Washington, D.C. — Today, Live Nation-Ticketmaster announced record-breaking earnings, reporting more than $732 million in income 2022 and outpacing its previous most profitable year (2019) by 125%. In response to this news, the Break Up Ticketmaster Coalition, a diverse group of artists, fans, consumer and policy advocates, released the following statement.

“Despite what the analysts say, there is only one reason for Live Nation-Ticketmaster’s record profits: monopoly power run amuck,” the Break Up Ticketmaster Coalition said in a statement. “Thanks to a merger in 2010, Live Nation-Ticketmaster has built an empire off of scamming consumers with bogus service fees, squeezing artists out of their hard-earned revenue, gatekeeping independent venue owners from the market if they don’t agree to Live Nation’s terms, and other restrictive practices. To build a vibrant, competitive live events market, the Department of Justice should listen to the thousands of fans, artists, independent venue owners, promoters, advocates, and bipartisan members of Congress that are urging the agency to break them up.”

Live Nation-Ticketmaster is currently facing increased regulatory pressure for its abuse of monopoly power. During his State of the Union speech, President Biden specifically called out concert tickets as an area rampant with extra fees — sometimes as much as 78% of a ticket — tacked on to purchases. During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the company’s abuses in January, Live Nation faced criticism from a bipartisan set of lawmakers for its abuses, along with blockbuster testimony from artists and competitors speaking out about the company’s dominance over the 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.

Join the campaign to urge the Department of Justice to break up Ticketmaster here.

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.