34 States Challenge Ticketmaster's Hold On Live Entertainment

Texas, New Mexico, the department of justice and most other states are suing Ticketmaster and Live Nation. Looks like the ticket/live venue monsters won the first round.

I'm pretty sure Pearl Jam were the first "Davids'" to take on the Ticketmaster Goliath back in the early 90's. They even cancelled a tour to show their disdain for Ticketmaster.

Ultimately, they rattled Ticketmasters' cage pretty good and had plenty of people behind them but, ultimately, nothing really changed.

On top of monopolizing the ticket industry, Ticketmaster have also been accused of scalping their own tickets; buying them, (illegally), through "brokers" then reselling them at inflated prices.

Over time, they have grown even bigger and with the Live Nation merge they now pretty much have the entire live entertainment industry under their thumb.

Ticketmaster, are blocking competition and driving up prices for fans. They say this was done through threats, retaliation and other tactics to control virtually every aspect of the industry, from concert promotion to ticketing. - PBS

Who Sued Ticketmaster/Live Nation?

The US Department of Justice took both companies to court and suddenly, from out of nowhere, they reached a settlement. Miraculous, huh? Big 'Guv closed the case but there's something fishy here ...

The judge presiding over the case reportedly said in court today that the way the settlement was announced “is absolutely unacceptable.” - arstechnica.com

The worry now is that, since the DOJ pulled out of the argument, states pursuing the case will face juries who feel like the government has "admitted" the two companies have done nothing wrong.

Who's Still Fighting?

Texas is one of the states that plan to continue the fight. (Texas may, in fact, be a key player in this mess.) Right now, it's us, our neighbors New Mexico and 34 other states along with the District of Columbia. Most of the country, basically, seems to feel that this monster needs to be brought down.