Live Music Archive
Librivox Free Audio
Metropolitan Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Internet Arcade
Console Living Room
Books to Borrow
Open Library
TV News
Understanding 9/11tv Attorney General Announces Antitrust Lawsuit Against Live Nation ... CSPAN May 25, 2024 7:13pm-7:42pm EDT
7:13 pm
fine job. but i cannot do that jobi would like to be under current circumstances. the example that i hope president clintoni will nof the house on january 6. rather i shall remain as a s congress that i so dearly love are approximately six months whereupon i shall vacate my seat n to take my place. >> c-span is your unfiltered viewf we are funded by these television companies and more g buckeye broadband. hbuckeye broadband supports
7:14 pm
c-span as a public service along withseproviders, giving you a ft row seat to democracy. mary ellen announced the justice department is suing live nation and ticketmaster for illegally monopolizing markets in the live concert industry. he also took questions about house republican efforts to hold him in contempt of congress and the legaluation against donald trump.
7:15 pm
earlier today the department of justice joined by 29 states and the nt and its wholly-owned subsiarticketme sherman antitrust act. in recent years, live nation ticketmaster's exorbitant fees and technological failures have been criticized by fans and artists alike. today ticketmaster's conduct is inconvenient or frustrating. we are here because as we allege,t conduct is anticompetitive and illegal. her complaint■k makeslear what happens when a monopolist dedicates its resources to entrenching its monoly and insulating itself from competition rr cts and services. we allege nation has illegally monopolized markets across the live concert industry in the united states for far too long.
7:16 pm
it is time to break it■k up. liveatio ticketmaster has made itself ubiquitous in the live entertainment indtr of primary ticketing at major concert venues. it directly manages more than 400 tists and controls more than 60% of concert promotions across the country. and it owns or controls more than 60% of largemphitheaters in the united states. weeg dominance, live nation relies on unlawful anticompetitive conduct to exercise its mopoindustry ins and over the fans, artists, independent promoters and venues that power the industry. the result is that fans paye in fees, artists have fewer opportunities to play concerts,
7:17 pm
and venues have fewer real choices for ticketing services. as detailed in our complaint, live nation locks out competition and ticketing through thexzexclusive ticketins with venues that can last ov asg venues themselves. with exclusive agreements that cover more than 70% of conrt sales at major concert venues across the country, impose a include ticketing fees,f fees service fees, convenience fees, platinum fees, handling feesx processing fees among others.
11:02 am
for fans in the united states, this illal conduct means higher prices. in other countries where venues by ticketmaster's exclusive ticketingtracts, venues often use multiple ticketing companies for the same event and innovative ticketing products as a result. we also allege that live nation ticketmaster uses these long-term ticketing agreements with venues and■- its control or
11:03 am
those venues to unlawfully pressure artists intoromotion s. in fact live nation often sacrifices profits it could earn as a venue empty rather than opening them to artists who do not use live nation promotion services. even during peak concert seasony deployed anticompetitive tactics to and venues into using its services and to it has also worked strategically and illegally of potential rivam emerging acrosas detailed in ou, live nation suffocates its competition using a variety of ics from acquisitions of smaller region prorsvenues to td retaliation agreements with
11:04 am
rivals designed to neutralize them. co-opting key independent promoters. even when the economics of a particular deal did not make sense for live nation's for example asecounted in our complaint, live nation acquired a controlling stakeentertainmen. live nation's chief strategy officer of shorten though "the t super excited and this3 feels - exciting and this feels like more of a defensive move, the acquisition helped grow our remote in the market." with another competitor, live nation took action to ensure the comto domie in the live music industry. lly categorized that competitor, the venuem8 operator as one of its
11:05 am
biggest competitor threats. time however, oak view and live nationorphed from competitors into partners. as in our complaint, live nation executives repeatedly scolded oak view ■r compete. in one instance in 2016, live vw but competition would only lead toshcompensation. live nation's ceo emailed oak view writing, let's make sure we don't lethem no start playing a soft, referring to a prom9sint artist agency. oak view backed down. a similar instance in 2020 two, ceo, who would be so up this and play into the artist agents arms? oak view again backed down. h promoted without
11:07 am
notdominance in the live entertainment industry by staying ahead of its competitionit does so by unlawfy we allege that live nation controls the live entertainment industry in the united states i am grateful to the justice department's antitrust division for their excellent work on this case. the live entertainment industry is complex and well sourced. htaking on this case has requird persistence and diligence by the antitrust lawyers who are behind mei am proud to work wit them. people always remember the first time they were transformed by live music. i still remember as a senior in college going to a bonnie rate concert and seeing a then
