EDWARD WOODSON: Gail Slater Taking A Wrecking Ball To Ticketmaster’s Monopoly
For years, Americans have complained that buying concert tickets feels like getting mugged, and now the Justice Department says it has the evidence to prove why. Right before Christmas, the Department of Justice told a…
For years, Americans have complained that buying concert tickets feels like getting mugged, and now the Justice Department says it has the evidence to prove why.
Right before Christmas, the Department of Justice told a federal judge it has “reams of evidence” showing Live Nation, Ticketmaster’s parent company, operates an illegal monopoly and pushed hard for the case to go to a jury trial. If the judge agrees, the company will have to defend its business model in front of ordinary Americans, not just lawyers in a courtroom.
Gail Slater, President Donald Trump’s antitrust chief, is proving that the Republican Party no longer exists to rubber-stamp corporate abuse to please big business. Instead, she is acting to singlehandedly crack the Ticketmaster monopoly that has allegedly gouged fans, bullied artists, and strong-armed venues for more than a decade.
This is what populist antitrust enforcement looks like.
Live Nation isn’t just big. Analystssay that is dominant enough to singlehandedly freeze the standard rules of the free market to a halt in the ticketing industry.
Per the DOJ’slawsuit, the company controls over 80% of ticketing, around 60% of concert promotion, and many of the country’s top-grossing amphitheaters. In other words, fans and venues often find themselves with no choice but to do business with this monopoly. And they feel that they get squeezed while doing so.
Fans click on a ticket advertised at one price and end up paying far more once the junk fees pile up.