US: Songkick’s request for an injunction against Ticketmaster is denied

Online concert ticket seller Songkick has suffered a significant setback in its legal battle with rival ticketing giant Ticketmaster over presales to artist fan clubs.

Songkick in December accused Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation, of engaging in anti-competitive behavior by pressuring touring artists and concert venues to not work with Songkick’s service.

But a judge Wednesday denied a temporary injunction requested by Songkick, handing a victory to Ticketmaster and Live Nation, the largest concert promoter.

Ticketmaster allows artists to sell a portion — typically 8 to 10 percent — of the tickets to their concerts through fan clubs, and competes with Songkick and other companies to handle those sales. But Ticketmaster also argues that its contracts allow it to determine what is a legitimate fan club; a number of such cases are in dispute in the Songkick suit.

In March, Songkick asked the judge for a temporary injunction against Ticketmaster, saying that the company had been “retaliating” against Songkick’s clients. When Songkick handled a presale, it said, Ticketmaster demanded that it pay the fees that Ticketmaster would otherwise have made from selling those tickets. Those actions, Songkick argued, would “drive Songkick out of the artist presale ticketing business in the US”.

Full Content: NY Times

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