11:08 am
up-and-coming musician named bruce springsteen play as a warm-up act. the future of rock 'n' roll. the justice department filed is lawsuit on behalf of fans who should be able to go to concerts without a monopoly standing in their way. we have filed a lawsuit on ha able to plan their chores around their fans and not be dictated by an unlawful monopolist. filed this lawsuit on behalf of the independent promoters and venues which should be able to compete on a level playing field. and we have filed this lawsuit on behalf of the american people. it is time for fans and to stop paying the price for live nation's monopoly. it is time to restore competition and innovation in the entertainmentit is time to e
11:09 am
nation ticketmaster. the american people are ready for it. thank you. and now i will turn this over to the deputy attorney general. good morning and thank you mr. attorney general. today's reflects the latest efforts by the department of to combat corporate misconduct. since day one of this have accountable from bribe payers launderers price fixers. her fight againstrate wrongdoing includes an intense focus on anticompetitive nduct.■fwhich disadvantages.q c, workers and businesses of all kinds. ral dls today's alleges that live nation and ticketmaster have engaged in
11:10 am
anticompetitive conduct to cement their dominance of the live concert market. it lays out how live nation ticketmasterkeeper for an entire industry. reaching its proverbial hand into every stage of the concert lifecycle. where they happen to how they articulate. and with its exclusionary conduct, live nation effectively reaches into the pockets of concertgoers by driving up fees. the years, live nation has intentionally blocked others out of the, limiting where shows can take placell tickets s from them. as alleged in the complaint, they have employed a range of tactics to keep■ylong-termxclusg contracts, serial acquisitions, regional competitors and
11:11 am
threatening to retaliate against venues. today's lawsuit by the justice department's antitrust division is an enormous step in preventing one company from ctit's a step forward to give me venues, promoters and ticket sellers a chance to compete for the biggest shows and it's a step forward of live music more accessible for the fans, the artists and the industry that supports the. when families want to attend a concert, the shouldn't break the bank. show, they should have the opportunity to compete. and when original promoter wants to an artist, they shouldn't have to fear retaliation. simply, one company should not have the power to dmiipate a
11:12 am
marketplace. i want to the antitrust division for their work and assistant attorney general cantor for his leadership always, their work forms part of the foundation of enforcement mission to promote fairness and aance the rule of law. thank you. ■uthe recipe for live music
11:13 am
includes three key ingredients. ■artists, venues and fans. nation ticketmaster's dominance has allowed it to exert control overstarts with p. today live nation ticketmaster represents hundreds of artists to its dominant promotion's which controls the organizing, marketing and financing of large concerts.livo owns or controls venues at which these concerts are held. for example it owns 60 of america's 100 large amphitheaters. at these venues, live nation
11:14 am
ticketmaster not only earns money from tickets and fees but al■yso3- from concessions, ■cponsorships and even parking. live nation controls primary ticketing that hundreds of other venues across the country and it is through these exclusive ticketing arrangements that americans face the dreaded ticketmaster tax. the seemingly endless set of fees ironically named service fee or conveniencehing but. suit explains through detailed allegations and how ens power at the expense of artists and music fans across the entire wsuit alleges how live
11:15 am
nation ticketmaster sought to avoid expensive bidding wars that would have returned more money to performers. this is bad news for all artists but it is especially badr workio despite its already massive size and power, live nation ticketma7ester has acquired even small and regional promoters that live nation could one day threaten its dominance. th alleges live nation ticke and retaliates against venues that try to choose a different promoter particular. -- or ticket or. be■'if you are an artist, you ÷understand you must use live nation for promotion or risk being locked out. nation
11:16 am
exclusionary conduct as a hedge against significant improvements by the comp peti new competitor. but the cost of that hedge is one that we all pay. for example, a broken ticketing website with substandard customer service that still captures your valuable. as ticketmaster has said,e perst bought the ticket but the three people that you are taking to the show. of these acts are unlawful on its own, but taken together they are even worse. collect tivoli these practices portion impenetrable corporate area around the live music industry. that's why we seek to hold live nation tickeaste accountable for violating the antitrust laws.
