The United States Department of Justice is opening an antitrust investigation into Live Nation Entertainment, The New York Times reports. The company, which owns Ticketmaster, has faced increased scrutiny after fans struggled to buy tickets to Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour. The investigation, according to The Times, “is focused on whether Live Nation Entertainment has abused its power over the multibillion-dollar live music industry.” The decision to open the investigation, however, was reportedly made before the issues with the Eras Tour tickets.
Live Nation and Ticketmaster merged back in 2010, leading to the creation of Live Nation Entertainment. The Justice Department accepted the merger on the condition that Ticketmaster sold another ticketing company it owned to a rival firm. In addition, it had to license its ticketing software to another rival, Anschutz Entertainment Group. In 2019, the Justice Department amended its agreement with Live Nation Entertainment after finding that the company violated terms of the original deal.
Tickets to Taylor Swift’s tour went on sale earlier this week through Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan program, which is meant to limit the number of bots who can scoop up tickets ahead of actual fans. Demand was unprecedented, however, and users experienced technical difficulties and long wait times for the chance to buy tickets. As a result, Ticketmaster canceled today’s public on-sale date for tickets to the tour.
In a statement Friday (November 18), Swift wrote, “I’m not going to make excuses for anyone because we asked them, multiple times, if they could handle this kind of demand we were assured they could. It’s truly amazing that 2.4 million people got tickets, but it really pisses me off that a lot of them feel like they went through several bear attacks to get them.”
In an official statement shared with Pitchfork, Live Nation Entertainment wrote:
As we have stated many times in the past, Live Nation takes its responsibilities under the antitrust laws seriously and does not engage in behaviors that could justify antitrust litigation, let alone orders that would require it to alter fundamental business practices.
The concert promotion business is highly competitive, with artist management in control of selecting their promoting team. The demand for live entertainment continues to grow, and there are more promoters than ever working with artists to help them connect with fans through live shows. The Department of Justice itself recognized the competitive nature of the concert promotion business at the time of the Live Nation-Ticketmaster merger. That dynamic has not changed.
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