1 month ago
154
Live Nation, the parent company of Ticketmaster, has reached a settlement with the Department of Justice (DOJ) to resolve alleged antitrust violations, the agency announced Monday.
The proposed agreement, which comes one week into trial, would require Live Nation to pay $280 million in civil penalties to the states involved in the case, a senior Justice Department official told reporters at a briefing.
“We’re very excited about this settlement because it basically opens up markets for other competitors, which will allow for competition that previously didn’t exist in primary ticketing and in the live entertainment space,” the official said Monday morning.
“What you’re going to see there is that competition is going to have a direct impact on prices coming down,” they continued. “It’ll also give consumers more options and not feel like they just have to go through Live Nation or Ticketmaster.”
The DOJ sued Live Nation and Ticketmaster in May 2024, accusing the ticketing companies of blocking competition in the live entertainment industry and driving up prices for American consumers.
Under the agreement, Ticketmaster would offer a stand-alone ticketing platform that would allow third parties, such as SeatGeek and StubHub, to use its technology. It would also be barred from limiting venue choice in the ticketing marketplace.
Live Nation has also agreed to divest 13 amphitheaters that it either owns or leases across the country in an effort to address what the DOJ official described as the firm’s “monopoly power” over venues.
The agreement would require Live Nation to reserve 50 percent of tickets for entities that do not have an exclusive agreement with the company, in addition to barring it from retaliating against venues that select a primary ticketer other than Ticketmaster or refusing artists access to amphitheaters if they use a promoter other than Live Nation.
“You never know what a jury is going to do,” the senior Justice official said Monday. “We were confident the jurors would side with us. But you know, when you go through litigation and wait until a verdict is rendered, you then have the risk of the decision being appealed and then waiting years and years and years for relief.”
“Our primary goal in this administration was getting the American consumer, the American concert goer, the American fan relief as fast as possible,” they added.
The official pointed to the outcome of the DOJ’s antitrust case against Google, in which the judge sided with the agency in finding that the tech giant had illegally monopolized online search.
But when it came to remedies, the judge refused the DOJ’s request to order the company to sell its Chrome browser — a decision that is now “mired in an appeal,” the official said.
Live Nation president and CEO Michael Rapino said in a statement Monday that the settlement “marks a major step in improving the concert experience for artists and fans throughout the United States.”
“We have never relied on exclusivity to drive our ticketing business, it has simply been the result of having the best products, services and people in the industry,” Rapino added. “We are happy to take greater steps to empower artists and venues in their ticketing decisions, and are confident we will continue to succeed on the quality of what we deliver.”
While the DOJ has struck an agreement with Live Nation, the states involved in the case are not all on the same page. The senior Justice official said the agency ultimately expects to have “double-digit” states on board with the settlement.
However, New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) said Monday that she and the attorneys general of 25 other states and the District of Columbia would be continuing the case. In total, 39 states and D.C. joined the DOJ in the lawsuit.
“The settlement recently announced with the U.S. Department of Justice fails to address the monopoly at the center of this case, and would benefit Live Nation at the expense of consumers,” James said in a statement. “We cannot agree to it.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) also criticized the settlement as a “slap on the wrist” and voiced support for the ongoing state efforts.
“The Trump Justice Department’s puny settlement is why corporate executives treat breaking the law as just another cost of doing business,” Warren said in a statement.
“Under Donald Trump, antitrust enforcement has become a cesspool of corruption,” she continued. “After Trump ousted the DOJ’s antitrust enforcer, Americans deserve to know if the Trump administration is playing political favorites rather than enforcing the law based on the facts.”
The settlement comes just weeks after the former head of the DOJ’s antitrust division, Gail Slater, announced she was stepping down. Slater’s abrupt departure followed repeated tensions with top Trump officials.
English (US) ·