s launch of pre-sale ticket orders for Taylor Swift’s first tour in 4 years, fans encountered site crashes, hours long wait times, fluctuating ticket prices, and other disruptions on the Ticketmaster website. Ticketmaster customers not purchasing tickets to the Taylor Swift tour were also unable to access the site for refunds and ticket purchases. The senators noted that these reports, along with Ticketmaster’s abrupt cancellation of public ticket sales for the tour, suggest that, “the Department’s past enforcement efforts have failed to protect competition.”

Live Nation’s dominant position in the live entertainment and ticketing industry has repeatedly harmed consumers. The company controls about 60% of the market for promotion of major concerts, and tickets for 80 of the top 100 concert venues in the country. These anticompetitive practices have led to Ticketmaster prices more than tripling in the last 20 years, with about 27% of these prices coming from fees alone.

If DOJ’s investigation uncovers antitrust violations or ongoing misconduct, the senators urged the Department to consider unwinding the Ticketmaster-Live Nation merger and requiring structural remedies to restore competition and consumer choice in the market.

“Put simply, artists, venues, and consumers should no longer be at the mercy of a single seller. The Department must act to help consumers and the market shake off the effects of this monopoly,” the senators concluded. 

The full text of the letter is available below.

Dear Attorney General Garland and Assistant Attorney General Kanter:

We write to reiterate and reinforce the concerns several of us raised earlier this year regarding the absence of competition in the live entertainment and ticketing industry as well as potential anticompetitive behavior by Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. (Live Nation). Recent reports from consumers about skyrocketing fees and poor purchasing experiences on Live Nation’s platforms, the platform’s failure during the ticket presale for Taylor Swift’s tour, and the abrupt cancellation of the public sale of that tour suggest that the Department’s past enforcement efforts have failed to protect competition.

While we are encouraged by recent reports that the Department is already investigating Live Nation’s conduct, an investigation alone does nothing for the stakeholders already harmed by Live Nation’s market dominance and seemingly ongoing anticompetitive behavior. If the investigation reveals that Live Nation has continued to abuse its dominant market position notwithstanding two prior consent decrees, we urge the Department to consider unwinding the Ticketmaster-Live Nation merger and breaking up the company. This may be the only way to truly protect consumers, artists, and venue operators and to restore competition in the ticketing market.

Live Nation controls 60% of the market for promotion of major concerts and tickets “80 of the top 100 arenas in the country.” However, while Live Nation has enjoyed this dominant market position, consumers have been disenchanted. Across all genres and venues, Ticketmaster prices have more than tripled in the past 20 years. In 2018, a Government Accountability Office study found that an average of 27% of these prices are fees. The high prices and labyrinth-like ticketing process for Taylor Swift’s Eras tour are clear examples of the harms consumers face in an anti-competitive ticketing market. Because of Live Nation’s market dominance, artists, venues, and consumers simply have no choice but to use the platform notwithstanding its flaws and failures. The Swift presale is the latest and highest profile illustration of the monopolistic harms, but the harm was not even limited to her events. The total failure of Live Nation’s Ticketmaster platform during the Swift presale affected anyone trying to purchase or sell tickets to any event. Put simply, artists, venues, and consumers should no longer be at the mercy of a single seller. The Department must act to help consumers and the market shake off the effects of this monopoly.

We again call on the Department to vigorously investigate the state of competition in live entertainment and ticketing markets as well as assess Live Nation’s compliance with the 2020 consent decree. If ongoing misconduct or antitrust violations are uncovered, we urge the Department to consider both unwinding the Ticketmaster-Live Nation merger and requiring whatever other structural remedies are necessary to protect other participants in these markets— consumers, artists, and venues—and to restore competition and effective consumer choices to the ticketing market.

Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.

Sincerely

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