A Justice Department lawsuit against Live Nation for violating US antitrust laws is imminent and could be filed as soon as Thursday (May 23), a source familiar with the DOJ's plans says Advertising sign.
The lawsuit is rumored to allege that Live Nation has a monopoly on event ticketing through Ticketmaster and is illegally using its monopoly power to grow its business and stifle competition. The DOJ has been investigating Live Nation for more than two years. With this investigation now wrapped up, the company's president Joe Berchtold He recently said he hoped his company would avoid a legal showdown with the Justice Department's top lawyer, Jonathan Canter.
“These are always serious discussions. We wouldn't have gotten to this point if they didn't have concerns, but the good news is we're still talking and they said they're open-minded,” Berchtold told attendees at the JP Morgan Global Technology, Media and Communications Conference in Boston on Tuesday (May 21 ).
“Without getting into the actual details of the debate, I think it's fair to say that I continue to believe that we essentially have business practices that are fully defensible,” Berchtold added, before continuing: “We're also open to finding common ground to settle that and let's move on. But we don't know exactly what they want at this point.”
Live Nation declined to comment for this story.
The Justice Department's case is believed to center on Ticketmaster's use of exclusive ticketing contracts when registering venues for its ticketing services. Typically, Ticketmaster pays venues an advance on the revenue it generates from the fees it charges consumers as part of the ticketing process. The longer the contract, the higher the advance that Ticketmaster can pay.
DOJ officials don't like the practice, arguing it shuts out new companies from competing in the ticketing space. Ticketmaster officials, however, say they are open to working with non-exclusive deals — both the Greek Theater in Hollywood and the Red Rocks in Denver are open venues where promoters use their ticketing provider of choice — but that venues they often rely on exclusive deals to meet their capital needs.
While Ticketmaster has more exclusive ticketing contracts than any other company, it's not alone in using them: Every major competitor pays upfront fees in exchange for exclusive ticketing deals with venues and sports teams.
That includes SeatGeek, which reportedly paid $10 million in 2021 for exclusive rights to ticket events at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn over a seven-year term. Two years after the agreement, Advertising sign the managing director of Barclays Center and BSE Global said at the time Sam Zasman threatened to publicize SeatGeek's technology problems and contract violations if it did not immediately agree to end the deal.
SeatGeek eventually agreed to end its relationship with Barclays Center and was replaced by Ticketmaster. DOJ officials reportedly looked into the incident during their investigation into Live Nation.
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/business/touring/live-nation-lawsuit-department-of-justice-thursday-1235690821/