Two years after a Taylor Swift ticketing debacle riled up fans and policymakers across the country, Ticketmaster is still fighting a multipronged battle against efforts to break it up and change the rules of the industry in ways resellers are vying for â in whatâs become a multimillion-dollar and nationwide struggle over the future of online ticketing.
Live Nation Entertainment â a live events behemoth that operates Ticketmaster, owns hundreds of event venues, and manages and promotes major artists through numerous subsidiaries â has long been accused of running a monopoly. But it caught renewed attention from legislators and policymakers in late 2022, when its Ticketmaster platform crashed amid âunprecedented demandâ for Swiftâs Eras Tour. The disaster sparked widespread public anger around a simple question: why does buying tickets to an event these days feel so bad?
To many, the obvious answer is Ticketmaster’s lack of competition. The New York Times reported that the DOJ had already started investigating Live Nation for potential antitrust violations, culminating in a May 2024 antitrust lawsuit filed by the DOJ and 30 state and district attorneys general. Live …
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