The American Antitrust Institute’s acting president Kathleen Bradish has joined a panel to discuss Live Nation and Ticketmaster’s monopolistic power later this month.
The expert panel, dubbed “The Case for Breaking Up Live Nation-Ticketmaster,” is set to take place on January 23, hosted by the American Economic Liberties Project. During the panel, members will address fair competition in the live events industry and look back at the 2010 merger of the two companies — solidifying their combined power as a concert promoter, venue operator, artist manager, and ticketing service in one.
Bradish joins the previously-announced members of the panel, including Rutgers Law School’s Board of Governors Professor Michael Carrier and the Senior Legal Counsel at American Economic Liberties Project, Katie Van Dyck. The panel also promises to hear from members of the Break Up Ticketmaster Coalition, as well as academic and policy experts.
The Break Up Live Nation Ticketmaster Coalition, which came to fruition last year, launched at a time of disarray within the ticketing industry. Throughout 2023, fans, artists, promoters, and venues all felt the burn of the Live Nation-Ticketmaster monopoly amid tactics like “platinum” and “dynamic” pricing policies. No matter the genre, fans of different artists like Olivia Rodrigo, Morgan Wallen, Bad Bunny, and blink-182 lashed out at the ticketing giant, calling for an end to exorbitant prices, presale waitlists, hours-long queues, and error codes — which left millions of concertgoers empty-handed.
Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour proved to be particularly frustrating, sparking a handful of lawsuits and an investigation into the Live Nation-Ticketmaster merger by the Department of Justice. Earlier this year, as a part of Fan Fairness Coalition’s “The Monopoly” campaign, live eventgoers sent out more than 72,000 letters to Congress, calling for the merger to be broken-up.