11:17 am
songwriter harlan howard famously described american music has three chords and the truth. lever turn of phrase. 9aks to the importance of music, free speech in the public discourse. mr. howard was right. words and music come together to create one of our country's■n ms cherished forms of free expression. music is the s country, it is= e communicate about politics, love and despair, spirituality, humor, pain, joy and everything in bween.it is here, there and everywhere. live music should not be only to those who can afford to pay the ticketmaster tax. we are here today to fight for competition so that we can
11:18 am
reopen the doors to the live music industryor allin to thank the antitrust division and who today are the rock stars performing to the delight of an entire nation. i would also like to thank the attorneys general and staff frof arizona, arkansas, california, colorado,cticut, the district of columbia, florida, illinois, maryland, massachusetts, michigan, minnesota, nevada, new hampshire, new jersey,ew ohio, , oregon,island, south carolina, tennessee, texas, virginia, , west virginia, wisconsin and wyoming. they join us today in filing this important andse. thank you.
11:19 am
■c>> we talk about the ticketmaster tax, are we talking dollars or hundreds of dollars in terms of the average consumer? >> could question which i'm going to get mr. cantor. >> i think you need to ask consumers what they thi of e pa. at the end of the day in the aggregate, this amounts to billions of dollars in value across the entire country and industry. out that the supreme court justice y and two january 6 related cases before the court, do you he cone anything the justice department can do or say?
11:20 am
fore the supreme court so i can't■y >> we rarely see the doj at this phase of enforcement clearly say what kind of remedy they would be looking for. doj is seeking to break up live nation. why did you decide to make this so clear and what kind ofy or potential breakup would satisfy the doj? >> i answer -- as the complaint describes, ticketmaster is an important element in the gears i think they described it as the flywheel of theto separate ticketmaster from live limit the overall dominance of
11:21 am
the industry and all the effects ■@ consumers, fans, promoters, artists that we talked about. >> some monopolies are just so entrenchedome problems so difficult to address that they ve solutions. we remedy that has been used back 100 years. >> i have twor of them on topic. most ofl this morning from the former pre oes saying the justie department had authorization to kill him during the mar-a-lago raid. can you give us some clarification on thatnd whether or not deadly force is
11:22 am
authorized and other interventions including the search of mr. biden's residence? >> that allegation is false. and it is extremely dangerous. the referred to in the allegation is a justice depart limiting the ue . as the fbi advises, it is part of the standard operations plan for searches and in factsed in l search of president biden's home. >> the house appears poised to move ahead with a contempt resolution on you. just wondering if you have any comments on it or if you could tell us whether or not you watched any house oversight committeeeeting the other night?
11:23 am
>> i caught part of that hearing on saturday night live. but seriously, i am very disappointed. the jue before has gone to extraordinary lengtaccommodate e interests of the committees. report of mr.we permitted him r er that had in connection withn and the transcripts and interviews in which the committee is■.on td executive privilege in order to protect the justice department's ability in future investigations to g in high-profile cases, particularly involving the white house. my job is to protect the justice
11:24 am
department's abilitthose invest. my job is to protect the rule of law and that's what i'm doing. >> justice department's approval of the live nation and ticketmaster merger back in 2010 a mistake? >> one at a time. ■vunless they are both on topic and then i will punch them to mr. cantor anyway. that one complaint aqudescribed not resolve the matter as far as we are concerned. >> the involved one transaction. the current action involves systemac pattern of anticompetitive conduct that adect of the live music supply chain.
11:25 am
the previoct■< act. the current action involves the sherman act, monopolization under sections one and two of the sherman act. >> the justice department has in court multiple times that voters deserve a quick resolution to the cases against donaldrump. if t and there is not a resolution or any trial before the election, would that be a failure of justice? ce department's position is to seek a speedy trial. that matter is now in the hands of the courts. i'm not going to speculate any further. >>ha you book tv features leadig
11:26 am
authors discussing their latest nonfiction books. university's brian kaplan argues that government regulation of e us has caused po skyrocket. pulitzer prize winner historian stephen hahn explains what liberalism is an argues that and informs current issues. book tv every sunday on c-span and fina full schedule online
16 Views
IN COLLECTIONS
CSPAN
Television Archive 
Television Archive News Search Service 
Uploaded by TV Archive on
