The Justice Department’s antitrust lawyers have sought information from at least two rivals of Live Nation Entertainment Inc.’s Ticketmaster as part of a probe into the company’s dominance in the ticketing industry, according to people familiar with the probe.
(Bloomberg) — The Justice Department’s antitrust lawyers have sought information from at least two rivals of Live Nation Entertainment Inc.’s Ticketmaster as part of a probe into the company’s dominance in the ticketing industry, according to people familiar with the probe.
The civil investigative demands, sent last month, seek details on the primary ticketing market — where companies sell tickets on behalf of an event provider — as well as the resale market, said the people who asked to remain anonymous to discuss a confidential probe. Closely held SeatGeek Inc. and Paciolan LLC both received the document requests, they said.
SeatGeek and Paciolan both sell tickets for sports teams and entertainment venues in competition with Ticketmaster. SeatGeek also operates a secondary ticketing marketplace to help resell event tickets and in February formed a partnership to allow fans who purchase tickets through Paciolan to seamlessly resell them via SeatGeek’s marketplace.
Representatives for the Justice Department and SeatGeek declined to comment. Paciolan didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Paciolan is the leading ticketing provider for college athletics, partnering with more than 160 colleges and universities. The company was bought by Endeavor Group Holdings Inc.’s Learfield Sports LLC in 2017.
SeatGeek sells tickets for National Football League teams like the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Commanders, NBA teams including the Utah Jazz as well as theaters on Broadway. The company’s Chief Executive Officer Jack Groetzinger testified at a Senate hearing in January that Live Nation Entertainment’s monopolistic practices have “stunted” innovation in the ticketing industry, insulating Ticketmaster from competition.
Ticketmaster, the largest US ticketing company, merged with Live Nation, the biggest concert promoter, in 2010 following a lengthy antitrust investigation. The Justice Department required the combined company to pledge that it wouldn’t tie its services together or retaliate against venues that switched promoters or ticketing services.
But antitrust lawyers found in 2019 that the company had repeatedly violated that promise, requiring Live Nation Entertainment to enter a new settlement imposing an external monitor to ensure compliance and investigate any further disputes.
Since then, the ticketing giant has continued to face criticism over bungling the massive demand for Taylor Swift tickets last year. Live Nation’s president blamed scalping bots for the Swift debacle during the January Senate hearing. The company maintains that the ticketing market is competitive and has urged Congress to pass laws to better regulate automated ticketing.
Ticketmaster says it controls 50% to 60% of the market for primary ticket sales, and 20% to 25% of the resale market. Other estimates put the company’s market share as high as 80%.
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