You mention that Live Nation and Ticketmaster have violated antitrust laws throu

Question

You mention that Live Nation and Ticketmaster have violated antitrust laws through anticompetitive behavior. Which antitrust laws do you think that they violated (e.g., the Sherman Act, Clayton Act, etc.) and why?

A New York-based online concert-ticket seller, Songkick, has helped major artists sell passes directly to fans so as to avoid scalpers. The company recently filed a lawsuit against Ticketmasterand its parent company, Live Nation, claiming that Ticketmasterand Live Nation are engaging in anti-competitive behavior by pressuring touring artists and concert venues to not work withSongkick's service. Songkick claims Live Nation broke federal antitrust laws, by attempting to destroy competition in the artist pre-sale ticketing services market. Artists use Songkick to offer tickets to fan-club members before they go on sale to the general public and to keep prized passes out of the hands of scalpers who want to sell them on the secondary market. The company says it has worked with artists including Kenny Chesney,Metallica, Adele and Mumford & Sons.

Explanation / Answer

As per my understanding Ticket Master and its parent company Live Nation has violated the Sherman’s act and Federal Trade Commission Act by engaging in the anticompetitive behavior by pressuring tourist artists and concert venues not to work with Songkick. Sherman’s Act prohibits every contract or conspiracy in restraint of trade that are unreasonable and any attempts of monopolization. Here Live Nation has tried to monopolize by contracting with the artists and concert venues as they can dominate by avoiding Songkick in the industry. As Songkick is trying to avoid scalpers these anticompetitive actions of Live Nation is going to affect the consumers and consumers would have to buy tickets from scalpers for more price. The contract made between Live Nation and artists to avoid Songkick is definitely unreasonable, harmful to the competition and it will promote illegal ticket selling. Federal Trade Commission Act, FTC Act also prohibits efforts that destroy competition and unfair acts in the market. All the violations of Sherman act also violate the FTC Act. Hence I came to the conclusion that Live Nation and Ticket Master has violated both Sherman’s Act and FTC Act.

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