DOJ is set to sue Live Nation today over antitrust violations as company faces scrutiny after string of controversies including millions of fans being blocked from buying Taylor Swift Eras tour tickets

Live Nation Entertainment is set to be hit with an antitrust lawsuit today in relation to Ticketmaster’s domination of concert ticket sales, it has emerged.

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) and a group of states are expected to file a suit against the entertainment giant, potentially seeking a break up, in New York federal court as early as today.

The lawsuit is expected to allege that Live Nation’s merger with Ticketmaster in 2010 has ‘squeezed out competitors’ and ‘weakened customer choice’, and in turn driven up the price of concert tickets, a source told CBS News.

Concertgoers and politicians alike have called for a re-examination of the Live Nation-Ticketmaster merger, especially after the botched sale of tickets for the US leg of Taylor Swift‘s Eras Tour.

The legal action also underscores the aggressive approach President Joe Biden‘s antitrust enforcers have adopted as they seek to create more competition in a wide range of industries, from Big Tech to healthcare to groceries.

The US Department of Justice and a group of states are set to sue Live Nation Entertainment today over antitrust violations, potentially seeking a break up

Concert fans and politicians for years have called for a re-examination of the Live Nation-Ticketmaster merger in 2010, especially after the botched sale of tickets to the US leg of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour. Pictured: Fans attend the Eras Tour at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles in 2023

Live Nation came under fire in 2022 after Ticketmaster mishandled the sale of tickets to Swift’s 2023 tour.

Ticketmaster was overwhelmed, canceling some plans for sales and sending would-be buyers into online queues for as much as eight hours.

Some Swifties – the term used to describe the singer’s fans – said they were repeatedly dropped by Ticketmaster as they waited to buy.

The service complained it was the target of bots and scalpers, but concert-goers also complained of high prices and poor service.

The DOJ then launched an investigation into the company, allegedly focusing on whether Live Nation has had a monopoly over the ticket industry.

Investigators contacted music venues and other industry members to learn more about the company’s operational methods.

Last year, in a hearing called after the ticket sales fiasco, US senators slammed Live Nation’s lack of transparency and inability to block bot purchases of tickets.

In the lawsuit to be filed in the Southern District of New York today, the DOJ’s options range from requiring Live Nation to stop illegal behavior, a common request, to asking a court to break it up, which is rare.

Live Nation came under fire in 2022 after Ticketmaster mishandled the sale of tickets to Swift’s 2023 tour. Ticketmaster was overwhelmed, canceling some plans for sales and sending would-be buyers into online queues for as much as eight hours

After the Eras Tour ticket sales fiasco, Ticketmaster complained it was the target of bots and scalpers, but concert-goers also complained of high prices and poor service. Pictured is Taylor Swift performing in Stockholm, Sweden last weekend during the European leg of her tour

Following the botched Eras Tour ticket sale in November 2022, Swift blasted Ticketmaster for the mayhem.

She claimed she had been ‘assured’ the company could handle the high demand ‘multiple times’ and said it was ‘excruciating’ to ‘watch mistakes happen with no recourse’.

‘It goes without saying that I’m extremely protective of my fans,’ she wrote in a lengthy post on her Instagram stories. ‘We’ve been doing this for decades together and over the years, I’ve brought so many elements of my career in house.’

She shared how she had opted to use Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan system – which aims to deter by bots – because she thought it would ‘improve the quality’ of the purchase experience and get tickets into the hands of real fans.

‘I’m not going to make excuses for anyone because we asked them, multiple times, if they could handle this kind of demand and we were assured they could,’ Swift said at the time.

‘It’s truly amazing that 2.4 million people got tickets, but it really pisses me off that a lot of them feel like they went through several bear attacks to get them.’

Following the botched ticket sale in November 2022, Swift blasted Ticketmaster for the mayhem, claiming that she was ‘assured’ the company could handle the high demand ‘multiple times’ and calling it ‘excruciating’ to ‘watch mistakes happen with no recourse’

Thursday’s lawsuit comes after the Justice Department in 2010 approved Ticketmaster’s controversial merger with Live Nation, with conditions intended to stop the combined company from harming competition.

In 2020, a court extended most of its oversight of the merger to 2025 because, the department said, Ticketmaster retaliated against stadiums and arenas that opted to use other ticketing companies.

Live Nation did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com’s request for comment, but has said in the past that it was confident its business practices were legal, and that the probe had been prompted by complaints from rivals, including re-sellers.

Live Nation’s shares fell 7 per cent in after hours trade.

The Department of Justice has also been approached for comment.