The US Justice Department and a group of states will sue Live Nation Entertainment Inc. for antitrust violations related to Ticketmaster’s unrivaled control of concert ticket sales, according to people familiar with the case.
I get it, but if they own the major venues in every town…they can still set their own prices.
The ticket companies shouldn’t have ownership of the venue.
Pearl Jam fought them for years but had to stop because they owned every stadium and large venue, and that was 30+ years ago when they were just one company.
It’s literally the same breakup that happened with movie studios owning theaters in 1948. It’s emblematic of the state of antitrust in the past decades that we’ve let another industry get away with the exact same issue thing.
The streaming vertical integration really irks me. Say what you will about the music industry, but at least I only have to pay for ONE streaming platform to enjoy pretty much any song I want.
Both. Live nation either owns the venue or has an exclusive contract with the venue. If you run a venue and you do not parter with live nation they will run you out of business.
One of my hobbies is hosting raves and I’ve heard a lot of stories from venue owners about live nation/ticket master. They work a lot like the mafia where if you don’t accept their terms they will do everything in their power to shut you down. They will do stuff like scheduling large names shows to conflict with your key events while also ‘influencing’ the local officials to pull your liquid license. I 100% agree that they should be broken up but I would go a step further and also split off their promoter sector that way ticketing, venues, and events are all separate entities that cannot completely control the market.
I get it, but if they own the major venues in every town…they can still set their own prices.
The ticket companies shouldn’t have ownership of the venue.
Pearl Jam fought them for years but had to stop because they owned every stadium and large venue, and that was 30+ years ago when they were just one company.
It’s literally the same breakup that happened with movie studios owning theaters in 1948. It’s emblematic of the state of antitrust in the past decades that we’ve let another industry get away with the exact same issue thing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Paramount_Pictures,_Inc.
Yup. Concert venues and streaming are in the same position movie theaters were in back then.
The streaming vertical integration really irks me. Say what you will about the music industry, but at least I only have to pay for ONE streaming platform to enjoy pretty much any song I want.
When you say “own” in this context, do you mean they actually bought the building, or just that they have an exclusive contract with the venue?
Both. Live nation either owns the venue or has an exclusive contract with the venue. If you run a venue and you do not parter with live nation they will run you out of business.
One of my hobbies is hosting raves and I’ve heard a lot of stories from venue owners about live nation/ticket master. They work a lot like the mafia where if you don’t accept their terms they will do everything in their power to shut you down. They will do stuff like scheduling large names shows to conflict with your key events while also ‘influencing’ the local officials to pull your liquid license. I 100% agree that they should be broken up but I would go a step further and also split off their promoter sector that way ticketing, venues, and events are all separate entities that cannot completely control the market.