(Reuters) — The U.S. Department of Justice and a group of 30 states and the District of Columbia Thursday sued to break up Live Nation, arguing the big concert promoter and its Ticketmaster unit illegally inflated concert ticket prices and hurt artists.

“It is time to break up Live Nation,” said U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland.

“Live Nation relies on unlawful, anticompetitive conduct to exercise its monopolistic control over the live events industry in the United States at the cost of fans, artists, smaller promoters, and venue operators,” Garland said, adding that as a result fans pay more in fees, artists have fewer opportunities to perform, and smaller promoters get squeezed out.

Shares of Live Nation were trading down 5%.

Live Nation called the suit a possible “PR win for the DOJ in the short term” but said the entertainment company would prevail in court. The lawsuit “won't solve the issues fans care about relating to ticket prices, service fees, and access to in-demand shows,” it said.

“There is more competition than ever in the live events market,” it added.

The suit says Live Nation directly manages more than 400 musical artists and controls around 60% of concert promotions at major venues. It owns or controls more than 265 concert venues in North America, and through Ticketmaster controls roughly 80% or more of big venues’ primary ticketing for concerts.

In the lawsuit, filed in the Southern District of New York, the DOJ argued the “vast scope” of Live Nation and Ticketmaster allowed them to “insert themselves at the center and the edges of virtually every aspect of the live music ecosystem.”

Live Nation came under fire after Ticketmaster mishandled the sale of tickets to Taylor Swift's 2023 tour. Ticketmaster was overwhelmed, canceling some plans for sales and sending would-be buyers into online queues for as much as eight hours. The service complained it was the target of bots and scalpers, but concert-goers also complained of high prices and poor service.

U.S. senators in January 2023, in a hearing called after the ticket sales fiasco, slammed Live Nation's lack of transparency and inability to block bot purchases of tickets.