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WRITE TO ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL JONATHAN KANTER

Make your voice heard

In 2010, when Ticketmaster and Live Nation combined, the Department of Justice (DOJ) claimed the merger would promote “robust competition” to “benefit consumers.” Instead, live event fans, venues, and artists are living out the worst case scenario of this merger’s impact in real time.

Live Nation-Ticketmaster owns more than 70 percent of the primary ticketing and live event venues market. Consumers face exorbitant, and often unexpected, price hikes and junk fees. Prices have risen for both the primary and secondary ticket markets. Meanwhile, this monopoly just celebrated its best financial quarter in the history of the company and agreed to give its CEO a $30 million raise.

It’s time for the DOJ to break up this failed merger and bring fair competition back.

The public is sick of Live Nation-Ticketmaster nickel and diming their access to live events with junk fees, some of which can amount to more than 75% of the ticket’s face value. Consumers have filed thousands of complaints in various arenas, including with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Federal Trade Commission, the Better Business Bureau, and in the media.

Musicians have also spoken out for years about the dangers of a single company controlling so much of the live music marketplace. During the pandemic, as musicians were devastated by lost revenue, Live Nation-Ticketmaster flexed its market power by proposing exploitative changes to artist contracts, cutting artist pay and shifting the risk of cancellations to artists themselves. Because of the company’s dominant position, performers may be forced to choose between working with Live Nation-Ticketmaster or skipping the region entirely, disappointing fans and losing even more revenue.

In addition, several lawmakers have called out Live Nation-Ticketmaster’s misconduct. In 2020, the DOJ found that Live Nation-Ticketmaster was violating the terms of its 2010 merger consent agreement and was bullying independent venues, threatening to deprive them of popular concert acts unless the venues agreed to have Ticketmaster manage their ticket sales.

Live Nation and Ticketmaster are flouting the law and must be stopped. The 2010 merger consent agreement relied upon self-policing and reporting from third-party industry observers who perceive misconduct. It isn’t working. Today the company is larger and more powerful and abusive than ever.

There is only one course of action left. I am calling on Department of Justice to thoroughly investigate Ticketmaster’s anticompetitive conduct and move to break them up now.

Demand the Department of Justice Investigate Ticketmaster now.

The Department of Justice needs to hear from people that care about Ticketmaster’s abuse.

Customize your email to the DOJ asking them to investigate Ticketmaster and move to break them up. If you have a personal story about your experience with Ticketmaster, please include it in the email. All letters will be delivered via email to the DOJ.

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