Music Industry News Sample

Jun 19, 2002 00:56:57

CLEAR CHANNEL: Music Fan Files Antitrust Suit Over Ticket Prices in NY

FREDERICK, Maryland (SunStream News) -- A music fan recently filed an antitrust lawsuit against Clear Channel Communications Inc., claiming the Company has gained too much control over the concert-promotion industry, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal. The suit requests class action status on behalf of all those who have bought rock-concert tickets from the Company since January 1997. The lawsuit was filed in the US District Court in Manhattan, and claims that the Company “gobbled” up smaller concert-production companies through a series of mergers and is harming consumers by pumping up the cost of tickets. The lawsuit seeks an unspecified amount of damages. “Clear Channel’s anticompetitive practices … are gouging (the) plaintiff and the class and are unrelated to inflation,” says Melinda Heerwagen, a Cook County, Illinois resident, in the lawsuit. “Clear Channel has built a monopolistic, multimedia empire that is severely harming and decreasing overall competition.” The Company, a producer and marketer of entertainment events, sells 70 percent of all US concert tickets. From 1991 to 1996, concert-ticket prices rose 21 percent, while the Consumer Price Index shows all prices rose 15 percent, according to the lawsuit. Company spokesman Howard Schacter declined to comment on the specifics of the lawsuit. On the matter of ticket prices, he said a concert promoter, such as Clear Channel, is only one of many parties that has a role in setting prices.

ss/bal

Source: Class Action Reporter

Publication Date: 2002-06-19

 

NWS:	LAW

COY:	CCU

IND:	MUS

GEO:	n-us-ny
	n-us

 

Back to Industry News Samples List