The Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission have released a public investigation into the business practices of the live music industry and the issues facing consumers.
The investigation fought ticket scalpers a month after President Trump's executive order (issued on Kidlock's advice), and ordered the government to seek comment from stakeholders across the music industry. The order sought report from both federal agencies six months later.
In its announcement, the DOJ said: “The executive order directs the Attorney General and the FTC to “instruct the competition law to be properly enforced in the concert and entertainment industry.” The executive order also directs the FTC to “strictly enforce the Better Online Ticket Sales Act.” The executive order also directs the Treasury Secretary and the FTC's chairman to submit a report identifying regulatory or legal recommendations necessary to protect consumers in the industry. ”
“The institutions therefore seek the public for information on unfair and anti-competitive behaviour and practices in the live concert and entertainment industry,” it continued.
In a statement, asst. Atty. “A competitive live entertainment market should provide value for both artists and fans. We will continue to explore this market in depth and look for opportunities for antitrust enforcement to intensify competition,” said General Abigail Slater, antitrust division of the Department of Justice.
“Many Americans feel that prices are being paid from live entertainment due to females, bots and other unfair and deceptive practices. Now their voices are being heard,” FTC Chair Andrew N. Ferguson said.
The public gets two months to send comments about their experience in the live music market to regulations. gov.
The news comes almost a year after DOJ and 40 states announced a swept antitrust lawsuit against LiveNation, which accused the concert giant of acting as an exclusive and abusing the vertically integrated structure with Ticketmaster. The lawsuit is about to dissolve the company.
“It's absurd to claim that Live Nation and Ticketmaster wield exclusive rights,” wrote Dunwall, executive vice president of corporate and regulatory operations at Live Nation Entertainment, at the time of the lawsuit. “DOJ doesn't support consumers with real issues. This is why governments have not been very popular so far, because instead they pretend to solve the problem while heading towards a narrow set of political interests.”
The central questions about how to improve high resale ticket prices, scalping and anti-competitive practices at concert giants like Live Nation are complicated. However, while the DOJ lawsuit began under the Biden administration, the announcement suggests that these regulatory efforts will continue in some way under President Trump.
