Amy Klobuchar on DOJ's Live Nation and Ticketmaster lawsuit: 'Enough Is Enough'

For years Sen. Amy Klobuchar tried to reform the concert industry. On Thursday, the Justice Department filed a lawsuit to break up Live Nation and Ticketmaster's alleged monopoly in the U.S. tour industry, arguing that the businesses have been feeding off ticket buyers since the merger in 2010. (Live Nation issued a lengthy statement denying charges that it is a monopoly, arguing that the lawsuit “attempts to portray Live Nation and Ticketmaster as the cause of fans' frustration with the live entertainment industry.”)

In January 2023, Klobuchar, a Democrat from Minnesota, held a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing to investigate the companies after fans of Taylor Swift, Bruce Springsteen and other artists accused them of unfair business practices. Her intention with the hearing, she says, was to build evidence for a lawsuit like this. Talking to you Rolling rock by phone Thursday, Klobuchar says sees the filing as a win for consumers and a starting point for further change.

“This is a big win for concertgoers, for sports fans, for people who really want to see a change,” he says. “So I hope it will be resolved as soon as possible.”

What do you think of the lawsuit?
The evidence is clear: It's time to break up Live Nation and Ticketmaster. I have long been opposed to this combination. I raised concerns years and years ago when it was allowed to pass. And since then, there has been this consent decree that continues to be violated.

So if the DOJ had just done something minor, I don't think it would have fixed this problem. So I'm very happy that they're going with the remedy that we need to see, which is to break up these companies.

How do you see the issue?
You have a three-headed monopoly: One is in ticketing, two are in event promotion, and three are venue owners, and all the monopolistic behavior you'd expect to see in such a situation is happening here: threats, retaliation, rising fees, confusing procedures. And the numbers are so chilling: [Live Nation and Ticketmaster handle close to] 90 percent of tickets for Advertising sign Top 40 tours, as well as professional sporting events; 80 percent of the monopoly for large venues. and [they control] 70 percent off all tickets. Next, let's move on to promotion: [they handle] 60 percent off promotion for all major venues. Then go to the fact that they own premises the, for those who don't own and are trying to lock them up for seven- to 10-year contracts. And if they don't lock, then there are always threats [not to book events there]designated by the Ministry of Justice.

When we did our hearing, I said there were three reasons we did it: One was to gather evidence for the Department of Justice. The second was to educate fans so they could advocate for themselves and change. and the third was to introduce legislation, which we did with things like transparency, ticketing and pricing, automatic refunds when gigs are cancelled, and making sure we don't see bots buying tickets. The bigger goal was to get this lawsuit started and filed.

What do you hope the lawsuit in the concert industry starts immediately?
This is up to Ticketmaster and Live Nation. With the behavior described, this sometimes causes companies to change behavior so as not to create even more evidence for an ongoing lawsuit [laughs]. It will be up to them if they are going to settle it or fight it all the way to the Supreme Court. The competition between promoters is to give artists a choice.

In terms of competition, what roles should government play in regulating the concert industry?
We started with this [Fans First Act] bill that the senator [John] Cornyn [R-TX] and I collected, and you see many states doing it. I always applaud these efforts because after all [people will say]”Oh, maybe we need a federal law.” [Our law is] focuses on fan protection. And there's more you can do about ticket prices and the like, and that may still be ahead. But today is the day to focus on the cause of many of these problems, and that is a three-headed monopoly that knows no bounds.

What do you hope people get out of seeing the DOJ file this suit?
I've seen parents of high school or college kids say, “We can't afford it [tickets]. We'll have to mortgage our house so our daughter can see Taylor Swift.” So I think there are a lot of people who know something is wrong here and want to see it change.

I hope that the example of Ticketmaster's consolidation – which is much more understandable than, say, Google or Amazon, which are equally bad – will be a springboard for more antitrust action. There were a lot of things that happened in Theodore Roosevelt's time—there were the trains and the farming movement in the Midwest that really captured people's imaginations—but there were other monopolies that then collapsed.

You just have to get a movement of people saying “Enough is enough” to change the law. And what better place to start than [helping] Swifties?

Do you think most people understand what monopoly is?
Many artists and venues are afraid to talk about it because they don't want to be them [Live Nation and Ticketmaster] punish. And that's beyond Ticketmaster… Tech companies have spent over $300 million on advertising, counting my account and me. So it's not an easy task, and that's why our country has created this system of checks and balances, so if Congress is afraid to act because it's afraid of all the money and the advertising and everything else, the courts can step in. So this is a moment for the Department of Justice.