{"id":1814,"date":"2017-10-25T17:54:20","date_gmt":"2017-10-25T21:54:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/jsel\/?p=1814"},"modified":"2023-07-25T11:55:37","modified_gmt":"2023-07-25T15:55:37","slug":"songkick-to-kick-its-ticket-selling-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/jsel\/2017\/10\/songkick-to-kick-its-ticket-selling-business\/","title":{"rendered":"Songkick to Kick Ticket Selling Business"},"content":{"rendered":"

On October 12, Songkick<\/a>, a tech start-up in the music industry, announced<\/a> that it will stop selling tickets for good later this month. For the past decade, the company has helped music fans track live concerts in town and provided ticket services to fans directly through artists\u2019 websites and fan clubs. Songkick peaked in 2015 when it handled ticket sales for Adele<\/a> directly to her fans through its website to cut out scalpers. However, there were early signs<\/a> that the company\u2019s business has been winding down. Three months ago, Songkick, splitting in two, sold its concert recommendation segment to Warner Music Group. What Warner did not acquire was the company\u2019s ticket business, which faces extremely fierce market competition from its rival Ticketmaster.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Songkick first filed a lawsuit<\/a> in December 2015, accusing the merger between Ticketmaster and Live Nation, the world\u2019s largest concert promoter, of antitrust violations. The merger was completed<\/a> in January 2010 following Ticketmaster\u2019s promise to U.S. Department of Justice to divest some assets. In March 2016, Songkick requested a temporary injunction for Ticketmaster\u2019s alleged retaliation against its clients. U.S. District Court in Los Angeles rejected Songkick\u2019s injunction request and dismissed its claim to challenge the merger.Early this year, Songkick battled<\/a> with Ticketmaster and Live Nation again on grounds of unfair competition and misappropriation of information. This time, it alleged that one of its former employees who now works for Ticketmaster used Songkick\u2019s trade secrets to steal customers. Last Monday, Songkick asked a California court to sanction Ticketmaster for failing to produce nearly 4,000 documents during initial discovery. Ticketmaster responded that it was due to unintentional human error at a rate of 0.22 percent.<\/p>\n

In the current lawsuit, Ticketmaster and Live Nation are represented by Latham & Watkins LLP<\/a> while Songkick is represented by Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ying Li is an Entertainment Highlight Contributor for the Harvard Journal of Sports and Entertainment Law and a current L.L.M. student at Harvard Law School (Class of 2018).<\/em><\/p>\n

Photo: \u201cconcert tickets\u201d<\/a>\u00a0by\u00a0rick<\/a>\u00a0<\/i>is licensed under\u00a0CC BY 2.0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On October 12, Songkick, a tech start-up in the music industry, announced that it will stop selling tickets for good later this month. For the past decade, the company has helped music fans track live concerts in town and provided ticket services to fans directly through artists\u2019 websites and fan clubs. Songkick peaked in 2015 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