People Are Pumped About the DOJ Lawsuit Against Live Nation and Ticketmaster

Don't mess Swifties. As a matter of fact, don't mess with concertgoers.

Remember when it was headline news? The Ticketmaster crash in November 2022 stopped thousands of Taylor Swift fans, many waiting online for hours, from buying tickets to her now record-breaking Eras Tour. But this by no means was the first fiasco upsetting concertgoers.

Live Nation Entertainment is now facing a landmark antitrust lawsuit in the United States by the Department of Justice according to The Verge. The DOJ is expected to file the lawsuit as early as May 2024 to investigate an alleged monopoly in the concert ticket industry and concertgoers are reacting.

Live Nation merged with Ticketmaster in 2010 making the ticket giant a subsidiary of Live Nation Entertainment. Since then, this powerhouse company allegedly controls the entire concert industry to the point that it has faced various lawsuits alleging ticket price fixing, hidden fees, and anti-competitive practices.

According to Reuters, the Justice Department accused Live Nation of bullying ticket venues into using Ticketmaster a few years ago forcing a revised agreement but that ends next year in 2025.

This isn't the first time Live Nation and Ticketmaster have faced various legal issues around the country from various concertgoers and their attorneys.

Did Live Nation and Ticketmaster create a touring monopoly right under our noses?

According to Politico, the Taylor Swift debacle is actually unrelated to the DOJ’s investigation, which began in the summer of 2022. Critics and concertgoers have been saying for years that there's evidence that since the merger of Live Nation and  Ticketmaster, there's no real competition.

Meanwhile, according to Axios, the DOJ is already similarly investigating Apple and Visa, and mergers including Adobe’s takeover of design software company Figma.