Two years ago, when we had a real federal government, the Department of Justice joined forces with 30 state attorneys general in suing live entertainment behemoths Live Nation and Ticketmaster for violations of antitrust law. AKA, being a monopoly. The trial had only just started in NYC last month when, one week in, Donald Trump’s DOJ did what they were bought to do and announced a sweetheart settlement with Live Nation. No one seemed more stunned than the judge! But before Live Nation could go back to robbing from the poor and giving to the rich (themselves), more than half of the state AGs declared they wanted no part of the settlement and were ready to continue with the trial, may it please the court. The case went to the jury last Friday, and yesterday they rendered a verdict: GUILTY!
We won! …but won’t see prices lowered soon? A jury found Live Nation and Ticketmaster operated as a monopoly in its dominance of the live events and ticketing industry, validating complaints that the industry giant was stifling competition and driving up fees for fans. … But fans won’t see ticket prices or fees tacked onto their bills drop anytime soon. Judge Arun Subramanian will now hold second trial to decide what remedies are warranted, including whether to grant the states’ request to break up the company or make other structural changes such as ordering the sale of businesses.
At least we have the victory of validation: “It will be an earthquake in the industry in terms of people’s perception in feeling validated,” said Scott Grzenczyk, a lawyer with law firm Girard Sharp. “There’s big difference between people complaining about Goliath and getting a jury verdict that Goliath was a monopolist and doing something wrong,” he added. … “A jury found what we have long known to be true: Live Nation and Ticketmaster are breaking the law and costing consumers millions of dollars in the process,” New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, said in a statement Wednesday.
DOJ pushed out their antitrust lead attorney just before the settlement: During the second week of trial, in a move that surprised even the judge, the Justice Department reached a secret settlement with Live Nation. A handful of states signed onto the deal, but more than two dozen proceeded to trial. That settlement was agreed to just weeks after DOJ leadership pushed out Gail Slater, the antitrust division head known to advocate for her aggressive approach to the cases she oversaw. In a social media post after the verdict, Slater congratulated the “mighty State AG coalition that stood behind this case.”
State AGs for the win! “In the face of dwindling antitrust enforcement by the Trump administration, this verdict shows just how far states can go to protect our residents from big corporations that are using their power to illegally raise prices and rip off Americans,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta, a Democrat, said in a statement. “We are incredibly proud of today’s outcome — and especially proud of our coalition made up of red and blue states alike who understood we needed to come together to protect our consumers, businesses, and state economies from Live Nation’s illegal conduct.”
The next step is to break up the monopoly, not dictate tix prices: The jury found Ticketmaster overcharged states by $1.72 per ticket, about what the states had estimated. The jury was not asked to decide a total damages or penalty amount — that will ultimately be decided by the judge. “The courts won’t order injunctive relief to make tickets $3 less expensive per ticket,” Grzenczyk said, adding the remedies will be aimed at changing conduct in the industry to make it more competitive. “Even once those remedies are in place it can take quite a while for consumers to see the effects of them,” he added. The DOJ settlement requires the judge’s approval.
CNN’s reporting lays out the case well. For some colorful recaps of the players involved, I recommend checking out the Associated Press coverage. A Live Nation employee was put on the stand and had to answer for his own work emails calling ticket prices “outrageous” and customers “so stupid.” That employee later got a promotion to Ticketing Executive. The real testimony kicker, though, was Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino claiming that the massive Ticketmaster Fiasco of 2022 was because of a cyberattack. (Sure, Jan.) Remember that, when they completely f–ked up the sale of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour tix? The funny thing is, that incident is rumored to be what led the Biden DOJ to start investigating Live Nation and Ticketmaster for being a monopoly in the first place. So to end this post with where I started: this is reason #827,330 why we need a REAL government!
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