Live Nation Entertainment says it knows many music and sports fans hate the company and blame it — and subsidiary Ticketmaster — for sky-high ticket prices.
But the executive vice-president of the world’s largest entertainment company insists the conglomerate is not a monopoly and should not be broken up.
But Wall defended his company and said he will fight moves to split up Ticketmaster and Live Nation after a recent landmark verdict by a U.S. federal jury.
Live Nation and ticket master are why I haven’t attended a concert in over a decade. I’ve looked at ticket prices, seen how they’re so badly scalped, and decided not to go. I’ve done this dozens of times now.
I’m not sure if it was just a thing where I grew up, but I miss being able to buy concert tickets at the grocery store service desk.
I hear you. I’m a bit older but have avoided concerts because of this new greed. When there was no middle man we’d just camp out overnight to be one of the early ticker buyers, and the tickets were reasonably priced. One good thing is that a lot of the concerts I missed are popping up for free on youtube.
Day 1 “Can you name a single significant competitor in your market?” “…” “We rest our case your honor”
There’s more to the case than that. Sole presence in a market does not make you a de-facto monopoly.
What makes [Ticketmaster+Live Nation] a monopoly is its mass-acquisition of venues, which are rented out with contracts that stipulate that the event must sell admission through Ticketmaster. This is why performers like Taylor Swift call out Ticketmaster publicly, while still selling tickets through them. For most stadium events; if you don’t use Ticketmaster, you don’t have a place to perform.
