The owner of music festival Coachella was hit with a lawsuit in Oregon federal court on Monday, April 9, claiming the California mega-festival employs anti-competitive practices, such as barring artists from performing at other musical events within approximately 1,300 miles in the months surrounding the spring happening.
Billboard is reporting that Coachella parent company Goldenvoice has been sued over the festival’s radius clause by the organizers of Soul’d Out, a festival in Portland. According to the lawsuit, this year’s Coachella radius clause is particularly restrictive, prohibiting musicians from performing at any “festivals or themed events” within a five-state radius of Coachella’s California venue during the five-month period stretching from December 2017 to May 2018. If the suit is representing the facts accurately, that means Coachella performers are contractually prohibited from playing any other West Coast festivals this spring.
Soul’d Out’s organizers are suing GoldenVoice in federal court, claiming that Coachella’s radius clause violates antitrust law in the service of “an illegal monopoly in the market for live music festival performances,” Billboard reports. Attorneys for Soul’d Out told Billboard that the organizers filed after attempting to book artists SZA and Daniel Caesar for their festival and being turned down because of Coachella’s clause. They pointed out that Portland is 1,000 miles from Indio, where Coachella is located. The suit also accuses Goldenvoice of selectively enforcing the clause, allowing artists to play other Goldenvoice festivals within the radius but refusing to offer waivers to outside promoters.
Full Content: Billboard
Want more news? Subscribe to CPI’s free daily newsletter for more headlines and updates on antitrust developments around the world.
Featured News
FTC to Approve Exxon’s $64 Billion Deal with Pioneer Resources, Excludes
May 1, 2024 by
CPI
UK Competition Watchdog Raises Alarm Over Nvidia’s ARM Takeover
May 1, 2024 by
CPI
Sen. Klobuchar Urges Regulators to Probe Collusion in Health Care Pricing
May 1, 2024 by
CPI
Multiple States Join Tennessee’s Antitrust Lawsuit Against NCAA Over NIL Rules
May 1, 2024 by
CPI
NY AG Joins Suit Challenging NCAA’s Restrictions on Student Athlete NIL Rights
May 1, 2024 by
CPI
Antitrust Mix by CPI
Antitrust Chronicle® – Economics of Criminal Antitrust
Apr 19, 2024 by
CPI
Navigating Economic Expert Work in Criminal Antitrust Litigation
Apr 19, 2024 by
CPI
The Increased Importance of Economics in Cartel Cases
Apr 19, 2024 by
CPI
A Law and Economics Analysis of the Antitrust Treatment of Physician Collective Price Agreements
Apr 19, 2024 by
CPI
Information Exchange In Criminal Antitrust Cases: How Economic Testimony Can Tip The Scales
Apr 19, 2024 by
CPI