Taylor Swift Debacle Rekindles Ticketmaster Antitrust Worries
The company’s 2010 merger with Live Nation remains under federal oversight, so accusations of market-power abuse from the ticketing flap could reopen that case.
Illustration: Baptiste Virot for Bloomberg Businessweek
When tens of thousands of Taylor Swift fans were unable to complete their orders for tickets in November for her coming New Eras tour, those legions of devastated Swifties were left with little recourse beyond denouncing Live Nation Entertainment Inc.’s botched online ticket sales process and making tearful TikTok videos. But the company could still suffer plenty of hurt from the fiasco, which has left the US Department of Justice under intense pressure to fix what many say was a mistake in allowing Live Nation and Ticketmaster to merge in 2010. The agency has opened a new antitrust probe into the largest concert promotion and ticketing company, a move that could even be a prelude to a breakup if the company is found to have abused its market power.
“It would certainly be a very hard case,” says David Balto, an antitrust lawyer who testified against the merger before the Senate and has represented Ticketmaster complainants. But “here the facts are clear: Ticketmaster has increased prices and reduced service. Those are the landmarks of anticompetitive conduct by a monopolist.”