Washington, D.C. — In response to an announcement from the White House Competition Council urging Congress to crack down on excessive online concert, sporting event, and other entertainment ticket junk fees, the Break Up Ticketmaster Coalition released the following statement.

“Fans, artists, competitors, and policymakers sounding the alarm about the Live Nation-Ticketmaster monopoly’s abuses — including charging inexplicable, sky high fees — has warranted attention from the Biden administration,” said the Break Up Ticketmaster Coalition. “It’s time legislators and regulators bring transparency and accountability to the live events ticketing industry by curbing the use of these junk fees once and for all, and breaking up this monopoly to bring more competition to the live events industry.”

In October 2022, a broad coalition of allies launched #BreakUpTicketmaster, a campaign to urge the Department of Justice to investigate and unwind the Live Nation-Ticketmaster merger of 2010 (the genesis of this monopoly). So far, the Break Up Ticketmaster Coalition has organized over 100K concerned fans, artists, and independent venue owners that want to break Ticketmaster’s power over live events ticketing, artist promotion, and venue ownership. Through the Taylor Swift Eras Tour ticket meltdown to Bad Bunny’s fake ticket fiasco, the coalition has directed fans to learn how Live Nation-Ticketmaster’s monopoly power plays a significant role in undermining the vitality of live events and advocated for robust regulatory action to promote market competition.

The broad coalition of advocacy organizations includes American Association of Independent Music (A2IM), American Economic Liberties Project, Artist Rights Alliance, Consumer Federation of America, Demand Progress, Fan Freedom, Fight Corporate Monopolies, Future of Music Coalition, More Perfect Union, Music Workers Alliance, National Consumers League, Public Citizen, Sports Fans Coalition, Union of Musicians and Allied Workers, and Voters of Tomorrow.

Learn more about the Break Up Ticketmaster Coalition here.

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The American Economic Liberties Project works to ensure America’s system of commerce is structured to advance, rather than undermine, economic liberty, fair commerce, and a secure, inclusive democracy. Economic Liberties believes true economic liberty means entrepreneurs and businesses large and small succeed on the merits of their ideas and hard work; commerce empowers consumers, workers, farmers, and engineers instead of subjecting them to discrimination and abuse from financiers and monopolists; foreign trade arrangements support domestic security and democracy; and wealth is broadly distributed to support equitable political power.