Live Nation, the world’s largest concert promoter and ticket provider, has come under fire after the Justice Department launched an investigation on its alleged antitrust business practices.
The investigation was initiated after the Justice Department received a number of complaints alleging that Live Nation was using its control over concert tours to pressure venues into contracting its subsidiary, Ticketmaster for ticket sales. One of the allegations comes from Live Nation’s competitor AEG, which told the officials that its venues would stand to lose valuable shows if Ticketmaster was not used as a vendor.
Such actions are seen as a violation of the antitrust law, an allegation Live Nation vehemently denied. Instead it dismissed the complaints as tactical, deliberate mischaracterizations by AEG and it categorically denied it made any threat or retaliated against any party. It was also noted that several venue owners have denied the accounts of threats reported by others.
âYou have a disgruntled competitor that is trying to explain their loss around the boogeyman that there were threats made that nobody can document,â said Daniel M. Wall, Live Nationâs antitrust lawyer.
It has led some to observe that the investigation is just part of the greater rivalry between Live Nation and AEG in the global entertainment scene. A story by the New York Times reports of a number of occasions Live Nation and AEG clashed over exclusive ticketing for venues in key markets across the United States like Los Angeles, Boston, Austin, Nashville, Louisville, among others.
On top of that, there has been increasing concern with regards to Live Nation’s domination in almost every aspect of live entertainment. More so in ticketing as the company holds the ticketing operations for 80 out of 100 top arenas in the United States. The company itself operates more than 200 venues worldwide and promoted around 30,000 shows around the world in the last year with 500 million tickets sold through Ticketmaster and various American and European subsidiaries. It also oversees major music festivals such as Lollapalooza and Bonnaroo.
For the meantime, Justice officials have declined to comment on the status of their investigation though the results of the investigation are expected to be released soon.
H/T: New York Times
