DoodahMan
PLEASE make this happen Uncle Sam! i am a lover of music, my friends are lovers of music, the circles i run in on the internet are lovers of music. i cannot express in words how much Live Nation sucks. they are ruining concerts. not only do they have a strangle-hold on venues, but why the hell are they "allowed" to run some in-house scalping ops? i cannot wait for the day i see their demise. i will not pour out a beer for them! sorry for the rant HN. Pearl Jam was right decades ago man.
EasyMark
The FTC and DoJ have been hitting it out of the park recently, unfortunately, there are a lot of judges out there that think corps should be able to do anything they want.
julianeon
If Live Nation-Ticketmaster is not a monopoly then there is no such thing as a monopoly.
knappe
I am so hopeful that this happens. I was comparing the fees to see a band in the US or EU recently based on their tour dates and it was insane what US ticket prices came out to be. It was ~$54 for a ticket in the US because of all the junk fees and just 8 euros for other places in the EU.
supernova87a
Let's however not get too caught up in feel-goodism that somehow breaking up Ticketmaster is ridding the live entertainment industry of some external leech that everyone hated.

You should realize that venues and artists are equally beneficiaries of what Ticketmaster enables. In a sense they enjoy having Ticketmaster be the hated scapegoat for high prices that they then also enjoy the benefits of.

Without Ticketmaster who knows how much less tickets would sell for. And venues get paid a cut by Ticketmaster. Artists get paid a cut by Ticketmaster. Sometimes those parties are glad for that value extraction from the concertgoer to be done on their behalf, and to be blamed on an entity that diverts attention from the fact that they want more $ too.

Ticketmaster did not just emerge to prey on an unwilling helpless industry. They occupy a niche that is part of a semi willing ecosystem.

keane
Seems like high public interest – the (snarky) Adam Conover half-hour lay-person overview of the Live Nation-Ticketmaster background has 1.6 million views and over 8,000 comments: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayrVYwoe-DY
wizardforhire
As someone who predominately works in music and has for two and half decades… Please and hurry up and do it too totality!

I’ve watched the rise, domination and effects first hand as to what live nation has done. Hell, I’ve lived it! It’s an utter disaster hell scape. Only lessoned because its “entertainment.” Regardless if it was a more strategically important industry it would have already been broken up standard oil style.

Once upon a time payolla was a crime. Live nation is worse than payolla ever was and I don’t say that lightly. At least with payolla it was a simple quid pro quo pay to play. Live nation has the radio stations, it has the venues, it has the ticketing, it has the booking agents, it has the labels, it has the artists, and it has the vast majority of the personal. When theyre in a city they region lock it , which is to say if you’re not live nation you’re priced out or just playing black listed. Think the opposite of net-neutrality only physical and literally every facet of the industry up and down.

The ticket prices may be what triggered the doj because it effects the public, behind the scenes its even worse.

ryandrake
This is great news but: Please also stop giving Ticketmaster your money. Every dollar you voluntarily give them (for a totally optional product, I might add) encourages them to continue their horrible practices.

"Ticketmaster is such a terrible company!" he says as he buys more concert tickets from them.

xenospn
Finally. As someone who is active in the local music scene, I’ve spent thousands on junk fees over the years. Not sure why it has taken this long.
sitkack
I would like to fund the justice department’s GoFundMe
glimshe
I'm against most of these government "breakup" actions but there is an exception for every rule. I believe we can all agree that it's okay to disintegrate a company that simultaneously occupies every circle of hell.
seatac76
Finally. This will be great for indie artists and venues. Hopefully all the local older venues we have here in the US can have a cheaper option to help them flourish.
IamLoading
Jeez, How did Govt take this long to break up Live Nation. How?
dylan604
What's the typical turn time for a case like this from the time it is filed to the time it is actually in front of a judge/jury? This particular administration only has a guaranteed relevance of about 7 months. It could get extended, or it could get replaced and then cases like this would most likely get dropped.

So, why bring it now?

sschueller
What punishment will the executives receive?

This will not prevent any future execs from aggressively building another such monopoly, causing years of financial and other harm.

They still walk away with their bags of cash. Their names won't even be tarnished so they can go right back to doing the same thing.

