Songkick suffers a setback in its legal battle with Ticketmaster

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.

Artists use Songkick to offer tickets to fan-club members before they go on sale to the general public and to keep prized passes out of the hands of scalpers who want to sell them on the secondary market.

In its original complaint, New York-based Songkick said Ticketmaster and Live Nation have used their market clout in an attempt “to destroy competition in the artist presale ticketing services market.” The company is seeking unspecified damages, including punitive damages and attorneys fees.

Songkick says Ticketmaster has tried to force the company to pay service fees for presales, and intimidated concert venues and artists into not working with Songkick and other rival ticketing services. Songkick also accuses Ticketmaster of enforcing an anachronistic policy about what counts as a fan club whose members can get access to early ticket sales.

Songkick in March told the court that Beverly Hills-based Ticketmaster had retaliated against the smaller company for its legal action. Its motion asked the judge to prevent Ticketmaster from charging Songkick extra fees to handle tickets allotted for artists’ fan clubs.

But U.S. District Judge Dale S. Fischer in Los Angeles sided with Ticketmaster in the matter and denied the motion.

In his ruling, the judge appeared to question Songkick’s broader argument, saying that Ticketmaster has that right to create its own definition limiting what constitutes a fan club.

“Without some showing that Defendants are drafting or applying their policy in some manner that extends beyond the legitimate need for a fan club definition, there is no reason to believe that Defendants’ actions violate antitrust law,” the judge wrote.

Songkick said it was disappointed in the judge’s decision, but pledged to continue pressing the larger case, saying it “remains committed to providing artists with an alternative that puts tickets in the hands of fans at a lower cost and helps keep them out of the hands of scalpers.”

Jared Smith, president of Ticketmaster North America, praised the court’s decision and said “third party ticketing companies” are taking unfair advantage of its presales program.

“We hope today’s ruling convinces Songkick to reconsider its pursuit of this lawsuit, but if it does not we will stand firm and vigorously pursue our counterclaims,” Smith said.

Songkick says it has worked with artists including Kenny Chesney, Metallica, Mumford & Sons and Adele.

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