The letter refers to a report from the 2018 Government Liability Office, which concluded that Live Nation owns more than 80% of the US ticket sales market in America. It further adds that the Department of Justice has found that the promoter has repeatedly violated the terms of the agreement over the past ten years by threatening places and force the bundle of artists with ticket services. In 2019, Live Nation reaches a settlement with the DOJ’s antitrust division agreeing to extend the 2010 consent decision regulates the merger of Ticketmaster and Live Nation until 2025 and the clarification of rules regarding threats and retaliation against venues that do not sign with the ticket giant.
‘We believe that the previous administration’s decision to extend the consent decision in 2019 to 2025 was insufficient to protect consumers, ”reads the letter from Monday. ‘DOJ did not indicate in its decision why the extension of the consent decision would occur with only minor amendments [Live Nation] of continued anti-competitive behavior. Instead of doubling down on a failed approach, DOJ must now take the necessary steps to restore competition in the ticketing market. ‘
Live Nation declined to comment on the letter from representatives.
The letter comes at a time when the general attitude toward entrenched economic power is moving away from conglomerates such as Live Nation, and Biden has indicated that he may engage in monopolistic behavior to a greater extent. In March, Biden announced its intention to appoint antitrust scientist Lina Khan for Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission, whose theories on more aggressive antitrust enforcement have won academics, and appointed major technician-critic Tim Wu to its National Economic Council to focus on technology and competition in the National Economic Council. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), an outspoken Live Nation critic, also published a book investigating antitrust in America later this month called Antitrust: monopoly power takes from the golden age to the digital age.
A major concern for members of Congress is the increasing control of Live Nation over the secondary market. The letter emphasizes the company’s use of it SafeTix technology that prohibits the release and transfer of tickets outside Ticketmaster’s platformto effectively exclude other secondary ticketing platforms. SafeTix gives Ticketmaster a huge advantage, as it gives the company control over the entire life of the ticket, from sale to show night, with a digital ledger that is sold or transferred each time the ticket is sold, along with the identity of everyone who the transaction participates appears. SafeTixsay non-transferability option is for the first time in 2019 on a Black Keys Concert at the Wiltern in Los Angereaders saw hundreds of fans excluding resale tickets purchased via StubHub or Vivid Seats of the show. Ticketmaster’s SafeTix technology has since been used for several other events, including NFL games and Madonna’s Madame X tour withimportant issues out.
The SafeTix technology aims to prevent fraud by creating unique barcodes that refresh and prevent resellers sell the same ticket to multiple consumers. It is also on not eligible for Ticketmaster if the non-transferable feature is used. The Instant offers artists and promoters the option to implement it at their discretion.
The members of Congress goes on to say that they believe that Live Nation will use technology such as SafeTix to secure access during and after the pandemic, while also compelling concert-goers to register an account with Ticketmaster. The first part may be a good thing, but it costs money. ‘While local governments need to work with local places to ensure public health protection for fans, such as masked wear and social distance,’ reads the letter, ‘we can not allow Ticketmaster to take advantage of the pandemic to stem competition by eliminating ticket transfers not. . ”
Cardmaster President Mark Yovich says Ticketmaster’s technology as SafeTix and Presence can be used to help venues and artists return to concerts with the “ability to explore integrations to locate contact where needed” and enable social distance with an algorithm that can measure. It also gives artists more control over their tickets instead of giving them to the secondary market.
While tour returns, the demand for tickets is greater as seen with Bad Bunny’s El Ultimate Tour del Mundo tour wat sold out in record time. According to Billboard reportedly, the tour also experienced the highest ticket market in history, with secondary sites selling tickets more than ten times.
Read the full letter here:
Dear Attorney General Garland and Acting Chairman Slaughter:
We write in support of strong antitrust enforcement by the Biden administration, including the live ticket market. The evidence is overwhelming that in 2010 the merger between the world’s largest concert promoter, Live Nation, and the largest ticket provider, Ticketmaster, stifled competition in live entertainment tickets and harmed consumers and should re-examine it.
According to the 2018 report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), Live Nation Entertainment (LNE) owns more than 80 percent of the ticket sales park. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) held an important workshop in 2019 that examined the ticket industry and heard concerns about LNE’s competitive behavior from actors across the industry. These important federal reviews, along with worrying media reports and state-sponsored reports, show that more can be done to investigate potentially unfair, misleading and competitive competition in the ticket industry.
Since the merger, we have seen pitfalls of the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) decision not protecting competition and consumers. The DOJ itself has found that LNE has repeatedly violated the terms of the agreement over the past ten years by threatening venues and forcing the bundle of artists with ticket services. With these practices, Ticketmaster was able to retain control of more than 80 percent of the primary sales market and grow its position in the secondary market. We believe that the previous administration’s decision to extend the consent decision in 2019 to 2025 was insufficient to protect consumers. In its decision, DOJ did not show why extending the consent decision with only minor amendments would prevent LNE from continuing to compete. Instead of doubling down on a failed approach, DOJ must now take the necessary steps to restore competition in the ticket market.
LNE is not happy with its near monopoly on primary ticket sales, but has tightened its grip on the secondary market, making it one of the largest ticket sellers in the United States. The company now utilizes its position in the primary channel to promote competition in the resale market and enable potentially unfair and deceptive practices.
One recent example we are concerned about is the launch of a smartphone ticket product, known as ‘SafeTix’, which was allegedly created to fight fraud. However, LNE uses this program to ensure that tickets can only be resold or donated within the Ticketmaster system. Ticketmaster also used “SafeTix” to cancel the resold tickets minutes before show time. Media reports say patrons who bought tickets on a competitive resale platform were literally left out in the street while the show went on without it. If true, these reports could support the claims of unfair and misleading practices by LNE.
During the coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19), LNE renamed its anti-competitive ways under the guise of protecting public health. As reported in Billboard Magazine, “ticket transfer technology used to restrict fans from selling tickets on high demand will now be used to make ‘access more secure’ required by most people[s] enter a concert hall to register an account with Ticketmaster. ”[1] While local governments must work with local locals to ensure public health protection for fans, such as masked wear and social distance, we cannot allow Ticketmaster to use the pandemic to stem the competition by eliminating the transfer of tickets.
Although the pandemic unfortunately continues to return to packed venues, the hope is on the horizon that live events will begin to resume. Indeed, the governors of New York and New Jersey recently announced the easing of restrictions on live events in large venues. When lively events return in earnest, it is vital that consumers have access to a market that is transparent, fair and competitive. We know that LNE does not sit idle during this silence. Your agencies must guard against one company determining the conditions for the return of direct events and cannot allow LNE to instill its competitive competition under the guise of public health.
We strongly urge the DOJ and FTC to protect consumers’ future access to live events by immediately investigating the possible unfair, fraudulent and competitive competition of LNE.