The DOJ filed an antitrust lawsuit against Ticketmaster-owner LiveNation

A legal battle between nations is now underway.

In one corner of the ring sits Live Nation, “the largest live entertainment company in the world" – and in the other, representing the nation of America, sits the US Department of Justice, which yesterday sued to break up LiveNation over allegedly anticompetitive behavior.

The lawsuit focuses on Live Nation’s “flywheel” strategy of capturing fees and revenue from concert fans and sponsorships, pouring this revenue into signing artists to exclusive promotion deals, and then leveraging this cache of artists to sign venues into exclusive, long-term ticketing deals.

• The company owns or controls 265+ concert venues in North America, including 60 of the top 100 amphitheaters.
• Live Nation also directly manages 400+ musical artists, controls ~60% of concert promotions at major venues, and, through its subsidiary Ticketmaster, controls ~80% of major concert venues’ ticketing – plus a growing share of the resale market.

The result? “... fans pay more in fees, artists have fewer opportunities to play concerts, smaller promoters get squeezed out, and venues have fewer real choices for ticketing services,” according to Attorney General Merrick Garland.

These practices have also created many non-governmental enemies for the company over the years – including Pearl Jam, Bruce Springsteen fans, and the all-powerful Swifties, whose outrage in 2022 led the DOJ to once again take a closer look at how Live Nation conducts business.

Live Nation's response: In a blog post, the company argues its market share is in decline and profit margins are low (1.4%), which doesn't indicate a monopoly.

Zoom out: The Biden Administration has been playing a lot of Monopoly – Go! Over the past year-and-a-half, officials have also brought antitrust suits against Apple and Google.