The case gained a lot of attention in the wake of Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour, when many fans had trouble buying tickets and complained about high prices. This caused authorities in the United States to investigate Live Nation and its Ticketmaster platform for possible abuses in the market.
A New York jury has found that Live Nation USA acted as a monopoly in the concert industry. According to the decision, the company used its power to control how events are organized, impose conditions on venues and artists, and make tickets more expensive to make more money.
“The jury has concluded that Live Nation engaged in monopolistic practices by inflating the price of concert tickets and abusing its position of market dominance,” reports El País, “defining the conditions of use of the venues where live shows are held and threatening agents and artists who did not submit to its conditions with removing them from the circuit of their venues.”
Although the United States Government tried to reach an agreement with the company to change some practices, several states decided to move forward with the lawsuit. The jury considered that this agreement was not sufficient to solve the problem.
Now the company could face a large fine and new measures to limit its control of the market. They are even considering separating Live Nation and Ticketmaster to prevent them from having so much power in the music industry.
In Spain, Taylor Swift’s tour was not operated by Live Nation, but by another promoter, Last Tour. The ticket company in Madrid was Ticketmaster, while in Lisbon Seetickets was in charge.
