DOJ settles antitrust suit with Live Nation, Ticketmaster
Erik Uebelacker
MANHATTAN (CN) — The Department of Justice is settling its sprawling antitrust case against Ticketmaster and its parent company Live Nation, its lawyers said in court on Monday.
The settlement comes in the midst of the high-profile trial, in which the DOJ accused the companies of using their market dominance in ticketing and live event production to prevent venues and artists from doing business with competitors.
According to a senior DOJ official, Live Nation and Ticketmaster have agreed to pay out $280 million in penalties to participating states.
Ticketmaster has also agreed to offer venues the option to enter into non-exclusive agreements that allow other ticketing platforms to sell a certain number of primary tickets. It will also open source its technology to allow competitors to sell tickets more easily alongside Ticketmaster.
Live Nation has agreed to divest in up to 13 amphitheaters after the DOJ accused it of having monopoly power over those venues in the United States. And the concert promoter can no longer tie artists’ use of its amphitheaters to them using Ticketmaster or any of Live Nation’s other products.
Ticketmaster and Live Nation won’t split, though, a blow to the companies’ competitors and many concertgoers who hoped the case would force them to separate.
The trial isn’t over. More than two dozen state attorneys general — who joined the DOJ in the overarching antitrust claims — have not agreed to the terms of the settlement and will resume arguing their case to federal jurors in Manhattan next week.
“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. We cannot agree to it,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement Monday. “My attorney general colleagues and I have a strong case against Live Nation, and we will continue our lawsuit to protect consumers and restore fair competition to the live entertainment industry.”
The District of Columbia and 39 states sued alongside the DOJ. Next week, 25 plus the District of Columbia will proceed to trial, rejecting the settlement.
U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian still needs to approve the settlement in a process that could take several weeks. The Joe Biden appointee appeared irked that the parties, who had supposedly been in the late stages of settlement talks last week, waited until Monday to tell him they’d reached a deal.
He ordered Live Nation’s CEO Michael Rapino — who was expected to be called to testify as early as this week — and top antitrust officials at the DOJ to appear in his court Tuesday morning to explain themselves.
Prior to the settlement announcement, jurors heard testimony from an executive from one of Ticketmaster’s biggest rivals in SeatGeek. Jack Groetzinger, who co-founded the ticketer in 2009, testified last week about how difficult it was to land clients thanks to their “extreme concerns” about Live Nation and Ticketmaster retaliating.
Adam Lichstein, general counsel at SeatGeek, told Courthouse News in a statement Monday the settlement news was “incredibly disappointing.”
“For decades, fans, artists and venues have faced a marketplace with limited competition resulting in inadequate technology and rising costs. This settlement does little to change that,” Lichstein said. “Meaningful reform requires deep structural changes, not more of the surface level consolations that have failed for the last 16 years.”
Lichstein urged the state attorneys general not to accept the settlement and resume the trial.
Meanwhile, a senior DOJ official said the situation is “a win-win” for consumers, who will see benefits from the immediate settlement while the state seeks further terms at trial.
The DOJ filed its lawsuit against Live Nation and Ticketmaster in May 2024, during the Biden administration. It accused the companies of Sherman Act violations and sought a remedy of “structural relief” that would separate the entities making up Live Nation and Ticketmaster’s control of the concert industry.
Prior to Monday’s settlement, the court heard testimony from several venue executives. John Abbamondi, former CEO of the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets and Barclays Center, testified last week that Live Nation retaliated against his arena when he switched from Ticketmaster to SeatGeek by cancelling a scheduled Billie Eilish concert in 2021.