Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation, are asking a U.S. court to throw out the verdict and order a new trial in a landmark anti-trust case where a jury found the company operates an anti-competitive monopoly that’s been overcharging sports and music fans.
This latest legal salvo comes just hours after 33 states alongside the District of Columbia filed formal motions on Thursday calling for the breakup of the world’s largest entertainment conglomerate.
The plaintiff states are asking the U.S. District Court of Southern New York to order compensation for fans, stricter industry controls and the selloff of amphitheatres as well as Ticketmaster, Live Nation’s online box office arm.
So what’s up with the 17 states that didn’t get on board? They’re perfectly comfortable with Ticketmaster fucking over their citizens?
Yes.
When 33 states request a monopoly to be broken up and a jury states there are damages from the monopoly then that should be all there is.
The only thing wrong with the article is that Ticketmaster/Live Nation isn’t a monopoly, it is a Super Monopoly because it owns ALL aspects of the industry … from the advertising to the add on fees when you shop for tickets the food and drink vendors, even the merchandise distribution. As the article said TM is starting to buy arenas and theatres.
They even have a deal with scalpers, so they make a piece of that money, too. That gives them motivation to give access to scalpers so they make money off the initial sale, as well as the scalped sale.
Yea, I saw the special scalper tickets for sale. Such a deranged business model. They must be paying millions to politicians.
It’s about time! I remember Ticketmaster going through the Congressional Dog & Pony show 20 years ago, or so, and as usual with those things, after all the bloviating is over, NOTHING changes. They figured they got through it, and now they can exploit to their greedy black heart’s content.
Then Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour happened, and every politician’s wife & daughter wanted tickets, and they found out first hand a) how hard it is to get tickets, and b) how ridiculously expensive they are. With their households in an uproar, they turned their anger and frustrations toward Ticketmaster, or Live Nation, or whatever alias they’re criming under these days, and now it has led to their demise.
This is the Free Market at work. They got so greedy, that eventually they pissed off the people they counted on to protect them. Good, they deserve it, they are one of the most ruthlessly exploitive companies in existence, along with tobacco and gambling companies.
We need smaller concerts in non-corporate venues then BOOM!..“remember Ticketmaster? We handle it ourselves now. The fans aren’t gouged and the artists make more money because the greedy middle-man got removed”.
Except a lot of record companies have clauses in artists contracts forcing them to play at Live Nation venues
I hope this company burns to the ground, and every executive is not only ousted, but finds themselves unable to find employment for the rest of their lives. Granted, they’ll still have more money than I’ll ever have, but I would love to know they can’t steal anymore, despite their best efforts
Along with all of the politicians that helped them get to where they are, a market manipulating monopoly. I can remember a campaign warning that this would happen if they got control.
I can’t remember what they were known as before it went ahead, but I think the campaign was against ‘world nation’ or something similar, around 2007 (Years after they had already been monopolising in many other ways in the US). It was a fairly basic website - no social media, but it spelled out in detail every single little thing that was bad about allowing them all to merge, and what would happen.
It was largely ignored, and now we have this global behemoth destroying festivals and events worldwide, taking over some of the best and turning them to shit, overcharging for everything, little to no competition, hiring touts to resell their tickets, claiming tickets are sold out so that their ‘dynamic pricing’ could charge more. Creating reseller platforms and allowing themselves to drive the prices up to insane levels that they would never get away with on their regular sites.
And the only reason it even got looked at is because the Presidents daughter or somebody wanted to go to Taylor Swift and the prices were crazy. It would probably be still ongoing today (and may still if Trump can do anything). That’s why so many politicians get free tickets and is the same reason that politicians shouldn’t get free tickets to anything.
I hate end stage capitalism
You want them unemployed but personally I wish to give them the all expense paid Eastern Roman disgrace experience, which is to say a blinding, detongueing, castration, and if they are annoying enough give the the classical upgrade and lash em to a cross. Profligates aren’t worthy of comfort.
All they have to do is bribe Trump
They already did! The DOJ already settled, surprising and angering the judge who was kept out of the loop about settlement talks. But the states refused to go along with Trump’s sham settlement, took over the trial on short notice, and still won.
…and they will. They know the drill.
