The DOJ vs. The Ticketmonster 

I’ve officially hit my “Old Man Phase”, as I find myself muttering “I remember when…” a lot more than I used to. I’ll be turning fifty in less than two months and a few things have changed about my concert going experiences. For instance, I like sitting down more than a mosh pit. That’s not to say I still don’t pay for those pit sections every now and again and attempt to participate in some jovial pushing and shoving, but I pay the price more the next day. Being right up front, with the speakers towering over me, and feeling every bass line and having my face melted by that distorted and heavy guitar riff made me burst with happiness. Now, I find myself standing more towards the back with a good sightline to the bathrooms if needed.  

Whatever your concert going rituals and experiences are I am certain that we can agree on one thing; the ticket prices are way too high. And so here we have it, I remember when you could go to a big act show for like $25 a ticket. That’s what a ticket to see Tom Petty was in 1992 when my sister and I went and we were already starting to argue that the price was too expensive back then, because it was. I mean, I went to Lollapalooza in 1992 for $30. That line up had Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jesus and Mary Chain, Ice Cube, Ministry, Lush and more for three lawns mowed (I charged $10 a parcel back then). Recently my friend and I paid $300 per ticket to see Pixies with Modest Mouse, and that was “standing only” in the pit for 4 hours. It was originally like $235 each, and we found ourselves saying “well, that’s not too bad these days”, which is insane, but after taxes and fees it came to $297.35 for each “seat”.  

Up until recently, with the Taylor Swift Fiasco, the most infamous fight with Ticketmaster started with a handful of charity concerts in Chicago in 1994. That’s when the aforementioned Pearl Jam began a year long, bitter battle with the ticketing monster, after it had tacked on service fees for tickets to shows that were making an effort to raise money for impoverished children.  

On May 6th, 1994, the Seattle based super group filed a complaint, prompted by the Department of Justice, on the grounds that Ticketmaster had used its power in the industry to prevent promoters from booking the band because they opposed Ticketmaster’s concert prices. In their testimonial, Pearl Jam had said that Ticketmaster had a “monopoly” over ticket distribution due to personal connections with concert venues, and that which left artists, their management, and concertgoers with no other viable alternative then to adhere to these prices. The band also pointed out that service fees charged by the company unfairly raised the price of tickets, rendering them inaccessible to fans who could not afford the higher costs. 

To be more specific in these matters, Pearl Jam had reportedly requested $1.80 service fees on $18 tickets while Ticketmaster typically charged at least two or three times that amount. Some tickets ended up with service fees as high as $18. Due to the band’s popularity at this time, society remained hopeful that Pearl Jam’s speaking out could invoke some change. At the time the grunge ensemble which is composed of Eddie Vedder, Jeff Ament, Mike McCready, Stone Gossard, and Matt Cameron was widely considered to be the most popular rock band in America. 

However, despite the publicity of the situation and the Department of Justice initially stating that they would investigate the “possible anti-competitive practices in the ticket distribution industry,” Pearl Jam’s case was closed in July of 1995 without action. I remember when that all went down. And so here we are again. 

On May 23^rd of 2024 the Department of Justice once again set it’s sites on Ticketmaster and its parent company and set forth a lawsuit that accuses them of running an illegal monopoly over live events in these United States and is asking a court to break up the system that smothers its competition and drives up ticket prices for fans. 

From the AP, “Filed in federal court in Manhattan, the sweeping antitrust lawsuit was brought with 30 state and district attorneys general and seeks to dismantle the monopoly they say is squeezing out smaller promoters, hurting artists and drowning ticket buyers in fees. Ticketmaster and its owner, Live Nation Entertainment, have a long history of clashes with major artists and their fans, including Taylor Swift and Bruce Springsteen.” 

“It’s time for fans and artists to stop paying the price for Live Nation’s monopoly,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said. “It is time to restore competition and innovation in the entertainment industry. It is time to break up Live Nation-Ticketmaster.” 

Thirty years later and we are still banging our heads against the wall and hoping that these mega stars can stop the bleeding from our wallets. Maybe we can make change happen this time or maybe this is the very definition of insanity, “trying the same thing over and over and expecting different results”. These concerts are still sold out every time, so maybe, in some weird way we are accepting of this.  

Here’s what we are directly hearing from the DOJ website: 

“The Department is committed to competition throughout the economy, including in live music,” said Acting Associate Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer. “As our complaint alleges, Live Nation-Ticketmaster monopolizes the markets for concerts and other live events at the expense of fans, venues, and artists across the country. The Department is proud to bring this case to restore competition to this industry.” 

“The live music industry in America is broken because Live Nation-Ticketmaster has an illegal monopoly,” said Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. “Our antitrust lawsuit seeks to break up Live Nation-Ticketmaster’s monopoly and restore competition for the benefit of fans and artists.” 

According to the complaint, Live Nation-Ticketmaster has unlawfully maintained monopolies in several concert promotions and primary ticketing markets and engaged in other exclusionary conduct affecting live concert venues, including arenas and amphitheaters. The complaint further alleges that Live Nation-Ticketmaster’s exclusionary practices fortify and protect what it refers to as its “flywheel.” The flywheel is Live Nation-Ticketmaster’s self-reinforcing business model that captures fees and revenue from concert fans and sponsorship, uses that revenue to lock up artists to exclusive promotion deals, and then uses its powerful cache of live content to sign venues into long term exclusive ticketing deals, thereby starting the cycle all over again. Live Nation-Ticketmaster’s anticompetitive conduct creates even more barriers for rivals to compete on the merits. Specifically, Live Nation-Ticketmaster engaged in a variety of tactics to eliminate competition and monopolize markets.” 

That’s a lot of great verbiage and it seems we have isolated the issue, but how do we stop it? That show that my friend and I got tickets to see Pixies and Modest Mouse at. That amphitheater was owned by Live Nation! Live Nation controls a large host of music venues, and it can withhold access to those venues from artists who don’t use Live Nation as a promoter. The DOJ says Live Nation “has a monopoly on large amphitheaters, controlling 40 of the country’s 50 biggest.” 

According to the lawsuit, Live Nation directly manages more than 400 artists, controls around 60% of concert promotions at major concert venues across the country, and controls more than 265 concert venues in North America. With the partnership with Ticketmaster, Live Nation controls roughly 80% or more of major concert venues’ primary ticketing for concerts. 

We can all agree (other than Ticketmaster and Live Nation) that this is wrong and unfair. The good news is that, unlike other antitrust cases, breaking up Live Nation has overwhelming bipartisan support. We are all on the same side of the issue for once. This was abundantly clear at the Senate Judiciary Committee’s recent hearing. Bipartisan support was also evident in letters to DOJ from the Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust, & Consumer Rights leadership, Chairwoman Senator Amy Klobuchar and Ranking Member Senator Mike Lee. The fans are gathered and ready for reorganization of ticketing and venue standards. My hope is that we stand diligently and that our voices, as well as those of the artist’s are heard. I’m personally running out of money.