Washington joins lawsuit challenging Live Nation, Ticketmaster's dominance

Washington state has joined the Department of Justice in a lawsuit alleging Ticketmaster and Live Nation Entertainment have a monopoly on event sales in the United States. They seek to split the companies in two, and water down their influence.

“Free enterprise is built on companies competing,” Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson said in a statement. “Instead, these industry leaders squeezed out the competition to increase their profits, at the expense of fans. My office is partnering with this bipartisan coalition to put an end to this monopoly.”

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Live Nation and Ticketmaster merged in 2010. The Attorney General's Office says the lawsuit aims to separate Live Nation and Ticketmaster into two separate companies, and get financial restitution for customers.

Washington is now among 30 states and district attorneys that have joined the DOJ's civil antitrust lawsuit against the event and ticket companies. The lawsuit argues that, together, Live Nation and Ticketmaster have created a monopoly over event sales in the United States.

As NPR reports, the lawsuit comes after years of criticism from artists, venues, Congress members, and customers. The suit alleges that Ticketmaster and Live Nation have leveraged their influence to retaliate against competition and lock them out of popular venues, controlling musicians' access to certain venues, and buying out smaller ticket companies to expand dominance in the industry. All of which, the lawsuit claims, are violations of the Sherman Antitrust Act.

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Washington's Attorney General's Office claims that Ticketmaster's internal documents indicate that the company handles 70-80% of ticket sales in North America, while Live Nation "owns, operates or has significant influence over more than 250 venues in North America, including more than 60 of the top 100 amphitheaters in the United States," and also has controlling interests in festivals such as Lollapalooza and Bonaroo.

The AG's office also notes that Live Nation manages the Gorge Amphitheater in George, Washington, along with the RV Inn Style Resorts Amphitheater in Ridgefield, and the White River Amphitheater in Auburn.

The lawsuit has been filed with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

In response to the lawsuit, Live Nation has kicked off a campaign to counter, which includes a "Facts About Live Nation Entertainment" website.

In a statement, Live Nation Executive Vice President Dan Wall said the lawsuit was anticipated and is the result of "a long-term lobbying campaign from rivals trying to limit competition and ticket brokers seeking government protection for their business model of scooping up concert tickets and jacking up the price."

"The complaint—and even more so the press conference announcing it—attempt to portray Live Nation and Ticketmaster as the cause of fan frustration with the live entertainment industry. Despite admitting that '[t]he face values of tickets are typically set or approved by artists,' it blames concert promoters and ticketing companies—neither of which control ticket prices—for high ticket prices. It ignores everything that is actually responsible for higher ticket prices, from rising production costs, to artist popularity, to 24/7 online ticket scalping that reveals the public’s willingness to pay far more than primary ticket prices. It blames Live Nation and Ticketmaster for high service charges—and just the fact that there are fees—but ignores that Ticketmaster retains only a modest portion of those fees. In fact, primary ticketing is one of the least expensive digital distributions in the economy."

Live Nation claims that it takes a 5% commission on standard fees. It compares that StubHub's 37%, Uber's 25%, or Airbnb's 17.2%.

In his statement, Wall added that it is "absurd" to claim the companies "wield monopoly power," arguing that Ticketmaster's service charges are no higher than its competition (SeatGeek, AXS) and "are frequently lower."

This article has been updated to include a response from Live Nation.