Mr. Garland said the government is joined by 29 states in its lawsuit against Live Nation Entertainment, the parent company of Ticketmaster.

"In recent years, Live Nation-Ticketmaster's exorbitant fees and technological failures have been criticized by fans and artists alike," said Mr. Garland.

"But we are not here today because Live Nation-Ticketmaster's conduct is inconvenient or frustrating. We are here because as we allege that conduct is anti-competitive and illegal."

Mr. Garland said during the press conference that Live Nation "suffocates its competition."

"Our complaint makes clear what happens when a monopolist dedicates its resources to entrenching its monopoly power and insulating itself from competition," said Mr. Garland.

Mr. Garland said Ticketmaster controls more than 70 percent of concert ticket sales and that it locks out competition by using long-term contracts, some lasting more than a decade, and then adds on what he called a "seemingly endless list of fees."

"Those include ticketing fees, service fees, convenience fees, platinum fees, price master fees per order fees, handling fees, and payment processing fees, among others."

The lawsuit follows a DOJ investigation into the practices of the ticket-seller after a class action lawsuit was filed last year by fans of Taylor Swift against Ticketmaster and Live Nation after they were unable to obtain tickets to the pop star's "The Eras Tour."

In the lawsuit, they alleged that the ticket sales had such a giant monopoly over ticket sales, and that when Ticketmaster's website crashed due to high demand, they were unable to obtain tickets to the concert.

Ms. Swift responded by calling the situation "excruciating." Ticketmaster issued an apology over the debacle and the lawsuit was dropped last August.