U.S. Calls for Breakup of Ticketmaster Owner

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The Justice Department on Thursday sued Live Nation Entertainment, the concert giant that owns Ticketmaster, asking a court to break up the company over claims it illegally maintained a monopoly in the live entertainment industry. In the lawsuit, which is joined by 29 states and the District of Columbia, the government accuses Live Nation of leveraging its sprawling empire to dominate the industry by locking venues into exclusive ticketing contracts, pressuring artists to use its services and threatening its rivals with financial retribution. Those tactics, the government argues, have resulted in higher ticket prices for consumers and have stifled innovation and competition throughout the industry. The suit asks the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York to order “the divestiture of, at minimum, Ticketmaster,” and to prevent Live Nation from engaging in anticompetitive practices. “It is time for fans and artists to stop paying the price for Live Nation’s monopoly,” Merrick B. Garland, the attorney general, said on Thursday. “It is time to break up Live Nation-Ticketmaster. The American people are ready for it.”