Public Knowledge’s Post

Have you ever purchased concert tickets and wondered why the associated fees were basically enough to buy a whole other seat? Check out the article below to better understand how the DOJ’s Antitrust Division is holding Live Nation Entertainment accountable for their alleged anticompetitive behavior. I want to thank Elise P. for giving me the opportunity to work with her on this article. Join the conversation at Public Knowledge.

The U.S. Department of Justice is expected to file a lawsuit against Live Nation Entertainment, the parent company of Ticketmaster, alleging anticompetitive practices in the ticketing industry. Live Nation's control of more than 80% of the market for primary ticket sales in the US has raised concerns about limited competition and increased pricing. The lawsuit is anticipated to focus on Ticketmaster's exclusive contracts with concert venues and Live Nation's dominance over live performance tours. Live Nation has denied setting high fees and ticket prices, attributing pricing decisions to artists and venues. The lawsuit follows a years-long investigation into Live Nation's merger with Ticketmaster in 2010, which aimed to prevent monopolistic behavior. This legal action is part of the Biden administration's broader efforts to address monopolization and antitrust issues in big businesses. Follow Amanda Newman to stay up to date with technology. https://lnkd.in/ddfjxEWF

Interesting read if you want to understand the true nature of the how the industry works and the role that Ticketmaster doesn't play. The best line that sums up the truth about ticket prices is, "What Beyoncé charges has nothing to do with whether Ticketmaster or SeatGeek serves the venues she chooses to play"

If you're a music fan, you know all too well just how difficult and expensive it can be to purchase concert tickets nowadays. But an impending antitrust lawsuit by the DOJ against Ticketmaster and Live Nation Entertainment seeks to promote competition and provide consumers with relief. While the lawsuit will target anti-competitive practices, true relief for fans may require stricter regulation of secondary ticket markets, as seen in Europe. 🎟️🛡️ Check out my blog to learn how this development could reshape the concert ticketing landscape! #Ticketmaster #DOJ #Concerts #ConsumerProtection

Dusting off my ticketing hat, here's what you should know about Live Nation Entertainment / Ticketmaster getting sued by the government: * The government created this. In 2009, the Justice Department approved a merger that led to...exactly what they're saying happened now. That wasn't really all that long ago, and it was pretty obvious at the time where this would go. The DOJ knew this, made a stern face at both companies and made them promise not to misbehave if they approved the deal. * Breaking up TM and LN won't affect consumers the way you might imagine it will. Neither fees nor ticket prices are driven by TM/LN's "monopoly" power. I could write a whole piece about that, but I've already written that piece a half dozen times over the years so...pass. * A breakup would create changes inside the industry. Some new opportunities will shake loose for smaller competitors. Independent venues might have a little more leverage. The market for paying acts will change in some ways that are a little hard to foresee. * The two parts of the organization probably should be broken up. No good can come of the biggest promoter and one of the biggest venue owners and the biggest ticketing system living under the same roof. If the breakup happens, expect Ticketmaster to grow faster and be more profitable on its own. I'll let you figure that one out yourself. Let's see what happens. https://lnkd.in/gFs2F_BD

Most of us have bought tickets to some event, be it a concert, movie, or just a local talk. It's safe to say that we have all experienced that frustration with particular ticketing platforms that charge outrageous fees, nearly rivaling the cost of the base ticket itself. They will go to great lengths to buy out top venues (and if they can't buy them out, they'll make exclusive ticketing agreements) where top shows need to perform and charge those high fees to customers, knowing that the shows will likely sell very well (and many cases, sell out) raking in the money. Today, the United States Department of Justice and 30 state and district attorneys general filed an antitrust lawsuit against Ticketmaster and Live Nation. They identified several monopolistic practices that have stifled competition that could bring better experiences and pricing to customers and artists. It will be interesting to see how this plays out over the next several years. Let's hope this helps everyone in the industry, as we have been fueling record profits for these two companies with difficult ways around their systems and practices. How have you been affected by high ticket fees and ticketing systems that make the purchasing experience inconvenient? https://lnkd.in/gJKg6YT9

The entertainment industry is a complex world, and ticket pricing is often a hot topic of conversation. As someone who has worked at Ticketmaster, I can tell you that despite popular belief, Ticketmaster has the least influence over ticket prices. They simply provide a service. If you're curious about how ticket prices are actually derived, including the service fees, check out the comprehensive article linked below. It's time to uncover the truth about entertainment ticket prices once and for all. https://lnkd.in/g2ZtjNsg

