Portland, Oregon's Soul'd Out Music Festival has filed a lawsuit against Coachella, AEG Presents and Goldenvoice. The lawsuit alleges Coachella is creating an "illegal monopoly in the market for live music festival performances."
According to lawyers for Soul'd Out Music Festival, they approached artist SZA to play their festival but was turned down for a radius clause which denies performing for any musical event in a five-state radius from December 2017 to May 2018.
The radius clause states artists on the Coachella lineup cannot play any festival or themed event in California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington or Arizona from December 15, 2017 to May 7, 2018.
Soul'd Out Music Festival founders Nicholas Harris and Haytham Abdulhadi believe Coachella are engaging in "an unlawful restraint on trade, meant to use Coachella's market power in the music festival market to suppress competition by other festivals."
The lawsuit also alleges Goldenvoice utilizes a tying arrangement that allows artists to break the clause if playing AEG-sanctioned events. The lawsuit is also asking the court to throw out radius clause agreements due to their unlawful restraint on trade under California law.