Live Nation Entertainment, the world’s largest concert promoter and owner of the ticket sales platform Ticketmaster, abused its market position and acted illegally as a monopoly in the live entertainment industry. Thanks to this, it was able to enrich itself and sell tickets at excessively high prices to fans and set advantageous conditions for its venues, according to a federal jury in New York on Wednesday.
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A total of 33 states and the capital, Washington D.C., sued the ticket sales and live event organization giant in an antitrust case. The jury’s decision comes two weeks after the United States Department of Justice reached an out-of-court settlement with the company.
The new out-of-court agreement between Live Nation and Ticketmaster aims to avoid the companies having to be split up, as initially demanded by the Department of Justice, which started the case during Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration. The two companies, which are part of the same group, have agreed that Live Nation will relax the conditions required with the venues where concerts are held, to allow multiple ticket sales providers to compete, instead of demanding exclusivity for Ticketmaster. The group will also allow artists to use other promoters when organizing their tours in the United States. But this agreement did not influence the jury.
The jury, made up of nine people, concluded that Live Nation engaged in monopolistic practices by inflating concert ticket prices and abusing its dominant market position by setting the terms of use for the venues where live shows are held. The jury found that Live Nation illegally tied the use of its owned venues to its concert promotion services, according to Bloomberg.
The jury concluded that Live Nation’s abusive strategy caused concertgoers and attendees to pay on average $1.72 more for tickets. The federal judge for the district of New York, Arun Subramanian, who presided over the trial, will take this finding into account to calculate the compensation Live Nation must pay for its illegal conduct and how to remedy the monopoly.
The 33 states that formed a coalition for the class action lawsuit against Live Nation are claiming up to $700 million. Additionally, they could request further penalties for violations of state antitrust laws. Voices demanding the breakup of Live Nation and Ticketmaster to definitively end the monopoly are also growing louder.