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US Justice Department to seek breakup of Live Nation-Ticketmaster

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Re: US Justice Department to seek breakup of Live Nation-Ticketmaster

#22
post #13
post #3

Finally. As someone who is active in the local music scene, I’ve spent thousands on junk fees over the years. Not sure why it has taken this long.

Particularly for the local music scene, where Live Nation usually isn't the promoter, the junk fees aren't coming from them. Gotta remember Ticketmaster's margins are actually pretty thin.

In Live Nation's latest 10-Q filing they listed the operating margin of their ticketing segment at 32%, with a non-GAAP AOI margin of 39%.

[1] https://investors.livenationentertainment.com/sec-filings/al...

Re: US Justice Department to seek breakup of Live Nation-Ticketmaster

#23

What are the distortions of the market they hope to correct by performing a 'Ma Bell of Live Entertainment' to coalesce into a new 'At&t' a few decades down the line?

Agreements forcing artists to only use LN locations and TM ticketing in markets where possible.

Ticketing is relatively easy since the early days so competition should help. We also need better laws defining what can and cannot be a fee. Fees should only be for things which are truly optional and declinable.

Re: US Justice Department to seek breakup of Live Nation-Ticketmaster

#24
post #17
post #5

I am so hopeful that this happens. I was comparing the fees to see a band in the US or EU recently based on their tour dates and it was insane what US ticket prices came out to be. It was ~$54 for a ticket in the US because of all the junk fees and just 8 euros for other places in the EU.

Recently, I bought tickets through their web page, and the seat hold timed out prematurely, making me reselect seats. The tickets had been on sale for weeks, but in that 60 second window, scalpers just happened to buy the exact block I wanted out of 100’s of available seats. Of course, ticket master owns some of the scalper companies. Despite the blatant false advertising / auction fixing, I have no way to prove the…

"Ticketmaster and Stubhub Caught Colluding With Scalpers" https://kslnewsradio.com/1891544/opinion-ticketmaster-isnt-c...

"Ticketmaster Has Secretly Been Cheating You With Its Own Scalpers" https://www.rollingstone.com/pro/news/ticketmaster-cheating-...

Re: US Justice Department to seek breakup of Live Nation-Ticketmaster

#28
post #11
post #7

What's the typical turn time for a case like this from the time it is filed to the time it is actually in front of a judge/jury? This particular administration only has a guaranteed relevance of about 7 months. It could get extended, or it could get replaced and then cases like this would most likely get dropped. So, why bring it now?

I'm theory, prosecutions are a civil service function, not a political function. Changes in administration might change the leadership and what areas are prioritized, but once you have a case, it really shouldn't matter who is in office. In theory.

What theory is this from, some sort of administrative state theory? This has never been the case in any executive branch that I'm aware of.

Re: US Justice Department to seek breakup of Live Nation-Ticketmaster

#29
post #7

What's the typical turn time for a case like this from the time it is filed to the time it is actually in front of a judge/jury? This particular administration only has a guaranteed relevance of about 7 months. It could get extended, or it could get replaced and then cases like this would most likely get dropped. So, why bring it now?

One of the signature policies Biden is running on is his fight against junk fees. That's why this is will overlap the election. And why no one would be surprised if nothing happened if Biden lost.

He's against junk fees, malarkey, and airing Matlock later than 7pm so he has my vote.

Re: US Justice Department to seek breakup of Live Nation-Ticketmaster

#30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because we all but entirely stopped enforcing anti-trust in the 80s :-(

> Because we all but entirely stopped enforcing anti-trust in the 80s My kids have never known a time without the DoJ rubber-stamping every monopoly-building merger it could.

Would the Adobe + Figma merge failure count?
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