AAI applauds the U.S. Department of Justice for the bold and necessary step of suing to break up Ticketmaster and Live Nation. This lamentable 2010 combination of music behemoths was sold to policymakers on the promise of enhanced competition in concert promotion, ticketing, and venue operation markets through vertical integration or bundling. With the gift of 14 years’ hindsight, however, it is clear that any gains even arguably attributable to efficiency rather than market power have been pocketed; they have not been passed on to consumers or musicians.
AAI vigorously opposed the merger when it was announced in 2009 and conditionally approved in 2010, criticizing the government’s reliance on ineffectual behavioral remedies that the merged firm was well placed to circumvent or ignore. Ten years later, when those fears were realized and documented in flagrant consent decree violations, the government responded by doing the same thing over again, expecting a different result. AAI renewed its objections.
When Bruce Springsteen and Taylor Swift launched 2023 summer concert tours marred by bot infestations, site crashes and dynamic pricing snafus, the country saw what happens when a powerful firm unencumbered by rivalry channels its considerable resources toward investments in wealth extraction rather than superior quality or prices. AAI convened a roundtable of experts, testified in Congress, and repeated its calls for a breakup while providing a roadmap to execute it.
We thank the DOJ for answering the call, and we share in the high spirits of long-stifled music fans, singers, and songwriters, who today are releasing pent-up, guttural howls reminiscent of Roger Daltrey’s celebrated scream in a 1971 hit for the English rock band the Who, often ranked as the greatest rock and roll scream of all time. All together now, the song title and chorus goes, “We Won’t Get Fooled Again.”
The DOJ’s full complaint is available for download here.
Key AAI resources on the live events sector are below.
AAI Research
Busting the Live Nation–Ticketmaster Monopoly: What Would a Break-Up Remedy Look Like?
White Paper Says Ticketmaster-Live Nation Merger Should Be Halted
White Paper on Restrictive Paperless Tickets
AAI Advocacy
An Interview with AAI’s Diana Moss on the Ticketmaster Debacle
AAI Calls Out Ticketmaster Monopoly on NPR’s 1A, Highlights Importance of a Break-up Remedy
AAI Impact
AAI’s Work on Ticketmaster-Live Nation Merger Cited by Senators Blumenthal and Klobuchar
For Questions or Comments, please contact AAI President Randy Stutz, rstutz@antitrustinstitute.org, or AAI Vice President Kathleen Bradish, kbradish@antitrustinstitute.org.
