Washington state joins federal lawsuit suing Ticketmaster, Live Nation over monopoly

Washington is one of 30 states to sign onto a federal antitrust lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice against Ticketmaster and parent company Live Nation Thursday in the Southern District Court of New York.

The lawsuit aims to break up the monopoly Ticketmaster and Live Nation have on tickets for concerts, sports and other events at venues around the nation, a news release from Washington Attorney General’s Office said.

“Free enterprise is built on companies competing,” Attorney General Bob Ferguson said in the statement. “Instead, these industry leaders squeezed out the competition to increase their profits, at the expense of fans. My office is partnering with this bipartisan coalition to put an end to this monopoly.”

The lawsuit claims that after Ticketmaster and Live Nation merged in 2010, the companies dominated the entertainment ticketing industry by undermining competition in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act.

Restitution for Washington consumers and civil penalties against the companies are also being sought by Washington state.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said in a statement that “Live Nation relies on unlawful, anticompetitive conduct to exercise its monopolistic control over the live events industry in the United States at the cost of fans, artists, smaller promoters, and venue operators.”

“The result is that fans pay more in fees, artists have fewer opportunities to play concerts, smaller promoters get squeezed out, and venues have fewer real choices for ticketing services,” Garland said.

In one well-known incident in 2022, Ticketmaster ignored a request by popstar Taylor Swift to opt out of the company’s “dynamic pricing” model, leading to a massive surge in ticket costs for fans. Fans using pre-sale codes were locked out of using Ticketmaster’s website the day tickets for her Eras Tour went on sale.

Seattle’s Pearl Jam has also previously attempted to keep Ticketmaster out of ticket sales for their events, and filed a complaint with the Justice Department in 1994 against the company.

Three venues in Washington are all managed by Live Nation, the AGO’s statement noted: The Gorge Amphitheater in George, RV Inn Style Resorts Amphitheater in Ridgefield, north of Vancouver, and White River Amphitheater in Auburn.

Attorneys general from 29 other states including Oregon, Wyoming, and California have also signed onto the lawsuit.