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Justice Department to file antitrust suit against Live Nation

wsj.com

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Re: Justice Department to file antitrust suit against Live Nation

#91

Post by choilive »

flightster wrote: post #61
andjd wrote: post #15

One important thing to know is that the venues/artists often get a kickback of part of the Ticketmaster fees. In other words, the artists, venues, producers, and Ticketmaster are in cahoots to fleece fans for as much money as possible, and Ticketmaster is willing to play the 'bad guy' and take the blame for high prices, and they get to keep a bigger slice of the overall pie than they would in a highly competitive mar…

Sounds identical to health insurers. We need a new word for this arrangement. “Cartel” probably comes the closest but doesn’t feel quite right. It’s like a cartel but it’s lead by one “extractor” (front of house, Ticketmaster in this case).

Collusion comes to mind. A group of companies colluding likely has a leader.

Re: Justice Department to file antitrust suit against Live Nation

#92

Post by xp84 »

busterarm wrote: post #78
seatac76 wrote: post #5

Finally. Between the market dominance via Live Nation and Ticketmaster merge. The venue exclusivity contracts they insist upon. They are a grotesque monopoly.

They are but the DoJ is getting involved 30 years too late. They crushed all of the meaningful competition that long ago. Even breaking the company up into parts wouldn't suddenly fix the industry.

If the Live Nation one could be undone, and we could ban TM from operating venues and LN from selling tickets, and ban TM from having exclusive deals or sharing any of their "fees" with anyone else in any way, it'd be a start.

Re: Justice Department to file antitrust suit against Live Nation

#93

Post by choilive »

busterarm wrote: post #78
seatac76 wrote: post #5

Finally. Between the market dominance via Live Nation and Ticketmaster merge. The venue exclusivity contracts they insist upon. They are a grotesque monopoly.

They are but the DoJ is getting involved 30 years too late. They crushed all of the meaningful competition that long ago. Even breaking the company up into parts wouldn't suddenly fix the industry.

Correct, but it would give an actual market opportunity for new competitors.

Re: Justice Department to file antitrust suit against Live Nation

#94

Post by wvenable »

calgoo wrote: post #74

So in my opinion, the fans suing ticketmaster should sue Taylor Swift for using ticket master. Then she can sue her music company for doing business with ticket master. its not like selling tickets is not a solved problem, so why are we even bothering with this BS and just not using another service? O the music labels like them because they get sweet deals? Well again, sue Taylor Swift and the label, not the shitty t…

> so why are we even bothering with this BS and just not using another service?

Because the venues are locked into exclusive contracts with Ticketmaster. This is why them being a monopoly is bad.

Many bands in the 90s attempted to work around the system and they all ultimately failed.

Re: Justice Department to file antitrust suit against Live Nation

#95

Post by nugget »

methodical wrote: post #67

My horror story of Ticketmaster; I recently bought standing-room-only tickets on short notice ( I reached out to support for assistance, and after several days of wasted time and run-around, they finally sent my issue to their engineering team saying they'd get back to me in 5 business days. Keep in mind I said I bought these tickets a week before the event, and they'd already wasted a few days giving me the run-arou…

Have you considered pursuing them in small claims court?

Re: Justice Department to file antitrust suit against Live Nation

#96

Post by op00to »

freedomben wrote: post #76
methodical wrote: post #67

My horror story of Ticketmaster; I recently bought standing-room-only tickets on short notice ( I reached out to support for assistance, and after several days of wasted time and run-around, they finally sent my issue to their engineering team saying they'd get back to me in 5 business days. Keep in mind I said I bought these tickets a week before the event, and they'd already wasted a few days giving me the run-arou…

> I attempted to charge back the purchase since they did not provide what I paid for (tickets I could sell), and they fought me and won somehow. This has happened to me twice now (though not with TicketMaster) and I was 100% in the right, and I lost. When I mentioned it on HN I was met with a lot of doubters. I think something has really changed regarding chargebacks.

100% chargebacks have changed in the last 2-3 years. I had a vendor send me the wrong part and refuse a refund. Even showing that they sent the wrong part despite ordering the correct part, my chargeback was denied.

Re: Justice Department to file antitrust suit against Live Nation

#97

Post by to11mtm »

methodical wrote: post #80
freedomben wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I attempted to charge back the purchase since they did not provide what I paid for (tickets I could sell), and they fought me and won somehow. This has happened to me twice now (though not with TicketMaster) and I was 100% in the right, and I lost. When I mentioned it on HN I was met with a lot of doubters. I think something has really changed regarding chargebacks.

They most definitely have some BS in the fine print about how they're not responsible for their awful system, as CYA for things like this. Truly scum of the earth.

If I had to guess, it is probably in their fine print, and the ability to pay for a refund would be a further refutation in a chargeback case.

That the ticket could not be sold via their system for whatever reason, is not a 'simple' act, although TBH maybe they should write to the DOJ or whatever... given some of the other stuff they've been caught doing, it would not at all surprise me to see some `if (!ticket.HadRefundOption) throw` hidden in their sales system.

TBH OP (Not a lawyer, not legal advice) you could always try small claims, they might not even show up and then you can collect a default judgement

Re: Justice Department to file antitrust suit against Live Nation

#98

Post by [deleted] »

calgoo wrote: post #79
voidwtf wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I understand correctly Ticketmaster is still the one creating this problem, they demand exclusivity in their contracts which often means the venue has no choice if they want to participate in a large enough market to continue operating. Similarly artists have trouble securing large venues if not participating in their scheme. This is the problem with most 'monopolies', they reach a certain critical mass where they…

Taylor swift is big enough that she could build a venue in each location if she wanted, so that not an issue. If Taylor and a few other large artists gave the middle finger to ticketmaster and basically created their own ticket system, i promise you that they would have enough pull to basically solve this. However, like you said, thats not in their or their labels interest.

[deleted]

Re: Justice Department to file antitrust suit against Live Nation

#99

Post by fsckboy »

2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #18

This is already a solved problem- look at how airline seats are handled.

>This is already a solved problem- look at how airline seats are handled.

you want to solve the problem of airline tickets, let people resell their tickets to other travellers.

Re: Justice Department to file antitrust suit against Live Nation

#100

Post by methodical »

nugget wrote: post #95
methodical wrote: post #67

My horror story of Ticketmaster; I recently bought standing-room-only tickets on short notice ( I reached out to support for assistance, and after several days of wasted time and run-around, they finally sent my issue to their engineering team saying they'd get back to me in 5 business days. Keep in mind I said I bought these tickets a week before the event, and they'd already wasted a few days giving me the run-arou…

Have you considered pursuing them in small claims court?

As much as I'd love to stick it to them, I haven't looked into it at all, assuming I'd have to pay more for legal counsel than the tickets were worth.
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