May 22 (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Justice and a

group of states will sue Live Nation Entertainment ( LYV ),

potentially seeking a break up, Bloomberg News reported on

Wednesday, outlining the next step in an antitrust campaign

against the Ticketmaster owner.

The Justice Department has been investigating Ticketmaster's

domination of concert ticket sales, sources have previously told

Reuters. Concert fans and politicians for years have called for

a re-examination of the Live Nation-Ticketmaster merger in 2010,

especially after the botched sale of tickets to a Taylor Swift

concert tour.

Bloomberg said the lawsuit is expected to be filed in the

Southern District of New York on Thursday.

The legal action underscores the aggressive approach

President Joe Biden's antitrust enforcers have adopted as they

seek to create more competition in a wide range of industries,

from Big Tech to healthcare to groceries. It also shows the

power and anger of concert-goers and Swifties, the nickname for

Swift's fans.

Live Nation came under fire in 2022 after Ticketmaster

mishandled the sale of tickets to 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.

Some Swifties said they were repeatedly dropped by

Ticketmaster as they waited to buy. 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.

In the lawsuit to be filed on Thursday, the DOJ's options

range from requiring the company to stop illegal behavior, a

common request, to asking a court to break it up, which is

rare.

The lawsuit comes after the Justice Department in 2010

approved Ticketmaster's controversial merger with Live Nation,

with conditions intended to stop the combined company from

harming competition.

In 2020, a court extended most of its oversight of the

merger to 2025 because, the department said, Ticketmaster

retaliated against stadiums and arenas that opted to use other

ticketing companies.

Live Nation did not immediately respond to a request for

comment. It has said in the past that it was confident its

business practices were legal, and that the probe had been

prompted by complaints from rivals, including re-sellers.

Live Nation's shares fell 7% in after hours trade.

The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to

Reuters' request for comment.