The reports of an impending lawsuit aren't out of the blue. They come after years of investigation by federal regulators and a series of high-profile ticket snafus.WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Justice is planning to sue Live Nation, the parent company of Ticketmaster, over an alleged monopoly over event tickets that has frustrated customers and artists alike for years, according to multiple reports.
Ticketmaster is the largest ticket seller in the U.S. and one of the largest in the world; the company has partnerships with major concert venues and artists such as Taylor Swift, as well as contracts with the NFL, NBA and NHL to exclusively provide tickets to league games. alleging that Ticketmaster and Live Nation have been sitting atop a monopoly preventing venues from using other ticketing platforms to sell seats.
The exact details of the lawsuit were not publicly disclosed, but sources told the Wall Street Journal that the case would be filed"in the coming weeks." that Ticketmaster was artificially raising prices for event seats. Instead, he argued, the high prices come from artists choosing their ticket prices and venues charging service fees on top of the ticket cost. exceeds the supply of available tickets," Walls wrote.