The United States Department of Justice filed an antitrust lawsuit in May against major concert promoter Live Nation and its ticketing service Ticketmaster. The suit came after increasing claims that the ticketing giant is monopolizing the live event industry to raise prices. In August, multiple states’ attorney generals sought to triple the damages toward the companies for hurting fans.
The two corporations merged in 2010, and since then have enveloped more and more concert promoters, venues and ticketing services. Now, Live Nation owns some of the largest and most popular venues in the country.
Because of this domination of the live music industry, bands are forced to choose what event promoter they work with. This means the cities a band hits on a tour are based on the venues the promoter it works with owns. There have also been claims from artists that Live Nation will threaten to cut them out of bigger-name venues if they work with other promotion companies.
Smaller artists are then forced to choose: play bigger venues and be on larger tour tickets, or risk alienation from the potential new fanbase and revenue. Even though Live Nation claims ticket prices are set by the artist, only extremely large artists set their own ticket prices. For the most part, the promoters set the high prices fronted to the concertgoer.
Although the tickets themselves are increasingly expensive, about a third of the end price for the consumer is in fees alone. If someone were to buy a $100 concert ticket, they could expect upwards of $30 worth of fees added on.
That $30 is not going to the artist, but directly to Live Nation. Only a portion of the original ticket price goes to artists, which they have to distribute among their crew and management. The other portions of the ticket’s price go to the venue, the promoter and other parties involved.
Because of the small percentage that actually goes into the artist’ pocket, they often rely on merchandise sales to make any money, as streaming also pays little to nothing. For artists who choose not to work with Live Nation, their chances of reaching a larger audience and selling more merchandise decrease.
On the other side of the stage, the venues that work with other promotion companies or are completely independent are narrowed down in the bigger names they can bring in.
The National Independent Venue Association was formed to help small venues during the COVID-19 pandemic but also to act as a union of venues in marketing, funding and operations. In December 2020, they received over $16 billion to keep entertainment spaces across the country running.
These smaller, mostly independent venues are essential not just to fight back against the Live Nation monopoly but also as spaces to keep fans engaged in the music scene. Take Athens’ fan-favorite venue, The Union, which is completely independent and brings in both local and touring artists all while having ticket prices many can afford.
If the DOJ’s lawsuit goes through, the disbanding of Live Nation and Ticketmaster could see a diversification in event promoters and a growth in independent venues. Not only would this help fans in likely lowering ticket prices, but also the artists and venues they support.
Ethan Herx is a sophomore studying photojournalism at Ohio University. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnists do not reflect those of The Post. Want to share your thoughts? Let Ethan know by emailing or tweeting them at eh481422@ohio.edu or @ethanherx.
