Lifestyle
‘It is time to break up Live Nation-Ticketmaster’: Justice Department sues concert ticket behemoth
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Penny Harrison and her son Parker Harrison rally against the live entertainment ticket industry outside the U.S. Capitol last year.
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The Department of Justice and 30 state and district attorneys general across the country filed a federal lawsuit Thursday against Live Nation Entertainment and its wholly owned subsidiary Ticketmaster. The suit alleges that Live Nation has created a monopoly on live event ticket prices across the United States. The civil antitrust suit was filed in the Southern District of New York.
This fight has been long in coming: Music fans and other consumers, performers, independent venues and even members of Congress have argued that Ticketmaster, which merged with Live Nation in 2010, had artificially pushed ticket prices sky-high. Live Nation has long been a dominant player in the live event marketplace, with substantial holdings in venues, concert promotions, music festivals, ticketing, sponsorship, advertising and artist management – holding so much power across so many aspects of the business, the Justice Department alleges, that it is effectively able to limit its competition.
If successful, this suit could reshape the live event landscape – and the prices fans pay to see their favorite performers – across the country.
The state and district attorneys general joining the suit include several states that are home to major live event venues, including those of New York, California, Colorado, Florida and Texas.
In a lengthy statement provided to NPR on Thursday, Live Nation wrote in part: “The DOJ’s lawsuit won’t solve the issues fans care about relating to ticket prices, service fees, and access to in-demand shows. Calling Ticketmaster a monopoly may be a PR win for the DOJ in the short term, but it will lose in court because it ignores the basic economics of live entertainment, such as the fact that the bulk of service fees got to venues, and that competition has steadily eroded Ticketmaster’s market share and profit margin.”
Within the suit, the Department of Justice and the states allege that Live Nation and Ticketmaster engaged in several forms of anticompetitive conduct, including retaliating against other promotion companies and venues that worked with its rivals; locking out competitors with long-term, exclusive ticketing contracts; restricting musicians’ access to live event venues; and strategically acquiring smaller, independent companies that Live Nation allegedly perceived as threats to its dominance.
Earlier this month, in a bid to increase transparency for consumers, the House of Representatives passed the TICKET Act, which would force Live Nation and other ticket sellers to list all the costs and fees within a live event ticket price. The bill, which was introduced in the Senate by Ted Cruz of Texas, has been supported by hundreds of prominent musicians, including Billie Eilish, Dave Matthews and Nile Rodgers, who wrote in a joint statement: “We are joining together to say that the current system is broken: predatory resellers and secondary platforms engage in deceptive ticketing practices to inflate ticket prices and deprive fans of the chance to see their favorite artists at a fair price.”
According to Thursday’s filing, Live Nation Entertainment currently owns or controls over 250 concert venues across North America, and controls around 60 percent of concert promotions at major concert venues across the U.S. The company also directly manages more than 400 musical acts.
In the suit, the Department of Justice and the states asserted: “With this vast scope of power comes influence. Live Nation and its wholly owned subsidiary, Ticketmaster, have used that power and influence to insert themselves at the center and the edges of virtually every aspect of the live music ecosystem.”
“It is time to break up Live Nation-Ticketmaster,” said Attorney General Merrick Garland in a statement.
In the past, and again in its statement to NPR on Thursday, Live Nation argued that musicians — not its own company — are the ones to ultimately set their own ticket prices. Live Nation executive vice president of corporate and regulatory affairs Dan Wall said that the suit “ignores everything that is actually responsible for higher ticket prices, from increasing production costs to artist popularity, to 24/7 online ticket scalping that reveals the public’s willingness to pay far more than [what] primary tickets cost.”
“It is not surprising that Live Nation has pointed its finger at artists,” a senior Justice official said on background on Thursday morning. “In an industry in which artists have historically been squeezed for compensation for their creative work, it’s important that artists are properly compensated.”
“To us, that’s a little bit of a red herring,” the official continued, referring to Live Nation’s previous argument. “How is the system set up? How is Live Nation’s control at all levels of the system allowing for a process that’s distorted in part by Live Nation’s power?”
