Warren for Senate: [link removed]

Since I
last sent this note below on why we need to break up Live Nation and
Ticketmaster, we’ve got some new updates. Today, the Department of Justice
officially filed an antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation to break up
their monopoly over the live entertainment industry.

In their announcement, Attorney General Merrick Garland said, “We allege
that Live Nation relies on unlawful, anticompetitive conduct to exercise
its monopolistic control over the live events industry in the United
States at the cost of fans, artists, smaller promoters, and venue
operators. The result is that fans pay more in fees, artists have fewer
opportunities to play concerts, smaller promoters get squeezed out, and
venues have fewer real choices for ticketing services. It is time to break
up Live Nation-Ticketmaster.”

So if you’ve ever spent half a day in the online queue on Ticketmaster
only to have the privilege of paying over $1,000 on a ticket, this one’s
for you.

[ [link removed] ]I’m fighting hard to continue to take on concentrated corporate power
like this and stop companies from getting away with ridiculously high
prices and ridiculously crummy service. If you agree that we need to break
up big corporate monopolies like this, please pitch in
$28 or
anything you can to support this work.

Thanks for being a part of this,

Elizabeth

--- Forwarded message ---

To: [email protected]
From: Elizabeth Warren
Date: April 17, 2024
Subject: re: the Ticketmaster lawsuit

Have
you been ripped off by Ticketmaster’s hidden fees and high prices? Have
you spent hours waiting in a queue for tickets that aren’t even available
anymore?? No matter who you’re a fan of — whether it’s Taylor Swift, Bad
Bunny, or Beyoncé, or the Sox or the Celtics — fans are overwhelmingly
united in agreeing that Ticketmaster makes the ticket-buying experience
expensive and excruciating.

So here’s an update you might appreciate: New reporting from the Wall
Street Journal indicates that the Department of Justice plans to file an
antitrust lawsuit against Ticketmaster parent company Live Nation.

This lawsuit will be a big step in the right direction to hold
monopolistic corporations accountable for hurting consumers, and we can
keep making strides if we continue fighting side by side.

[ [link removed] ]I’ll explain more below, but if you agree that we need to break up big
corporate monopolies like this, please add your name here. I’m fighting
hard to take on concentrated corporate power — and when we fight together,
we can stop companies from getting away with ridiculously high prices and
ridiculously crummy service.

[ [link removed] ]ADD YOUR NAME

Just to back up a bit: In 2010, the federal government had let Live
Nation, a huge concert-promoting company, buy Ticketmaster, a huge
concert-ticket-selling company. Together, they became a one-two punch of
market dominance, leaving little competition to rein in skyrocketing
prices and encourage quality service. And their monopoly power goes beyond
just jacking up ticket prices for consumers — it’s harming employees,
vendors, and artists too:

* Ticketmaster has been hiding fees and progressively piling on charges
the further consumers get into the ticket-buying process.
* Live Nation has maintained a gigantic pay gap between CEO compensation
and median pay for employees in 2023 — with CEO Michael Rapino
bringing home $139 million last year, 5,414 times as much as the
$25,673 median pay for employees, according to the Institute of Policy
Studies.
* New findings indicate that Ticketmaster is also using schemes to hide
profits right under our noses — incentivizing vendors to charge them
at higher rates in exchange for undisclosed financial gains in the
form of rebates, which allows Live Nation and Ticketmaster to use
accounting tricks to record a “loss.”
* Meanwhile, they’re making massive financial gains by not disclosing
these rebate arrangements to the artists, managers, or co-promoters,
who are often unknowingly shouldering the costs of these confidential
deals, according to those findings.

Now, harmful corporate consolidation isn’t just in the live entertainment
industry — it’s everywhere. Big agribusinesses are crushing family farmers
and jacking up prices for consumers. Big tech companies are elbowing out
startups and using our private information for profit. Big airlines are
getting away with higher fares for lower-quality service.

Pure and simple, the American people are suffering under the thumb of
corporations that are just too big and too powerful.

I’ll keep calling on the Biden administration to use all of its tools to
fight back against corporate monopolies. I’ve also got a bill — the
Prohibiting Anticompetitive Mergers Act — to ban the biggest, most
competition-crushing mergers, restore competition, and bring down prices
for consumers.

I’ll stay in the fight — but it’s only possible because I’ve got people
like you fighting alongside me.

[ [link removed] ]If you’re with me in this fight, will you add your name to support
holding predatory corporations like Ticketmaster accountable for violating
antitrust laws and ripping off American people?

[ [link removed] ]ADD YOUR NAME

Thanks for being part of this,

Elizabeth







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