Anti-Hero or Villain: Analyzing Varying Competition Laws by Comparing Global Responses to Continued Competition Concerns Surrounding Ticketmaster after The Eras Tour

Authors

Ashley Watson, Southern Methodist University, Dedman School of Law

Abstract

Antitrust laws in the United States regarding ticket sellers and re-sellers have failed to properly protect consumers and ensure sufficient competition. Ticket sales for Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour demonstrated how the current Ticketmaster and Live Nation monopoly creates a system where consumers have no choice but to deal with website failures, price-gouging, and hidden fees. The original approval of the Ticketmaster and Live Nation merger must be re-evaluated to protect consumer interests and ensure a lack of competition is not resulting in consumer harm. Scholars have written extensively about antitrust law in the United States and beyond, but The Eras Tour provides a unique lens for comparing the effect of competition laws on the public in various jurisdictions. By focusing on this one specific global concert event where the same platform is used to sell tickets across the world, it highlights that competition issues and consumer complaints primarily manifest where antitrust laws have been insufficient at ensuring a presence of significant competitors to keep prices and processes fair.

As the current Biden administration moves towards greater enforcement of antitrust laws in the US, they could learn from the U.K. and EU where Ticketmaster has competition preventing the concerns from reaching the same height that is evidenced in the States. Though the Ticketmaster-Live Nation merger was ultimately approved in the U.K., it was only approved after a determination was made there would be sufficient competition to prevent it from becoming a monopoly. Meanwhile, the U.S. has seen Ticketmaster become a complete monopoly, despite scholars warning about that potential from the early days of the merger proposal. The Eras Tour fiasco highlights Ticketmaster, as the monopoly it is, and either the monopoly needs to be broken up or fervent efforts must be made to introduce new competitors into the market. Through an analysis of the global response to ticket sales surrounding The Eras Tour, this paper will show how legions of private citizens are impacted by antitrust laws that fail to protect them, reaching far beyond the theoretical impact of a monopoly.

Recommended Citation

Ashley Watson, Case Note, Anti-Hero or Villain: Analyzing Varying Competition Laws by Comparing Global Responses to Continued Competition Concerns Surrounding Ticketmaster after The Eras Tour, ILRA Student Forum (2023)