The DOJ is pressing for “structural relief” – that is, it is asking the federal court to break up the Live Nation-Ticketmaster combined company, which the DOJ itself had approved in the 2010 merger. Justice Department officials are now arguing that since the merger, Live Nation has created a stranglehold on the live event industry.
Thursday’s case is the latest lawsuit by the Biden administration against major corporations that it has accused of abusing monopoly power. The Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission have sued Apple, Google and Amazon. They’ve successfully stopped the mergers of publishers Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster and of JetBlue Airways with Spirit Airlines. They’ve also unraveled a partnership between JetBlue and American Airlines.
Last year, however, federal officials lost their bids to block the merger of Microsoft and videogame giant Activision Blizzard; of Facebook parent Meta with virtual-reality company Within Unlimited; and of insurer UnitedHealth Group with tech firm Change Healthcare.
“While we do not comment on specific enforcement matters, President Biden strongly supports fair and robust enforcement of the antitrust laws,” said White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre in a statement Thursday. “The President launched the Strike Force on Unfair and Illegal Pricing because no American should pay higher prices or lose choices because companies break the law and engage in anti-competitive practices. His Administration has taken action to fight corporate greed by banning hidden junk fees—including event tickets—that unfairly increase prices for hardworking families trying to make ends meet. As the President has said, the American people are tired of being played for suckers.”
The announcement of the federal antitrust suit against Live Nation is just a first step in what will almost certainly be a long court process, so music fans likely won’t encounter lower ticket prices any time soon.
With additional reporting by Alina Selyukh.
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Lifestyle
4 crime and suspense novels make for hot summer reading
![4 crime and suspense novels make for hot summer reading](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/1920x1080+0+0/resize/1400/quality/100/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fe1%2F26%2F6176b56c40ffb112302fe790dff2%2F11.jpg)
Maureen Corrigan picks four crime and suspense novels for the summer.
NPR
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NPR
There’s something about the shadowy moral recesses of crime and suspense fiction that makes those genres especially appealing as temperatures soar.
![An illustration of a person reading a book in the grass.](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/1526x1527+1589+347/resize/100/quality/15/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F3a%2F54%2F6420aa224a2fb1da82c3b717e781%2Fillustration-booklist-24-03-copy-wide-ca5c9fe266f7ac17663e087ce9bf90361ee1cf26.jpg)
![Ash Dark As Night](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/1000x1500+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F8c%2F92%2F2d4651864223928727473650f5c1%2F81rut0tvppl-sl1500.jpg)
Ash Dark As Night
Penguin Random House
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Penguin Random House
Ash Dark as Night, by Gary Phillips
I’m beginning my recommendations with two distinctive novels that appeared this spring. Gary Phillips introduced the character of LA crime photographer and occasional private eye Harry Ingram in the 2022 novel, One-Shot Harry. The second novel of this evocative historical series is called Ash Dark as Night and it opens in August 1965 during the Watts riots. Harry, who’s one of two African American freelancers covering the riots, has looped his trademark Speed Graphic camera around his neck and headed into the streets.
We’re told that Harry’s situation is, of course, riskier than that of his white counterparts: “[M]aybe one of these fellas might well get a brick upside their head from a participant, but were less likely to be jacked-up by the law. Ingram realized either side might turn on him.” Indeed, when Harry captures the death of an unarmed Black activist at the hands of the LAPD, the photo makes him famous, as well as a target.
This novel is steeped in period details like snap-brim hats and ragtop Chevy Bel Air convertibles, along with walk-ons by real life figures like pioneering African American TV journalist Louis E. Lomax. But it’s Harry’s clear-eyed take on the fallen world around him that makes this series so powerful.
