LiveNation and Ticketmaster must be split | Matt Connarton Unleashed

0:00 Speaker 1: We love music industry news on the show.

0:01 Speaker 2: This is from Digitalmusicnews dot com, one of my favorite

0:04 Speaker 2: websites for music industry news, and you know we someone

0:08 Speaker 2: even commented me about it recently. You know, you guys,

0:11 Speaker 2: you beat up Live Nation and Ticketmaster quite a bit

0:14 Speaker 2: on the show. Well, they are giants, or they are

0:16 Speaker 2: a giant because it really is all one company.

0:18 Speaker 1: It is a monopoly.

0:19 Speaker 2: They can take it, they can take us throwing shots

0:21 Speaker 2: at them, but there is now they are being threatened

0:25 Speaker 2: with being forced to break up. Dozens of state Attorneys

0:29 Speaker 2: general around the country are now demanding that Live Nation

0:34 Speaker 2: and Ticketmaster that this merger when did they merge?

0:37 Speaker 1: I mean it had to be at least a decade ago.

0:38 Speaker 2: Right, that this merger be undone after all this time,

0:42 Speaker 2: and that they be split up because they are simply

0:44 Speaker 2: too powerful, too much of a monopoly. And I'll tell

0:46 Speaker 2: you a lot of people in the music industry would

0:48 Speaker 2: really applaud that would love to see Live Nation and

0:51 Speaker 2: Ticketmaster finally being separated. But this is the article from

0:56 Speaker 2: Digital Musicnews dot com. Live Nation and Ticketmaster must be separated,

0:59 Speaker 2: say dozen of US state AG's demand in stepped up

1:04 Speaker 2: court filings so this is what's happening a group of

1:08 Speaker 2: state attorneys general.

1:10 Speaker 1: And by the way, it is the plural.

1:12 Speaker 2: And I'm glad they got it right in the article

1:14 Speaker 2: because I hear a lot of people get this wrong.

1:16 Speaker 2: I even hear journalists who should no better get this wrong.

1:20 Speaker 2: The plural of attorney general is not attorney generals. I

1:25 Speaker 2: hear people get that wrong all the time. The plural

1:28 Speaker 2: of attorney general is attorneys general. They're not generals, So

1:34 Speaker 2: it's not attorney generals. They don't serve in the military.

1:37 Speaker 2: They are attorneys and general as in a general attorney,

1:42 Speaker 2: serving the you know, representing the community that for whom

1:47 Speaker 2: they've been elected to represent, whether it be a state

1:50 Speaker 2: attorney general or the United States attorney general, they are

1:54 Speaker 2: attorneys general. That is the plural. I'm very much a

1:58 Speaker 2: stickler for that kind of thing hinge. Every time I hear,

2:01 Speaker 2: you know, some politicians say attorney generals, it's like, no,

2:05 Speaker 2: that's wrong, and you sound dumb. Okay, anyway, Sorry, I'm

2:08 Speaker 2: very judgmental when it comes to that. On Thursday, May

2:10 Speaker 2: twenty first, the coalition of over thirty state attorneys general

2:16 Speaker 2: that sued a Live Nation and Ticketmaster in a trial

2:18 Speaker 2: that found the Live Events Gianing to be in violation

2:20 Speaker 2: of antitrust law, has demanded that Live Nations sell ticket Master.

2:27 Speaker 2: The States laid out their proposal in a much anticipated

2:30 Speaker 2: legal brief, asserting that the only way to fix the

2:32 Speaker 2: live music business is to force the companies to split it.

2:38 Speaker 1: Says here okay.

2:40 Speaker 2: The States wrote in their filing quote in order requiring

2:46 Speaker 2: Live Nation to divest Ticketmaster such that is capable of

2:50 Speaker 2: restoring competition for primary ticketing contracts with major concert venues.

2:55 Speaker 2: Plaintiffs are evaluating the scope of assets, contras VX, personnel,

3:00 Speaker 2: and systems that would be necessary for a standalone ticketmaster

3:04 Speaker 2: to effectively compete in the market for primary ticketing services

3:08 Speaker 2: to major concert venues unquote. The States are also requesting

3:13 Speaker 2: that Live Nation be forced to divest a sufficient number

3:17 Speaker 2: of amphitheaters and face restrictions on acquiring new ones. Further,

3:22 Speaker 2: they demand monetary damages for a quote overcharges on ticketing

3:26 Speaker 2: fees paid by residents of the plaintiff states unquote, as

3:30 Speaker 2: well as the handover of quote ill gotten profits derived

3:33 Speaker 2: from ticketing fees during the time of the unlawful monopoly unquote.

