Since I last sent this note below on why we need to break up Live Nation and Ticketmaster, we’ve got some new updates. Today, the Department of Justice officially filed an antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation to break up their monopoly over the live entertainment industry. In their announcement, Attorney General Merrick Garland said, “We allege that Live Nation relies on unlawful, anticompetitive conduct to exercise its monopolistic control over the live events industry in the United States at the cost of fans, artists, smaller promoters, and venue operators. The result is that 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. It is time to break up Live Nation-Ticketmaster.” So if you’ve ever spent half a day in the online queue on Ticketmaster only to have the privilege of paying over $1,000 on a ticket, this one’s for you. I’m fighting hard to continue to take on concentrated corporate power like this and stop companies from getting away with ridiculously high prices and ridiculously crummy service. If you agree that we need to break up big corporate monopolies like this, please pitch in $5 or anything you can to support this work. Thanks for being a part of this, Elizabeth --- Forwarded message ---
From: Elizabeth Warren
Date: April 17, 2024
Subject: re: the Ticketmaster lawsuit
Have you been ripped off by Ticketmaster’s hidden fees and high prices? Have you spent hours waiting in a queue for tickets that aren’t even available anymore?? No matter who you’re a fan of — whether it’s Taylor Swift, Bad Bunny, or Beyoncé, or the Sox or the Celtics — fans are overwhelmingly united in agreeing that Ticketmaster makes the ticket-buying experience expensive and excruciating.
So here’s an update you might appreciate: New reporting from the Wall Street Journal indicates that the Department of Justice plans to file an antitrust lawsuit against Ticketmaster parent company Live Nation. This lawsuit will be a big step in the right direction to hold monopolistic corporations accountable for hurting consumers, and we can keep making strides if we continue fighting side by side. I’ll explain more below, but if you agree that we need to break up big corporate monopolies like this, please add your name here. I’m fighting hard to take on concentrated corporate power — and when we fight together, we can stop companies from getting away with ridiculously high prices and ridiculously crummy service. Just to back up a bit: In 2010, the federal government had let Live Nation, a huge concert-promoting company, buy Ticketmaster, a huge concert-ticket-selling company. Together, they became a one-two punch of market dominance, leaving little competition to rein in skyrocketing prices and encourage quality service. And their monopoly power goes beyond just jacking up ticket prices for consumers — it’s harming employees, vendors, and artists too: - Ticketmaster has been hiding fees and progressively piling on charges the further consumers get into the ticket-buying process.
- Live Nation has maintained a gigantic pay gap between CEO compensation and median pay for employees in 2023 — with CEO Michael Rapino bringing home $139 million last year, 5,414 times as much as the $25,673 median pay for employees, according to the Institute of Policy Studies.
- New findings indicate that Ticketmaster is also using schemes to hide profits right under our noses — incentivizing vendors to charge them at higher rates in exchange for undisclosed financial gains in the form of rebates, which allows Live Nation and Ticketmaster to use accounting tricks to record a “loss.”
- Meanwhile, they’re making massive financial gains by not disclosing these rebate arrangements to the artists, managers, or co-promoters, who are often unknowingly shouldering the costs of these confidential deals, according to those findings.
Now, harmful corporate consolidation isn’t just in the live entertainment industry — it’s everywhere. Big agribusinesses are crushing family farmers and jacking up prices for consumers. Big tech companies are elbowing out startups and using our private information for profit. Big airlines are getting away with higher fares for lower-quality service. Pure and simple, the American people are suffering under the thumb of corporations that are just too big and too powerful. I’ll keep calling on the Biden administration to use all of its tools to fight back against corporate monopolies. I’ve also got a bill — the Prohibiting Anticompetitive Mergers Act — to ban the biggest, most competition-crushing mergers, restore competition, and bring down prices for consumers. I’ll stay in the fight — but it’s only possible because I’ve got people like you fighting alongside me, Frank. If you’re with me in this fight, will you add your name to support holding predatory corporations like Ticketmaster accountable for violating antitrust laws and ripping off American people? Thanks for being part of this, Elizabeth  | 
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