US ticketing company SeatGeek published the results of a survey earlier this week which, it said, shows that the majority of American consumers would support a government-forced break up of Live Nation and Ticketmaster.
According to The Hill, a research firm hired by SeatGeek surveyed just over 1000 people. Respondents were given a short overview of the 2010 merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster, and the ongoing investigation by the US Department Of Justice into allegations that the live giant acts in an anti-competitive way, exploiting its dominance in live entertainment as a major promoter, venue operator and ticket agent.
Across the respondents, 60% said they'd be supportive of the DoJ forcing a break up of Live Nation and Ticketmaster so that they became two separate companies again. Because the poll was part of SeatGeek's own lobbying activities, the results were also broken down by political persuasion. 72% of the Democrat voters surveyed supported break up, 50% of Republicans and 46% of independents.
The ticketing sector has been back in the political spotlight in the US this year, in no small part because of the debacle that occurred when tickets for Taylor Swift's tour went on sale via Ticketmaster last year. Lots of issues with ticketing have been raised and different stakeholders have been trying to get the politicians to focus on different things.
Live Nation has supported new regulation to force all-in pricing - so that all ticketing platforms declare the full cost of ticket including ticketing fees upfront - and some new regulation of secondary ticketing. Unlike in Europe, Ticketmaster is still involved in secondary ticketing in the US. However, Live Nation would still rather that any new regulation be focused on ticket resale rather than its primary ticketing business.
Other stakeholders would prefer the focus to be the dominance of Live Nation and Ticketmaster. Including SeatGeek, which began as a secondary ticketing platform, though is now also involved in primary ticketing. This is why it commissioned this poll, which had input from a relatively small group of consumers, but nevertheless provides the bold statement: "A majority of Americans support breaking up Ticketmaster and Live Nation".