What does the federal government accuse the corporate of?
The Government claims that Live Nation Entertainment’s sprawling business model stifles competition and that the Companies punished Venues that depend on other ticketing services.
Live Nation, the country's largest concert promoter, and Ticketmaster, the country's largest ticket seller, have long been major players within the music industry. After the Justice Department approved a merger In 2010, the 2 firms merged, leading to the brand new company Live Nation Entertainment gaining significant power.
Live Nation Entertainment now controls lots of the functions related to organizing a concert: it has venues, promotes live showsbooks gigs, produces shows, manages artists, sells tickets and more.
Why is the Biden administration doing this?
After winning the 2020 presidential election President Joe Biden promised to make use of the Justice Department's antitrust division to interrupt up monopolies, and that is precisely what the federal government is attempting to do within the case of Live Nation Entertainment.
The government is Investigation Live Nation Entertainment for many years. But after that a botched Ticketmaster pre-sale for Taylor Swift's Eras Tour in late 2022 – which made it almost unimaginable for fans to purchase tickets at face value – government scrutiny tightened.
After this fiasco, fans began contacting their legislators and even the US Senate held a hearing on this topic. In May 2024, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz will signed a bill This would require all ticket sellers within the state to reveal their fees upfront.
How has Ticketmaster modified the ticket buying experience?
For much of the twentieth century, purchasing tickets to a show or sporting event required going to the venue's box office.
In 1976, Albert Leffler worked at Arizona State University Center for Performing Artsand Peter Gadwa, an IT worker on the identical campus, founded Ticketmaster with businessman Gordon Gunn III. The company began selling tickets a 12 months later. As it developed, the corporate incorporated recent technologies to facilitate ticket sales at a growing variety of locations outside of the venue where a show was to be performed.
Ticketmaster finally acquired Ticketronhis predecessor and rival.
I remember standing in line at a neighborhood food market in Williamsburg, Virginia as a youngster within the Nineties to purchase tickets to a Dave Matthews Band show on the Virginia Beach Amphitheater. I needed to be on the food market at 9 a.m. to purchase the tickets, but because it was a neighborhood Ticketmaster seller, I saved myself an hour-long drive to the venue.
A couple of years later, Ticketmaster introduced the technology needed to permit concertgoers to buy tickets online. In 2008 permitted paperless Entry.
However, this convenience comes with hidden fees. Suddenly, the value of your $25 ticket can balloon to $40, with that extra $15 relatively opaque until you get to the box office. Previously, these fees were a matter of convenience; there was no fee if you went to the venue to purchase a ticket.
Now the fees are inevitable and multiplying: A service fee, order processing fee, setup fee and delivery fee may apply.
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What impact does Live Nation have on artists' ability to earn a living?
In my research and from my very own experience I can say that the roles of live music and recorded music have fundamentally modified.
From the Seventies to the Nineties, musicians with medium and enormous fan bases toured to advertise their albums. During this time, these musicians assumed that they’d make a loss on their tours; the profit would come from their ability to sell more albums. Lesser-known musicians, however, have at all times left me depend on playing in small venues to generate any income in any respect.
With the appearance of file-sharing services, which were later replaced by streaming, artists became increasingly depending on touring revenue. to complement their incomeas revenue from album sales declined.
As even the preferred musicians increasingly depend on touring revenue, they’re placing more emphasis on ensuring they earn what they’re entitled to. Fans feel like they’ve a detailed relationship with their favorite musicians and are able to support them financially.
But if Live Nation Entertainment increases fees or puts pressure on the musicians to simply accept a smaller share of the concert revenues, It becomes clear to the fans that they and their favorite musicians are being treated unfairly.
What will occur in the longer term?
The government will seek a Court case to find out whether Live Nation Entertainment has a monopoly. If it’s found that the corporate violates the Sherman Anti-Trust ActLive Nation Entertainment can be forced to restructure and even split into two or more separate firms.
Of course, it takes time for a court case to be finalized, even when the parties reach an agreement before the trial date. And any decision can have to undergo an appeals process. I imagine that this dispute is probably going will only be solved in just a few years.
Aside from the lawsuit, the Biden administration is working on a ban on so-called “Junk fees“Eliminating exorbitant or hidden fees on concert tickets would solve a few of these problems.
Unfortunately, regardless of what happens to Live Nation Entertainment, the music industry as a complete – whether it’s the record labels, streaming services, music publishers or music venues – tends towards more consolidation and monopolistic behavior.
image credit : theconversation.com