Department of Justice officials are "looking into serious accusations" about Ticketmaster parent Live Nation's "behavior in the marketplace," according to a front-page piece by Sisario & Bowley of the N.Y. TIMES. The DOJ has been "reviewing complaints" that Live Nation, which manages 500 artists, has "used its control over concert tours to pressure venues into contracting with its subsidiary, Ticketmaster." The company's chief competitor, AEG, told the officials that venues it manages that serve Atlanta, Las Vegas, Minneapolis, Salt Lake City, Louisville and Oakland were "told they would lose valuable shows if Ticketmaster was not used as a vendor, a possible violation of antitrust law." However, Live Nation officials said that they "never threaten or retaliate." They "dismissed the complaints as tactical, deliberate mischaracterizations by AEG." Live Nation's antitrust lawyer, L.A.-based Latham & Watkins Partner Daniel Wall, said, "You have a disgruntled competitor that is trying to explain their loss around the boogeyman that there were threats made that nobody can document." Sisario & Bowley note the "bloodletting between Live Nation and AEG has grown fierce in recent years and rippled through the industry." DOJ officials "declined to comment on the status of their inquiries."
CASES IN QUESTION: One of the "incidents that AEG complained about" to the DOJ involves KFC Yum! Center, which in '12 chose AEG over Live Nation to manage the arena. AEG Chief Legal & Development Officer Ted Fikre and other AEG officials said that two years later, when their company "considered replacing Ticketmaster with their own ticketing service, AXS, Live Nation gave a warning." They said that a Live Nation exec told AEG's local venue manager that some Live Nation tours would "likely bypass Louisville if AEG made good on its plan to replace Ticketmaster." AEG officials said that they "ultimately ditched the plan to replace Ticketmaster because they worried the venue might lose show revenue." Meanwhile, Live Nation and AEG last summer "faced off in a contract dispute" over new MLS club LAFC. AEG "blocked the selection of Ticketmaster" to ticket LAFC's stadium, and the contract "instead went to SeatGeek." Ticketmaster execs "told the team owners that, if there was no Ticketmaster contract, they would not be getting Live Nation shows." However, Live Nation "denied it had made any kind of threat." The company said that the stadium had "simply pulled out of a package deal that covered both ticketing and concerts." SeatGeek co-Founder Russ D'Souza said that he has "seen evidence that competition in the market is less than open." D'Souza: "When we sell to teams, we have heard fears about losing concerts if they choose us" (N.Y. TIMES, 4/2).
RESPONDING TO ACCUSATIONS: Ticketmaster North America President Jared Smith in a company blog wrote that it is "absolutely against Live Nation and Ticketmaster policy to threaten venues that they won't get any Live Nation shows if they don't use Ticketmaster." Smith added that Live Nation and Ticketmaster "do not re-route content as retaliation for a lost ticketing deal." Smith wrote Live Nation is the "most artist-focused company in the world, and misusing our relationship with artists to 'settle scores' with venues would be both bad business and counter to our core beliefs" (INSIDER.TICKETMASTER.com, 4/1).
