Sean Dengler.

While prohibitive costs and low commodity prices are due in part to the consolidation of the input providers and grain processors, the agricultural system is not the only consolidated industry negatively affecting citizens. Unfortunately, soaring prices throughout the economy are a symptom of the greater issue of not enforcing antitrust laws which have led to more consolidation.

Have you recently gone to a concert? This may have been a thought about seeing the ticket prices, “These tickets are expensive,” or “What is up with all these service fees?”

Before the next thought is, “These young whippersnappers need to save up their money like back in my day,” realize this next point: According to the New York Times, “The price of the average concert ticket increased by nearly 400 percent from 1981 to 2012, much faster than the 150 percent rise in overall consumer price inflation.”

For the older generation, in 1955, one could see Elvis Presley for less than the modern-day equivalent of $20 according to More Perfect Union. Between 1970-1989, the premier acts’ tickets cost around $45 in today’s cost. If you recently went to a recent popular acts concert, this is not what you paid unless you know someone.

What happened? Monopoly power by Ticketmaster and then more so by Live Nation buying Ticketmaster. Ticketmaster first got venues on board by charging fans a service fee unlike other competitors at the time who charged venues. This incentivized venues to sign exclusive contracts with Ticketmaster according to More Perfect Union. Ticketmaster also started to acquire all the other competition. After acquiring their competitors, they could charge whatever they wanted for the fees.

Live Nation acquired Ticketmaster after signing a Department of Justice consent decree in 2010 which was to prevent the new company, Live Nation Entertainment, from engaging in anti-competitive behavior. Live Nation is a large concert promotion firm. Joining with Ticketmaster allowed this new company to vertically integrate the industry like how Corteva and Bayer vertically integrated their seed and chemical divisions. This made it harder for independent venues to start up or compete due to this integration.

Nine years after this acquisition, Live Nation Entertainment got into trouble. In 2019, the DOJ probed the company over allegations that Live Nation Entertainment leveraged its dominance in concert touring to coerce venues into signing contracts with Ticketmaster. In December 2019, the DOJ announced that Live Nation Entertainment agreed to amend and strengthen the consent decree according to the New York Times. This has not been enough to stop the rising ticket costs.

By not strongly enforcing antitrust and creating competitive markets, one large private company controls ticket prices. While previous generations got tickets for much cheaper, the current generation of concert goers are spending much more on the same experience. Thankfully, starting under the Biden administration and continuing under the Trump administration, the Department of Justice has brought forth an antitrust suit against Ticketmaster and their owner, Live Nation. By creating more competition in this industry, more people can enjoy concerts and other ticket events for less money.

The power of the people should be in their wallets and not entirely with large monopolies. Democracy succeeds when there are competitive markets. If there is no competition, well, that is our current state. Break these large monopolies up across the economy and enforce the antitrust laws like we did from the 1930s to the 1970s. We need it now, more than ever.

Sean Dengler is a writer, comedian, farmer, and host of the Pandaring Talk podcast who grew up on a farm between Traer and Dysart. You can reach him at sean.h.dengler@gmail.com.