2OEH8eoCRo0
Why aren't concert tickets sold similar to hotel rooms or airline seats? You can buy an airline seat or hotel room through dozens of online marketplaces because they cooperate via a common and fair system.
fuzzfactor
They worked hard to earn this distinction, their poineering efforts have now been well recognized by none other than the US government, in a way that few others have.

They really pushed it head & shoulders above the rest, regardless of how much alternative orgs have aspired to this type of pursuit.

It couldn't happen to a more deserving bastion of the music industry !

One can only hope they promptly receive their just rewards for everything they have done, and then some, as a shining example to others who might aspire to such a level of accomplishment.

mjevans
It would be nice to have competition among sellers within a given venue. Even give the venue the option to sell single seats (rather than large blocks at some bulk rate).

For security reasons the ticket format should probably be the venue's choice, the bulk/block rate would probably include a specific time window for the bulk buyer to have their bonded agent print off the tickets on the venue's hardware.

dcist
Do T-Mobile and Sprint next. T-Mobile just announced it's jacking rates up. It's a direct result of the merger.
ClassyJacket
They should make it illegal for large venues to have exclusivity requirements for these companies. Big stadiums and venues usually had some public assistance, either directly or the public paying for e.g. a train station at the venue - there should be requirements as conditions to that
jgalt212
Did DOJ make a shout-out to Pearl Jam?

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/pearl-jam-taki... (1995)

dang
Recent and related:

Justice Department to file antitrust suit against Live Nation - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40047094 - April 2024 (378 comments)

foobarian
I can't wait for the Taylor Swift Arena where TS Inc. hires the staff, the security, the concessions, and with a TS Radio station broadcasting nearby. Not being sarcastic! :-)
poikroequ
I hope they can break the stranglehold they have on the venues as well, open up the market to other ticket sellers, kill the exclusivity deals between Ticketmaster and the venues.
cjk
Finally. This merger ought to have been blocked from the get-go, but better late than never. Concert ticket prices and fees are completely out of control.
xyst
How long until JD green lights the re-re-merger between Live Nation and Ticketmaster?
mixmastamyk
Also would like to see Ticketmaster broken up itself, not just the LN part.
alsetmusic
Twice this year, I've paid the highest prices I've ever paid for tickets to shows. First, I paid something like $300 each for tickets to see the band Air. Sure, they're popular (among people who like their genre, at least) and from France and rarely tour. I could justify it cause I've only seen them once and might not get another chance, but holy smokes. Then I bought tickets to see comedian David Cross. Who is American. Playing in America. To get in the tenth row cost over $1000 for four tickets.

I know that Ticketmaster's role is to play the bad guys and most artists are in on the scam because they get some of the "fees" without the blame. But this is ridiculous. I found some old tickets that I saved as mementos and some were as low as $20. I saw someone posted pics from a show in the 80s that was $5. This is just absurd.

Take them down. As one of my favorite bands would say (Floyd) "cut them into little pieces."

plussed_reader
What are the distortions of the market they hope to correct by performing a 'Ma Bell of Live Entertainment' to coalesce into a new 'At&t' a few decades down the line?
atlgator
I don’t have a dog in this fight but I’m curious why Live Nation-Ticketmaster and not Meta, Google, or Amazon?
strangus
Good.
lenerdenator
"Listen, if this doesn't make you happy, nothing will." - the DoJ under Biden over the last few months.
throwawaylikeme
Jay Zzzzzzzz
JojoFatsani
Thank fucking god
throwaway5959
If they don’t my wife and I are just going to stop going to shows that use TicketMaster/Live Nation. Any more a third of the ticket price is fees. Not worth it.
freitzkriesler2
Wants to break up of ticket master/live Nation.

Won't break up Google, telecoms, banks ,agriciltural behemoths, and a myriad of other monster corporates that control prices.

Color me not surprised.

bdw5204
There are plenty of web sites where you can (legally) scalp tickets. I don't see how you can argue that Ticketmaster is a monopoly when you can also buy tickets on StubHub, SeatGeek, Vivid Seats and several other sites I don't remember off the top of my head. All of them use the same shady pricing practices as far as I know.

If Ticketmaster is the original seller, you do have to go through them to transfer the digital ticket but many venues still have physical ticket options.