The Department of Justice is preparing to file an antitrust lawsuit against Ticketmaster parent company Live Nation

ForgottenFlux@lemmy.world to Technology@lemmy.world – 527 points –
Ticketmaster’s Taylor Swift ticketing fiasco might have just led to a lawsuit from the DOJ
theverge.com
46

Only 20 years too late.

90’s kids… “more like 30”

Livenation was founded in the mid-late 90's, but didn't hold significant power in the live music industry until the mid-2000's. Before that, a pricey ticket for a national act was anything over $25. When I started my career in live production, in 2010, many venues were still putting on local/national act shows for $5 - $20 a ticket. Since then, I've seen ticket prices for the same type of shows double, in non-LN venues, and triple or more in LN venues. Same thing for drink/concession prices. If you were a teen/young adult in the 90's you likely had better access to affordable concerts than people these days.

Here I was just thinking to myself that I can't imagine why it has taken so long. It's not like this is a new problem in any way.

ETA: It just occurred to me that nobody cared until Taylor Swift was involved.

It wasn’t so much Taylor Swift, as it was a famously passionate fan base why couldn’t get tickets. If this was the 90’s, and Micheal Jackson’s die hards couldn’t get tickets to the Dangerous Tour, you best bet that people would be beating down lawmakers doors.

"I can't believe we hate women more than we love capitalism"

(also the fuck is ETA supposed to mean in this context?)

Why the fuck hasn't anybody done this yet, at any point in the last 10-20 years?

Ticketmaster is the absolute textbook definition of an abusive monopoly in every way. They make it impossible to use anyone else, on either the fan or musician side, so that they can charge way way more than how much would be competitive. Hopefully the lawsuit takes 5 minutes "Your honor I move that they clearly have a monopoly and be sentenced to death" "Granted, fuck 'em, so ordered."

Why the fuck hasn't anybody done this yet, at any point in the last 10-20 years?

Why would they when they are being paid?

Oh look, it's the American government doing what the American government does

Voting only matters when money isn't at stake. Everything else is bought and sold by a few people who aren't you.

I'm actually surprised at how little they spend on lobbying, even with the recent uptick. It must be the other thing, you know, our representatives are shareholders.

Pearl Jam tried to take them on a while back. The problem with monopolies is they’re incredibly powerful. They got that way by lobbying (read: bribing), and the more they succeed, they more they’re likely to succeed. Their power grows exponentially, basically. So by the time they get to be a monopoly, they’re basically super monopolies because they have the government in their pocket.

Did the lobby money run out?

Congress got hit by the most powerful lobbing group of all. The daughters of thousands of public servants who couldn’t get a VIP ticket to the Eras Tour.

Right? Not surprising that it took a billionaire artist for them to notice and take action.

IMHO, it wasn’t her wealth. They’re like Micheal Jackson fans from the early 90’s, or Beatles fans from the 60’s. Simply denying them a ticket to her biggest tour was all it took.

No, the Biden admin is just doing a lot of good things like this. Or in this case, at least the current DoJ.

(Awaiting all the replies about what they're NOT doing, because nothing is ever allowed to be good here)

Hope we see something about "fees that get added on need to be advertised with the base price, and if it gets added to every purchase, it is part of the base price".

What does this have to do with Technology?

Best guesses would be the way that Ticketmaster's site shit the bed when people were buying tickets when the Eras tour kicked off or the way that ticket scalping has grown online

Given the picture I bet your first guess is correct. That's also what sparked this whole investigation.

Could someone explain for me please why this article is being posted in the Technology community?

Not trying to diminish the worthiness of the article, just wondering what the technology angle is to it, since it's an article about a lawsuit.

Well, you see, Ticketmaster is a company that uses technology. And even if they didn't, they've likely heard of technology. And even if they haven't, they surely exist in a time period that technology also exists in.

Did you forget a /s?

Never mind. 🙂

No, I never forget that because I don't use sarcasm. I use deadpan, which does carry the risk that people think I'm serious, but I chose this life and can live with that.

but I chose this life and can live with that.

Your strength is inspiring, and will carry me forward through my journey of Life.

Joe Biden strikes back for Talor Swift not endorsing him at the super bowl.

/s for those that take this serious.

But this is what Taylor swift wanted, isn't it?

That's not her name, though...

What's not whose name...?

... [Title]+[pic of nothing mentioned in such]== shit journalism.

The article and the article header both mention her. Either way, pretty dumb comments/takes there.

The title literally doesn't, and it's a shitty attention grab, nothing more. 🤌🏽

The title is extremely accurate to explain what is happening. It's not sensational, etc.

Man, I know you want to just complain about stuff but you're off in the weeds here.

Oh, sweetie. What you don't know speaks volumes with confidence.

Uh huh. Nothing you say makes any sense; assuming you're high or something.

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