The world's largest concert promoter and the world's largest ticket provider have been called into question for unfair business practices by several members of Congress. In a letter written to President Joe Biden, five members of the U.S. House of Representatives are urging the President to investigate the merger and consequences of said merger between Ticketmaster and Live Nation.

Live Nation is the world's largest concert promoter. It's believed that they control over 80% of the venue ticket sales marketplace. Live Nation merged with Ticketmaster, the world's largest ticket provider in 2010. In the letter to the President, the members of Congress felt that this "relationship" has resulted in a monopoly. A monopoly that they referred to as "unfair" within the context of a free-market economy.

The letter went on to allege that Live Nation Entertainment violated a Department of  Justice consent decree by allegedly threatening venues and forcing those venues to bundle artists with the Ticketmaster ticketing service. The letter also alleges that Live Nation Entertainment's creation of Safe Tix, a resale market, also impedes competition in that area of entertainment as well.

There are also reports that Ticketmaster is using "public health concerns" to force venues to have an account with the company as live entertainment returns from the pandemic shutdown. The report alleges that Ticketmaster is claiming health issues such as contact tracing are the reasoning behind their requests that venues do business with them or the Safe Tix resale service.

The letter to the President urging an investigation was penned by Bill Pascrell Jr. (D-NJ-09), Frank Pallone Jr. (D-NJ-06), Jerrold Nadler (D-NY-10), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL-09), and David Cicilline (D-RI-01). The letter, in its entirety, was published in an article on Variety.com. You can read that letter here. 

But you know, if we are looking into businesses that seem to create an unfair advantage for themselves these two companies are not the only ones officials should investigate. For example, some people smell a rat instead of a mouse when they think of this company.

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