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The U.S. Department of Justice is reportedly readying an antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation Entertainment which, according to the Wall Street Journal, they will file next month. The company will face scrutiny over accusations they’ve used their dominance of the market to undermine consumers. The news comes after the company’s subsidiary Ticketmaster faced enormous backlash for its handling of Taylor Swift‘s Eras tour in 2022.

Following that incident, Joe Berchtold, Live Nation’s president and chief financial officer, testified in front of the Senate. Lawmakers grilled him on a lack of transparency regarding ticket fees, the company’s inability to block bot purchases of tickets, and more. Backlash towards the company came from both sides of the aisle.

Concert Ticket Industry Executives Testify In Front Of Senate

WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 24: (L-R) Joe Berchtold, president and CFO of Live Nation Entertainment, Inc.; Jack Groetzinger, CEO of SeatGeek; Jerry Mickelson, CEO and president of Jam Productions; Sal Nuzzo, senior vice president of the James Madison Institute; Kathleen Bradish, vice president for legal advocacy at the American Antitrust Institute; and singer/songwriter Clyde Lawrence are sworn in before the Senate Judiciary Committee January 24, 2023 in Washington, DC. The committee heard testimony on the topic “That’s the Ticket: Promoting. Competition and Protecting Consumers in Live Entertainment”, in the wake of problems surrounding access to ticket purchases for Taylor. Swift performances. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

“The way your company handled ticket sales for Ms. Swift was a debacle, and whoever in your company was in charge of that should be fired,” Republican Senator John Kennedy said at the time. “If you care about the consumer, cut the price! Cut out the bots! Cut out the middle people and if you really care about the consumer, give the consumer a break!” Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar remarked: “To have a strong capitalist system, you have to have competition. You can’t have too much consolidation — something that, unfortunately for this country, as an ode to Taylor Swift, I will say, we know ‘all too well.'”

The Justice Department also previously accused Live Nation of bullying ticket venues into using Ticketmaster back in 2019. Be on the lookout for further updates on Live Nation on HotNewHipHop.

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