John,

The music industry has a lot of problems, but if I had to pick one villain for the past two decades it’d be Ticketmaster. Their ticketing monopoly is ruining live music for fans and artists alike, turning the experience of supporting an artist you love into an expensive cash grab that benefits shareholders the most.

Ticketmaster is a monopoly. They get away with adding crazy fees, price-gouging you on concert tickets, and giving musicians crap deals because they completely dominate the industry from the top down. Regulators are starting to pay attention, and we need to give them an extra push. Tell the DOJ: break up Ticketmaster and free live music.

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If you’ve tried to buy tickets for anyone from Taylor Swift to local indie acts, you’ve certainly noticed those mysterious fees tacked onto the ticket price, sometimes close to the price of the ticket itself. These fees don’t help out artists. They go straight to the ticket company’s coffers. And the fees are only one small part of the stranglehold Ticketmaster has over the music industry.

Ticketmaster and Live Nation, competitors that merged in 2009, control 70% of the ticketing across the country. They own most of the biggest and best venues across the US, control the ticket supply, and manipulate musicians into bad contracts.¹ It’s all the worst parts of monopoly abuse, and it’s ruining musicians’ ability to survive in the industry.

Everyone at Fight cares fiercely about creators and the live events that bring us all together. That’s why we’re calling for the Department of Justice to use all the antitrust tools in their toolbox to break up Ticketmaster and save live music. Can you add your name?

Together,

Evan at Fight for the Future

1. Rolling Stone: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/amy-klobuchar-ticketmaster-live-nation-monopoly-interview-1234663964/