Live Nation break up with Ticketmaster could be the first step towards more innovation in the ticketing industry 🔖 The U.S. Department of Justice filed a competition lawsuit against entertainment giant Live Nation, alleging that the company holds a "monopoly" over the U.S. entertainment market. The lawsuit reportedly focuses on Ticketmaster's practice of using exclusive ticketing contracts with venues, which critics argue stifles competition, limits customer choice, and drives up prices. This comes along with the new legislation in the US, UK, and Australia requiring event ticket sellers to display the total ticket price upfront, including all fees. This may compel ticketing companies to lower some of their fees to remain competitive, eventually resulting in revenue losses. In response, these companies will need to explore new ways to differentiate themselves and secure new deals. One strategy is to offer promoters and clients resale platforms, allowing them to control both primary and secondary markets and capture extra revenue that currently goes to unauthorized resellers. However, in light of the recent case, implementing this approach may prove challenging. Controlling both markets can lead to unethical practices, such as placing a percentage of tickets directly on the secondary market to capitalize on higher earnings. This may raise red flags to regulators who might try to stop such behavior. This could open the door for 3rd party white-label resale platforms who could cover the functionality for the ticketing companies while seamlessly integrating. However, to really fully stop illegal reselling, providers would need to use technology that substitutes classic tokens which can be easily exchanged. Biometrics could give a helping hand. The vision would be to link 1 face with exactly 1 ticket, disabling bots and companies like Viagogo from buying thousands of tickets. Having this would bring the added value and necessary differentiation for the ticketing firms. What about the collaborative outcome? ✅Fans would benefit from fair market prices ✅More genuine transactions would occur on the primary ticket market ✅Fans would have the flexibility to free their tickets ✅Every transaction would be under the control of the ticketing company, reducing fraud ✅Ticketing firms would bring promoters more revenues, making the company a valuable partner So the main idea is for ticketing firms to implement technologies that will make them stand out and deliver unprecedented value to its customers that leads to higher profits. And collaboration with white-label resale platform providers that use biometrics could be that necessary step. #FaceTicket #Reselling #Ticketing #RevenueOptimization

AEG CEO Jay Marciano Calls Live Nation A Monopoly, Predicts DOJ Victory in Lawsuit https://ift.tt/Dex5FaN AEG chairman/CEO Jay Marciano says Live Nation acts like a monopoly and agrees with the U.S. Department of Justice’s effort to break the concert giant and Ticketmaster up, according to an email Marciano sent out to employees on Friday (May 31). In the memo, the executive accuses the company of “preventing other businesses from competing” and “leaving consumers to suffer the consequences.” In the two-page email, Marciano said the lawsuit was an important milestone for addressing alleged monopolistic behavior in the concert business, noting “the entire ecosystem of our industry” is at stake as the case winds its way through the U.S. legal system. Related To Understand Live Nation's Real Antitrust Issue, Look to Microsoft 05/31/2024 “Notwithstanding its claims about its profit margins or its market share, it is a monopoly, and it uses its monopoly power to impose its will on the live entertainment business,” wrote Marciano of Live Nation, later writing, “We strongly believe that DOJ’s lawsuit will succeed and ultimately bring sweeping changes.” Billboard obtained a copy of the email, which can be read in full below. An AEG spokesman did not respond to a request for comment regarding the letter. Live Nation had not responded to a request for comment at press time. From: Office of Jay Marciano No doubt all of you are closely following the ongoing media coverage in the wake of the Department of Justice lawsuit against Live Nation and Ticketmaster. As I mentioned in my note from last week, we spent the last few days carefully reviewing the DOJ filing, as well as Live Nation’s subsequent response to the complaint. AEG has long maintained that Ticketmaster has a monopoly in the U.S. ticketing marketplace and uses that monopoly power to subsidize Live Nation’s content businesses, preventing other businesses from competing in those areas and leaving consumers to suffer the consequences. This lawsuit is not simply DOJ suing to break up a monopoly; at stake is the entire ecosystem of our industry, one that has long suffered from a badly broken ticketing model. As you know, the cornerstone of Live Nation’s monopoly is Ticketmaster’s exclusive ticketing contracts with the vast majority of major concert venues in the United States. These agreements block competition and innovation and result in higher ticketing fees, denying artists the ability to choose who will ticket their shows and how much their fans should pay. Following the DOJ filing, Live Nation issued several public comments in service of its ongoing strategy to maintain its dominance – unfairly blaming others for industry problems they have created, making false and misleading statements, and dismissing the significance of the case. Artists, venues, and brokers are not responsible for the broken live entertainment business model in this country – that res...

Those of you who know me probably know I love stats (odd, I know). As the final straw before this lawsuit, people point at the Swift tour ticketing situation and revel in showing videos of young (and some not so young) fans melting down over not getting tickets. What they don’t show are the ~2.5M people who DID get tickets - pretty much every single one available on the tour. With ~15M registered fans, do the math: 5 out of 6 registered fans would have never gotten a ticket (even setting aside logistics of where those 15M were distributed relative to the locations of the shows) because there were only so many tickets. Add in the surge of automated demand and you can see how there were always going to be more people crying than rejoicing. Taylor Swift would have had to do 6X the number of shows just to have enough seats for every registered fan to go once. That’s if no casual fans or professional scalpers got a single ticket. It’s unfortunate some people had to “settle” for seeing the concert at the multiplex instead of the stadium, but there is no ticketing platform or promoter that could have conjured up enough capacity to meet demand. For more insights on the entire situation, take the time to read this analysis. I look forward to the inevitable resolution and hope the effort will result in refocusing Congress on the pursuit of real solutions to the real problems (hint, I don’t think they’re going to amend the Constitution to require Taylor to remain on tour until everyone’s had a chance to see her live).