The Justice Division is getting ready to file a federal antitrust lawsuit towards Reside Nation, the mother or father firm of Ticketmaster, in line with a number of experiences.
The Wall Avenue Journal first reported Monday that the Justice Division shall be submitting an antitrust lawsuit towards Reside Nation within the coming weeks, citing individuals accustomed to the matter. Reside Nation and Ticketmaster have confronted widespread public scrutiny for its dominance within the ticketing business, which critics say has allowed them to lift costs on reside leisure.
Ticketmaster has additionally garnered nationwide consideration after its meltdown throughout singer Taylor Swift’s on-line presale, which prevented hundreds of her followers from buying tickets for her “Eras Tour” in 2022. Since then, lawmakers have raised questions on Ticketmaster’s mother or father firm, Reside Nation, and whether or not it has engaged in anticompetitive practices.
The merger between live performance promoter Reside Nation and Ticketmaster was accepted in 2010 by the Justice Division following an antitrust investigation. Reside Nation has maintained that there’s loads of competitors within the ticketing business regardless of the considerations raised by lawmakers.
Reside Nation declined to touch upon the Wall Avenue Journal story when reached by The Hill.
Reside Nation’s head of Company Affairs, Dan Wall, has pushed again on accusations that Ticketmaster and Reside Nation are chargeable for excessive ticket costs. He wrote in a weblog submit earlier this yr that ticket costs are decided by artists and their groups and that extra service fees are decided by the venues.
“Followers are additionally informed that service fees are Ticketmaster’s means of elevating ticket costs. The truth is, Ticketmaster doesn’t set service fees, venues do, and a lot of the cash goes to the venues,” Wall wrote.
He famous that top ticket costs can be attributed to provide and demand for reside leisure.
Bloomberg additionally reported Monday that the Justice Division was getting ready to file an antitrust lawsuit towards Reside Nation, citing three individuals accustomed to the matter.
The Hill has reached out to the Justice Division for remark.
