On August 3rd, The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) released an article: Springsteen’s ‘dynamic’ ticket prices just the latest twist in Ticketmaster saga. The article notes that since the merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster over a decade ago: ”Since then, there’s been a deluge of stories of music fans complaining — and suing — over antitrust violations, hidden fees and rising ticket prices.” The article goes on to explain that:
“As recently as 2019, the Competition Bureau ordered Ticketmaster to pay a penalty of $4.5 million for misleading customers on online ticket sales, all while the bureau also ruled the company’s practice of recruiting scalpers to secretly purchase and resell Ticketmaster tickets for inflated costs was legal.
But shortly after, the DOJ stated that Ticketmaster and Live Nation had ‘repeatedly and over the course of several years’ violated the legal agreement that allowed them to merge, using ‘threatening behaviour and retaliation’ to bully venues into sticking with Ticketmaster, ‘lest they risk losing Live Nation concerts, hindering effective competition for primary ticketing services.’
The two later reached an agreement that both extended the terms of the merger, which were set to expire in 2020, and toughened its rules. In response, the nonprofit American Antitrust Institute published a letter arguing that stronger amendments were needed, to address the fact that the harmful results of their merger on the entertainment industry ‘cannot be understated.’”
