Live Nation Entertainment which is the parent company of Ticketmaster has suffered a wave of criticism the current week and is now under the Justice Department which may lead to a possible split of the company because of its messed up sale process of Taylor Swift’s upcoming concert tour.
However, the Swift crash is not what brought about the DOJ investigation. The aim is to find out the ways in which the company has lifted up and hassled out competing ticket services, promoters of the concert, and different parts of the live music industry worth multibillion-dollar, as said by the people. Comments have been turned down by a spokesperson of the Justice Department as well as Live Nation.
Live Nation Is A Repeat Offender
It is not the first time that Live Nation is streaming and has been under monitoring. Live Nation grew its fame when joined hands with the giant-ticket company Ticketmaster in 2010. Yet again Live Nation is streaming in recent months.
The settlement between the company and the government came to a conclusion that allows the deal to close while the companies were compelled to not make the venues compulsory to use Ticketmaster. But 2020 brought an expiration to this settlement.
Some violations of the agreement made Live Nation settle again with the DOJ in the latter half of 2019. Live Nation however has agreed as part of the new agreement to be under independent monitoring to extend court oversight through 2025.
A stream of complaints from the musicians and venues has been quite regular over several years where the entertainment company has been enforcing contract terms that are anti-competitive. Nevertheless, Live Nation came into the limelight this week because of their failure to fulfill the overwhelming demand for tickets for Swift’s concert.
People with probing knowledge state that DOJ is unlikely to take legal action against Live Nation. Keeping the worst-case scenario of a lawsuit being filed, the company would seek a split. DOJ antitrust division headed up by Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter repeatedly propagates his preference to take legal actions rather than settle the enforcement action.
The entertainment company has been under investigation not just by DOJ. Probes this week have been announced by attorneys in North Carolina and Tennessee. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MINN) along with multiple other lawmakers have given a heads up and called for hearings and investigation to the antitrust subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
