Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation, are asking a U.S. court to throw out the verdict and order a new trial in a landmark anti-trust case where a jury found the company operates an anti-competitive monopoly that’s been overcharging sports and music fans.
This latest legal salvo comes just hours after 33 states alongside the District of Columbia filed formal motions on Thursday calling for the breakup of the world’s largest entertainment conglomerate.
The plaintiff states are asking the U.S. District Court of Southern New York to order compensation for fans, stricter industry controls and the selloff of amphitheatres as well as Ticketmaster, Live Nation’s online box office arm.
It’s about time! I remember Ticketmaster going through the Congressional Dog & Pony show 20 years ago, or so, and as usual with those things, after all the bloviating is over, NOTHING changes. They figured they got through it, and now they can exploit to their greedy black heart’s content.
Then Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour happened, and every politician’s wife & daughter wanted tickets, and they found out first hand a) how hard it is to get tickets, and b) how ridiculously expensive they are. With their households in an uproar, they turned their anger and frustrations toward Ticketmaster, or Live Nation, or whatever alias they’re criming under these days, and now it has led to their demise.
This is the Free Market at work. They got so greedy, that eventually they pissed off the people they counted on to protect them. Good, they deserve it, they are one of the most ruthlessly exploitive companies in existence, along with tobacco and gambling companies.