![Blessed Water](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/1714x2560+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F6d%2Fcb%2Fbf08bf2b48c295447a66170073d4%2F9781638930266-fc-scaled.jpg)
Blessed Water
Zando
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Zando
Blessed Water, by Margot Douaihy
You might think a mystery about an inked-up lesbian Punk musician-turned-nun is a little far-fetched; but New Orleans, the setting of the Sister Holiday series, is the city of far-fetched phenomenon, both sacred and profane. Margot Douaihy’s second book in this queer cozy series is called Blessed Water and it finds the 34-year-old Sister Holiday up to her neck in murky flood waters and priests with secrets. Douaihy’s writing style — pure hard-boiled Patti Smith — contains all the contradictions that torment Sister Holiday in her bumpy journey of faith. Here she is in the Prologue recalling how she survived swallowing a glass rosary bead:
After my prayers for clarity, for forgiveness, for a cigarette, … deep inside the wet cave of my body was an unmistakable tickle. …
The bead fought my stomach acid for hours, leaching its blessing or poison or unmet wish. Anything hidden always finds a way to escape, no matter its careful sealing.
Amen to that, Sister Holiday.
![The Expat](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/988x1500+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Ffe%2F72%2F04d4d7194951a1c07e22014013d3%2F718ddwip7kl-sl1500.jpg)
The Expat
Pegasus Crime
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Pegasus Crime
The Expat, by Hansen Shi
The main character in Hansen Shi’s excellent debut spy novel is an alienated young man named Michael Wang. He’s a first generation Chinese American a few years out of Princeton who’s hit the bamboo ceiling at General Motors in San Francisco, where he’s been working on technology for self-driving cars. Enter a femme fatale named Vivian who flatters Michael into believing that his brilliance will be recognized by her enigmatic boss in China. Once Michael settles into life in Beijing, however, he realizes he’s been tapped, not as a prodigy, but a patsy. The Expat wraps up too abruptly, but it’s also true that I wanted this moody espionage tale to go on longer.
![The God of the Woods](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/994x1500+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fb5%2F6f%2F1e6cc7364e03aee25d41b8931fd6%2F81uce1zxmal-sl1500.jpg)
The God of the Woods
Riverhead Books
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Riverhead Books
The God of the Woods, by Liz Moore
Liz Moore’s extraordinary new literary suspense novel reminds me of Donna Tartt’s 1992 debut, The Secret History. There are superficial similarities: Both are thick intricate novels featuring young people isolated in enclosed worlds — in Tartt’s story, a Vermont college campus; in Moore’s, a summer camp in New York’s Adirondack mountains. But, the vital connection for me was a reading experience where I was so thoroughly submerged in a rich fictional world, that for hours I barely came up for air.
There’s a touch of Gothic excess about The God of the Woods, beginning with the premise that not one, but two children from the wealthy Van Laar family disappear from Camp Emerson in the Adirondacks 14 years apart. Moore’s story jumps around in time, chiefly from the 1950s into the ’70s and features a host of characters from different social classes — campers, counselors, townspeople and local police — and the Van Laars themselves.
![When Women Ran Fifth Avenue: Glamour and Power at the Dawn of American Fashion, by Julie Satow](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/426x426+315+851/resize/100/quality/15/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F66%2F8d%2Feb8fdb91469f92b98a6e7e94d6c3%2F81rpdfjh9bl-sl1500.jpg)
The precision of Moore’s writing never flags. Consider this reflection by Tracy, a 12-year-old camper who recalls that: “Her father once told her casually that she was built like a plum on toothpicks, and the phrase was at once so cruel and so poetic that it clicked into place around her like a harness.”
Moore’s previous book, Long Bright River, was a superb social novel about the opioid crisis in Philadelphia; The God of the Woods is something weirder and stranger and unforgettable.
Happy summer reading wherever your tastes take you.
Lifestyle
Barack Obama's Half Sister Auma Tear-gassed Live on Air During Kenya Protests
![Barack Obama's Half Sister Auma Tear-gassed Live on Air During Kenya Protests](https://imagez.tmz.com/image/fb/16by9/2024/06/25/fbcd64f62a76488389de36fd082c2063_xl.jpg)
CNN
Barack Obama‘s half sister was inadvertently tear-gassed during a deadly demonstration in Africa … and it’s all on video.