3:38 Speaker 2: Live Nation for their part, will be filing formal motions

3:42 Speaker 2: and opposition in the coming weeks. The company is likely

3:44 Speaker 2: to argue that the case can be resolved simply by

3:47 Speaker 2: changes to its business practices which were previously agreed upon

3:51 Speaker 2: with the Department of Justice, such as limiting its use

3:54 Speaker 2: of exclusive contracts. Dozens of states and the DOJ sued

3:58 Speaker 2: Live Nation in twenty twenty four are alleging that the company,

4:01 Speaker 2: which which acquired Ticketmaster in an approved merger in twenty ten. Okay,

4:05 Speaker 2: so even longer than I thought. I said, what ten

4:08 Speaker 2: years ago? They actually merged back in twenty ten, So

4:11 Speaker 2: sixteen years ago. That this had grown into a monopoly

4:16 Speaker 2: that has dominated the live music industry for years, to

4:19 Speaker 2: put it mildly, But just a week after the case

4:23 Speaker 2: went to trial, the DOJ agreed to a sweetheart deal,

4:27 Speaker 2: blind siding the court. However, the States seemed the deal

4:30 Speaker 2: insufficient and not in the public interest, and pushed ahead

4:34 Speaker 2: with the trial, asserting that the breakup of the two

4:36 Speaker 2: companies was the best path forward. On April fifteen, the

4:40 Speaker 2: jury found that Live Nation and Ticketmaster had operated a

4:43 Speaker 2: monopoly dominating the market for ticketing services and the use

4:47 Speaker 2: of amphitheaters and illegally trying to use i'm sorry, illegally

4:52 Speaker 2: tying the use of its venues to its promotion services.

4:57 Speaker 2: So and again we've talked about that on the show.

5:00 Speaker 2: That's the end of that article, but we've talked about

5:01 Speaker 2: that last part on the show. You know, when you

5:04 Speaker 2: when you try to induce someone into doing a particular

5:07 Speaker 2: type of business with you, or maybe they're already doing

5:09 Speaker 2: that business with you, but you're trying to get them

5:11 Speaker 2: to shut up and stop complaining about it. You might say, well,

5:16 Speaker 2: you know, if you cease to do business with us

5:20 Speaker 2: in this modality, we might also stop doing business with

5:24 Speaker 2: you in this other thing.

5:25 Speaker 1: You know. So if you're a company that maybe you own.

5:27 Speaker 2: Multiple venues and you want to sever your your relationship

5:32 Speaker 2: with Tickemaster in terms of servicing a particular venue, well

5:37 Speaker 2: they might say, okay, well, then we're also going to

5:39 Speaker 2: service our relationship with you with these other venues that

5:43 Speaker 2: you definitely definitely need us for.

5:47 Speaker 1: Is that illegal?

5:48 Speaker 2: Is that predatory a predatory business practice? Or is that

5:51 Speaker 2: just playing hardball? Is that just being tough?

5:54 Speaker 1: Now?

5:55 Speaker 2: I don't know where the line is. We've talked about

5:56 Speaker 2: that on the show before. But these state attorneys general,

6:00 Speaker 2: they seem to have an idea of where the line is,

6:03 Speaker 2: and they're now aggressively once again going after Live Nation

6:06 Speaker 2: and Ticketmaster. I don't know if these dozens of US filings,

6:12 Speaker 2: US state filings, I don't know if these are going

6:14 Speaker 2: to amount to anything in the end.

6:17 Speaker 1: I don't know.

6:18 Speaker 2: It's not the federal government this time going after them

6:20 Speaker 2: in this instance, although the federal government does go after

6:23 Speaker 2: Live Nation for other things. This is I mean, the

6:25 Speaker 2: DOJ has suited Live Nation more than once. This is

6:28 Speaker 2: individual state ags going after Ticketmaster and Live Nation and

6:32 Speaker 2: saying they must be separated they are too powerful of

6:35 Speaker 2: a monopoly.