The US Department Of Justice has reportedly sent out a new batch of ‘information requests’ as part of its ongoing investigation into allegations of anti-competitive behaviour against Live Nation and its Ticketmaster business.
According to Bloomberg, officials in the DoJ's Antitrust Division, which enforces US competition law, have become frustrated at how slowly Ticketmaster executives have been in responding to previous requests for information as they proceed with an investigation which could still result in legal action against the live giant later this year.
It emerged last year that the DoJ was again investigating whether or not Live Nation is abusing its dominance in the US live entertainment and ticketing market in a way that disadvantages competitors, artists and/or consumers.
Investigators will also be considering if the live music firm is compliant with the consent decree it agreed with the government department when Live Nation and Ticketmaster merged in 2010.
The DoJ approved that merger subject to Live Nation complying with the terms of the consent decree, which put restrictions in place regarding the relationship between Ticketmaster and Live Nation's venue and tour promotions businesses.
Those restrictions were only meant to be in place for ten years, but the agreement was extended for another five years at the end of 2019. That followed allegations that Live Nation was in breach of the consent decree. For its part, Live Nation has always denied all claims of anti-competitive conduct.
The dominance of Live Nation and Ticketmaster came under political scrutiny again last year following the meltdown that occurred when tickets for Taylor Swift's tour went on sale via Ticketmaster in late 2022. That led to a public war of words with a committee in the US Senate in November.
Issuing a bold statement at the time, Senators said Live Nation had "egregiously stonewalled" its investigation into "abusive consumer practices". Live Nation said the committee had failed to provide assurances that the commercially sensitive information requested by Senators would be kept confidential.
The DoJ investigation pre-dates all of that. There were initially reports that the government department might file a lawsuit against Live Nation before the end of 2023. That obviously didn't happen, though Bloomberg says that was because the investigation was extended and legal action could still happen later this year.