Auma Obama was being interviewed by CNN in the middle of Tuesday’s protests in Nairobi, Kenya — when all of a sudden, explosions could be heard in the background … and she starts coughing and tearing up.
The ex-Prez’s half sibling — to whom he’s related on his father’s side — says she can’t see anymore because of tear gas in the air … and CNN field reporter Larry Madowo starts coughing too as the street interview is forced to end.
Before police unleashed tear gas on protesters outside parliament, Auma — a Kenyan activist — told CNN she was at the demonstration to show the world what was happening to the young Kenyans demonstrating for their rights with flags and banners.
Widespread protests are breaking out in Kenya, where citizens are pushing back against a controversial new finance bill, which includes proposed tax increases.
Reports out of Nairobi say police opened fire on protesters who tried to storm parliament after tear gas and water cannons failed to disperse crowds … with at least 5 people shot dead and dozens more wounded.
Barack hasn’t addressed what happened to his sister just yet — but we know they’re close.
Lifestyle
This time last year, Hollywood writers were on strike. Now, many can’t find work
![This time last year, Hollywood writers were on strike. Now, many can’t find work](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/5627x3165+0+0/resize/1400/quality/100/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F0b%2F55%2F90c7aea142a3bca8f46833ba22a9%2Fgettyimages-1696226526.jpg)
Striking Writers Guild members picket alongside SAG-AFTRA members outside Netflix studios in September 2023.
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This time last year, Hollywood writers were picketing outside the offices of major studios and streaming companies. Throughout their nearly five month-long strike, writers often convened at Bob’s Big Boy, where TV host Drew Carey often picked up the check.
“I remember eating a lot of hash browns, and then if it was dinner, they’ve got a good soup situation,” says Taylor Orci, who recently returned to the Burbank diner to reminisce with writer Bill Wolkoff.
“It saved us,” Wolkoff nods. “It was a vote of confidence that ‘I believe in writers.’ Thank you, Drew Carey, for that.”
Wolkoff writes and produces the series Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Last year, when the show took a pause, he was a Writers Guild of America strike captain outside CBS Studios in L.A. Thanks to the union’s new contract, he’s looking forward to getting higher streaming residuals with each hit season.
“That’s going to be a noticeable difference in my life,” Wolkoff says. “And the AI protections too. I mean, we got in our contract language that ensures that AI will not replace writers. That’s huge.”
But, he admits, he’s one of the lucky few Hollywood writers still working these days.
Like many others, Taylor Orci still struggles. One writing job fell through recently, and they’re still living on loans, with max’d out credit cards and a baby on the way.
![Taylor Orci](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/2959x2219+21+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F02%2F1e%2F6ddb497145ce99ed40ccce939798%2Ftaylor-orci-copy.jpg)
Writer Taylor Orci outside Bob’s Big Boy, a diner in Burbank.
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“I knew it was gonna be slow, but I thought I’d have a job,” they say. “It’s tough right now to find work, especially if you didn’t have a job before.”
‘We needed a sea change’
Across town in Encino, Lannet Tachel says that the union’s gains are helpful, but, “in the long run, you still have to be one of the lucky few to get in so that help applies to you.”
Her writing partner Corey Grant agrees: there’s not much production these days.
“It was hard before the strike. It’s even harder now,” he says. “I think it’s a backlash because of the strike. I think they’re trying to … shore up their pockets a little bit, but it’s less TV, less episodes getting made, tighter budgets, half the shows got canceled.”
![Lanett Tachel and Corey Grant](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/3000x2250+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F69%2F9d%2Fc66414444ae2ad0dd0f1ce07de0b%2Flanett-tachel-and-corey-grant.jpg)
Lanett Tachel and writing partner Corey Grant.
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NPR reached out to eight major studios and streamers for a response. They didn’t get back to us. But the president of the WGA West, Meredith Stiehm, says those production changes started before the strike, not because of it. She says there had been a boom, with streaming companies ordering a glut of new shows. But in 2022, so-called “peak TV” went bust.
