After a high-profile antitrust lawsuit, the U.S. Justice Department said Monday that it has tentatively settled with Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation.
After merging in 2010, the combined Live Nation and Ticketmaster control the majority of ticket sales and venue bookings in the U.S., leaving talent little choice but to work with these companies. Customers have been fed up for years with dynamic pricing issues that can drive up ticket costs by thousands of dollars (often without consulting the artists), as well as the process of buying tickets — the sales for Taylor Swift’s Eras tour were so widely aggravating that they triggered government scrutiny.
According to the AP, the settlement would have Live Nation pay a fine of up to $280 million and divest at least 13 venues to give competitors more opportunity. But several states’ Attorneys General involved in the lawsuit are not appeased by the settlement.
Someone got paid off?
Wow! 13 whole venues?
Of course they won’t, they fucking love monopolies
Deep pockets=Big donations
If anyone truly thought this DOJ was ever going to break them up, I do have a couple bridges I’m looking to unload cheap…
What’s the condition of the bridges? Do you have any flexibility on the price?
I’ll buy’em but I’ll burn them the next day
They own venues as small as bars, I’m sure they’d be devastated dropping a dozen to carry on as before.
Honestly, why should they?
The customers have shown they’re willing to get fucked, so that’s what they get.
Except customers have not. The reason people pay is because for all intents and purposes they are the only game in town.
The customers can choose to not do business with them. If the customers aren’t willing to be mildly inconvenienced to affect change, they can pay the exorbitant prices they’re obviously willing to pay.
I don’t think you understand what a monopoly is.
Except some larger artists only post their tickets to these sites. Because they are the largest. And if the artists sell elsewhere, nothing is stopping TM/LN from scalping the tickets to resell on their own site.
Or refusing to have the artists preform at their venues.
Customers can choose to not attend the concerts of those artists, but they won’t do that because they’re actually ok with paying the exorbitant prices. They demonstrate their approval of these prices to these artists AND to ticketmaster/livenation by continuing to pay these prices. Ultimately, the power to affect change lies with the customer and their wallet.
You should avoid using generalizations so much. Not everyone is willing to pay the prices. Some people do avoid buying tickets from them, I know they aren’t my first choice.
This “us vs them” mentality is not healthy for anyone.
It is absolutely viable to live your entire life without going to a live event. This isn’t anywhere on the pyramid of needs. “Only game in town” only applies for needs.
That said, I don’t buy the idea companies should be able to do whatever the hell they want. It’s bad for EVERYTHING long term. Companies are like an animal that will eat until its stomach explodes without being stopped.
I would argue that entertainment is a basic human right and that making it too expensive to enjoy any live music should be illegal.
The point of this monopoly suit was that TM owned so many venues that they weren’t just making T-swifty tickets too expensive. They were making tickets to every artist out there too expensive. They would also blacklist artists who tried to use independent venues. That is restricting something important to mental health to only those who can afford it.k
So, based on your argument, airlines should be able to form monopolies? You don’t need to fly anywhere.
Automakers? You aren’t required to drive anywhere. Just use uber/lyft/walk.
You are right, lower class people don’t deserve entertainment. /s
Antitrust laws exist for a reason.
Customers give their approval every time they give their money.
What a stupid comment
If customers are willing to pay it, why should the government stop businesses from charging it?
Customers were willing to pay for windows in the 90s but Microsoft still had actions taken against them for their monopolistic behavior regarding Internet Explorer. Your take is not only bad but is objectively wrong and at odds with antitrust and anti monopoly laws in just about all jurisdictions that have them…
Monopoly laws do NOT only apply to human necessities. They apply to all businesses. There is a reason for that.
This isn’t just that consumers are willing to pay way too much for tickets. This is that TM owns both the venues and the ticketing system, meaning that if an artist wants to perform for their fans they are forced to use a TM venue. If an artist tries to use an independent venue, they get blacklisted from TM venues. If a venue is independent, TM will blacklist artists who try to use that venue.
Why are you pushing so hard for a company who actively makes life worse for normal people?
Also, circling back to my original point, I think entertainment actually is a basic human necessity. Making it so expensive that normal people have to go into debt just to have it in their lives should be fought against.
People will always pay if they can afford it and there are no other options. That doesn’t make it okay for them to form a monopoly.
Bring back U.S. oil! After all, people were paying them!
Highschool edgelording?
In this economy?
God forbid we hold people accountable for how they waste their money.
Really going to bat for this monopoly in this here thread. Blink twice if Ticketmaster is in the room with you.
The customers didn’t ask for this. All they wanted was their tickets.
