Ticketmaster and Live Nation have been targeted by yet another lawsuit accusing the entertainment giant of monopolizing the concert and ticketing industries with anti-competitive actions. The nationwide class action is led by a group of plaintiffs from California, Ohio, and Florida, with attorneys from noted law firms Quinn Emanuel and Keller Lenker behind the filing in California’s Central District.
At its center, the complaint argues that the companies that merged in 2010 to form Live Nation Entertainment violate anti-trust laws by threatening to withhold shows from venues that do not use Ticketmaster as their primary ticketing vendor. Those violations have impacted millions of consumers, according to the complaint.
“Defendants have continued to flourish by engaging in anticompetitive exclusive dealing with major concert venue operators (which are bolstered by Ticketmaster’s relationship with Live Nation Entertainment), as well as numerous other unfair and anticompetitive acts discussed herein that are aimed at eliminating and/or minimizing all competition, both in primary ticketing services and, more recently, secondary ticketing services,” the lawsuit states.
This is far from the first time that such a complaint has been made against the California-based corporation. In a settlement reached with Live Nation in 2019, the Department of Justice found that Live Nation “executives have retaliated against or threatened venues throughout the United States” in violation of a 2010 consent decree that paved the way for its merger with Ticketmaster. “These violations began shortly after the decree was entered in 2010 and have recurred throughout its term, with the most recent known violation occuring as late as March 2019.” As a result of those findings, the DOJ extended that consent decree for several years, but failed to take stronger measures against the company.
Quinn Emanuel was involved in a similar suit in 2020, which was moved to private arbitration in the fall. It argues in this new complaint that the arbitration agreements are unenforceable because they require consumers to submit to an unfair proceeding.
View the full complaint filed this week below:
Heckman v Live Nation by THROnline
