Live Nation, the parent company of Ticketmaster, has struck a deal with the Department of Justice that may require the concert behemoth to divest some of its venues.
The settlement, if approved by a federal judge, would bring the DOJ’s 2024 antitrust lawsuit against the company to a close. Regulators claimed that Live Nation dominates the concert industry, allowing it to jack up prices on fans and steer artists toward venues it owns.
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Live Nation controls roughly 78% of major amphitheaters, according to the Justice Department. Under the agreement, the company will have to sell more than 10 of its venues in the niche, Politico reported.
It will also have to cap the fees it charges at those venues at 15% of a ticket’s price.
Under former President Joe Biden, the Justice Department, alongside 40 state attorneys general, first brought the case against Live Nation in May 2024, arguing that the company had created an illegal monopoly over live events.
DOJ lawyers argued that it used its dominance of the market to lock venues into exclusive contracts. As a result, independent venue operators would be blocked from hosting certain performers. While Live Nation has continued to grow since the pandemic, many other owners have shuttered their venues.
“Within six months of the Live Nation venue opening in Des Moines, [Iowa,] we saw at least two venues close,” Jamie Dunphy, the chair of the music policy council at the nonprofit advocacy group MusicPortland, previously told Bisnow. “The overall volume of ticket sales broadly in the economy has decreased, with the options being to go see a local musician and you pay $10 or $15, or you go see Bad Bunny and you pay $450.”
Last year, Live Nation announced plans to invest $1B to build or open 18 new venues in small towns across the country. At the time, the company’s portfolio of 150 locations represented approximately 4% of all music venues nationwide.
Under the settlement, competitors such as SeatGeek will also be allowed access to Ticketmaster’s platform.
Though it would restrict the company’s ability to use exclusive ticketing contracts, the settlement doesn't force Live Nation and Ticketmaster to be broken up, which the DOJ had initially sought.
The deal was struck during a jury trial in a Manhattan courthouse at which witness testimony was already being heard, Politico reported. The Trump administration's decision to settle came less than a month after the DOJ's antitrust chief resigned amid tensions at the agency over enforcement of monopoly rules, BBC reported.
Other state attorneys general may continue to seek additional relief, The Wall Street Journal reports. New York Attorney General Letitia James previously said she would continue the case “regardless of the path that the Department of Justice takes.”