“Netflix announced that they’d lost subscribers. Streaming was not profitable for anybody. It was kind of a failed model. Everybody started retreating. At the same time,” she says, “our contract was untenable and we needed a sea change.”
![Writers union votes to ratify contract, ending one of Hollywood's longest strikes](https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2023/10/09/gettyimages-1702830853_sq-611b7811632b25a59e7412ce4a1b8381dc181a75.jpg?s=100&c=100&f=jpeg)
The WGA spent nearly five months on strike last year starting in May. Actors and performers in the union SAG-AFTRA also went on strike last summer. The writers union reached a tentative deal with studios in September, with new residual models in streaming, new minimum lengths of employment for TV gigs, more guaranteed paid work for feature films and other protections. Then, SAG-AFTRA reached their own tentative agreement in November.
“When we all returned to work, the decline continued, meaning not as much content is being ordered,” Stiehm says. “And it seems that the studios are sort of regrouping, and writers are feeling the post-Peak TV pinch.”
![Actors and studios make a deal to end Hollywood strikes](https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2023/10/04/fox-sag-strikers_sq-1df9cadc50d739d337f94310dd5d4f1fa30bc07e.jpg?s=100&c=100&f=jpeg)
During a recent earnings call, SONY Pictures Entertainment CEO Tony Vinciquerra said his company was hit by more than just the streaming revolution.
“We had to go from a pandemic where production was severely limited, to a strike, where there was no creative work being done for literally seven or eight months,” he said. “It had to restart. And that’s what you’re seeing right now.”
The industry continues to transform, with shrinking ad revenue and layoffs at just about every entertainment and media company. Last month, Netflix announced it would produce more non-scripted material, like reality shows and game shows. Disney said it will offer even more live sports through ESPN over the coming years.
Nick Geisler got his first writing job in Los Angeles in 2018. He was a strike captain outside Amazon Studios last year. After the strike ended, he says, he returned for a few months to the writers room for the Disney show Bunk’d: Learning the Ropes. But he says he hasn’t had much luck with other studios.
![Three things to know about the Hollywood Writers' tentative agreement](https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2023/09/25/briannelson_sq-b08062ac869ec18cb7b3db224d5f7c44f6baee9a.jpg?s=100&c=100&f=jpeg)
“There’s just no appetite for risk,” Geisler says. “And there’s a lot of requests for rewrites. A lot of them are free. There’s a lot of, ‘Hey, we’re so, so close. Can you just make these changes and get it over the line?’ ‘Hey, we’re turning it into our higher ups tomorrow. Can you do this in three hours?’ I don’t think that’s really changed much. Because of the climate we’re in, there’s a lot of ‘Well, I’ll just get this done because there’s not a lot going on.’”
Now, he says, “I’m actually working on a short film for a writer that I met on the picket line.”
‘This time feels different’
Things are tough for those who’ve been in the business for decades, too.
“I reach out to my agent and he tells me it’s really bad out there. Hopefully it will turn around,” says Jon Sherman, who hasn’t had a writing assignment for three years.
![Jon Sherman](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/2896x2172+104+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F01%2Fdc%2F65c1817b48a0a36f25e89741ea16%2Fjon-sherman-copy.jpg)
Jon Sherman began his career in Hollywood three decades ago.
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He began his career 30 years ago, writing for Bill Nye the Science Guy. He also wrote and produced for the original TV series Frasier. Sherman was a WGA strike captain outside Amazon Studios last year.
“It’s been the first time in a long career, for which I’m grateful, that I’ve had a real long layoff. I’ve reached a point where I’m like, ‘Oh, this time feels different.’”
To pay the bills, Sherman says he was in a focus group for dried fruit and in a UCLA research study on exercise. He’s also now a TV game show contestant. But he sure would still love to write for television.
Note: NPR News staffers are also members of SAG-AFTRA, the union of actors and performers that also went on strike last year. Broadcast journalists are under a different contract, however, and were not on strike.
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