Live Nation has reached a settlement with the Justice Department in an antitrust case that put the entertainment giant at risk of being separated from Ticketmaster.
The ticket vendor’s settlement offer was announced in a court hearing Monday, less than a week after the long-awaited trial began. With pending approval from the court, Live Nation will have to pay $280 million in damages to the suing states and allow competitors to sell tickets on its platform.
“Today marks a major step in improving the concert experience for artists and fans throughout the United States,” Michael Rapino, president and chief executive of Live Nation, said in a statement. “By giving artists greater flexibility in choosing their promotional partners and ticketing strategy while also keeping the cost of a concert more affordable for fans, we are putting more power where it should be — with artists and fans.”
The settlement caught Judge Arun Subramanian off guard. He said no one informed him of the tentative deal until late Sunday, even though a term sheet for a possible settlement was signed Thursday, according to the Associated Press.
A 12-person jury was seated Tuesday in a Manhattan federal courthouse and the trial had reached witness testimony by the end of last week. The complaint was filed in 2024, when the federal government, 39 states including California and the District of Columbia, alleged that Live Nation and Ticketmaster have monopolies in various aspects of the live music industry, such as concert promotion, venue operations, artist management and ticketing services.
When the complaint was first filed, the company called the claims “baseless.”
“Calling Ticketmaster a monopoly may be a PR win for the DOJ in the short term, but it will lose in court because it ignores the basic economics of live entertainment,” Live Nation wrote in a previous statement.
Many of the large monopoly claims were thrown out during a pretrial hearing last month, including an allegation that Live Nation’s industry power raises ticket prices and harms consumers. But ever since Ticketmaster and Live Nation merged in 2010, the companies have been accused of promoting anticompetitive behaviors. Now, the new settlement offers major structural changes to the company’s ticketing services.
If Subramanian approves the settlement, the Beverly Hills-based company will have to open parts of its platform to rival ticketing operators. This means third-party sellers such as SeatGeek could list tickets and have access to Ticketmaster’s technology.
Another key claim in the lawsuit concerned Ticketmaster’s alleged exclusivity contracts, which required artists who booked Live Nation-owned venues to also use its ticketing services. The settlement now limits these contracts to four years and allows venues to place a number of its tickets on competing platforms.
“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,” Rapino added in a statement.
The original lawsuit also argued that Live Nation manages more than 400 artists and controls more than 265 venues in North America — all while Ticketmaster simultaneously controls around 80% of the primary ticket marketplace and is increasing its involvement in the resale market. Under the pending legal agreement, Live Nation would have to change 13 long-term booking arrangements that were previously exclusive to become non-exclusive and allow competitors to also book shows at those venues. Ticketmaster would have to cap service fees at 15%. The agreement also includes an eight-year extension of the company’s consent decree with the Justice Department.
Serona Elton, attorney and interim vice dean at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music, said this outcome can be understood in two ways — it’s either a win that addresses anticompetitive behaviors or a deal that does not go far enough.
“It is important to understand that it is not illegal to be a monopoly and control a large portion of the market,” said Elton in a statement. “What is illegal is the use of anticompetitive tactics. In analyzing the settlement, the question to ask is if it does enough to address the alleged tactics and the harm they may have caused.”
Elton added that venues could benefit from these adjustments, but “music fans should not think this is going to bring ticket prices down to an affordable level as there are other causes behind the sky-high ticket prices.”
Stephen Parker, the executive director of the National Independent Venue Assn., similarly expressed some skepticism about the proposed settlement.
“The reported settlement does not appear to include any specific and explicit protections for fans, artists, or independent venues and festivals,” he said in a statement.
“Reported details also indicate that ticket resale platforms could be further empowered through new requirements for Ticketmaster to host their listings, which would likely exacerbate the price gouging potential for predatory resellers and the platforms that serve them,” Parker added. “If these facts are true, NIVA views this as a failure of the justice system.”
The settlement marks the potential end to one of the major legal battles Live Nation is facing. The company also is being sued by the Federal Trade Commission and is dealing with a handful of class-action lawsuits from groups of concertgoers.
Shares of Live Nation ended Monday nearly 10% higher at $165.80.
This story originally appeared on LA Times
