Live Nation has reportedly reached a settlement deal with the US Department Of Justice (DoJ) in its federal antitrust lawsuit, and has agreed to implement “structural changes”.
The antitrust hearing began last week (Tuesday March 3) in Manhattan, with the DoJ accusing both Ticketmaster and its parent company Live Nation of abusing their power in the live events market to create an illegal monopoly.
The case was filed in 2024 and also alleged that the ticketing giant has used the monopoly to help stifle competition, dominate the ticketing market, and gain money from fans via high prices and surcharges.
It claimed that Live Nation requires artists to use its concert promotion services if they want to perform at the venues it owns too, and that it dominates ticketing services through exclusive, long-running contracts with major concert venues.
The lawyer representing Live Nation argued that the company has never made threats, makes minimal profits, and still has to fight for every deal it makes due to the “marketplace [being] more competitive than ever it has been before.”
Now, the two have reportedly reached a tentative settlement agreement, which will see Live Nation implement changes to its structure, and spare it from being split up from Ticketmaster.
According to Politico, these major changes that have been agreed limits being introduced on long-term exclusivity contracts – used to lock venues into its platform – and allowing for a portion of tickets for events at these venues to be allocated to competing companies.
The ticketing giant will now have to sell more than 13 of the operating amphitheaters that it owns. They will also have to enforce a 15 per cent cap on service fees for tickets sold at remaining amphitheaters.
Other changes reportedly laid out in the agreement include Ticketmaster opening parts of its platform for other ticketing companies – meaning that third-party sellers like Eventbrite and SeatGeek can list tickets on Ticketmaster directly – and Live Nation paying millions in damages to the states that joined the DoJ in the lawsuit. The fee is reported to be in the range of $250million (£186.7million).
The Wall Street Journal reports that 10 out of the 39 states that joined the Justice Department’s lawsuit have already agreed to the proposed deal, however the agreement is still pending approval from a judge.
It also will likely not end the lawsuit between the DoJ and Live Nation, as multiple state attorneys have claimed that they want to continue their respective suits even if the agreement goes into effect (as per Consequence).
In the hearing last week, the Justice Department claimed that Ticketmaster handled ticketing for 86 per cent of “major” venues in the US, and Live Nation dismissed the claims as “cherry picking” venues to present a skewed representation of the ticketing landscape.
Also in their case, the DoJ highlighted issues that arose for fans wanting to buy tickets to Taylor Swift’s ‘Eras’ tour in 2022, when huge numbers of customers were shut off from buying tickets.
Live Nation’s attorney shot down the claims that their “technology is held together by duct tape”, saying that the issues with the ‘Eras’ tour sale was due to bots, and that the issue was promptly resolved.
Ahead of the antitrust lawsuit going to court last week, back in September it was also reported that US regulators were suing Ticketmaster Live Nation over alleged “illegal” tactics when reselling tickets – alleging that they were profiting from large resale fees and violating consumer protection law.
Live Nation’s CEO has previously dismissed the claims that the company has large profits, and instead claimed that music concerts are “underpriced” in his opinion.
The calls for Live Nation to create a more balanced ticketing landscape have been seen in the UK too, with the Association Of Independent Festivals (AIF) claiming that the ticketing company had exceeded “market dominance” and pushing for Live Nation and Ticketmaster to be broken up.
It alleged that while “the UK monopoly threshold is 25 per cent [and] market dominance position is 40 per cent, Live Nation control is 66.4 per cent.” In response, a rep for Live Nation told NME that the data shared wasn’t “credible and [is] likely to be misleading.”
There have been efforts made by the government to crack down on ticketing issues across the UK, too. In November, MPs shared that it will now be illegal to re-sell tickets for live music, sports, comedy and theatre events above original cost – collectively saving fans £112million per year.
Massive fees from secondary ticket sellers will also be stamped out thanks to government action, and there is a growing push for a ticket levy to be introduced – which would see smaller venues and rising talent receive a contribution from arena and stadium gigs to ensure their survival.
Pressure is on for the live music industry to ensure that half of these shows are voluntarily paying in by June 2026, or else the government will step in to make it mandatory by law.
