Live Nation settles antitrust lawsuit with Justice Department
By Jordan Valinsky, Hannah Rabinowitz, CNN
New York (CNN) — Live Nation and Ticketmaster have reached a settlement with federal authorities over accusations the ticket giant’s business practices created a monopoly of the live events music industry.
A senior justice official said in a briefing Monday that the agreement will give consumers more options and bring down prices. However, the settlement avoided a breakup of Live Nation and Ticketmaster, which was a demand from some of the more than 30 states suing the company.
In a major change, Ticketmaster will let facilities use competitors like SeatGeek and StubHub to sell tickets, no longer requiring them to work exclusively with Ticketmaster. In addition, Live Nation is being forced to sell 13 amphitheaters. That amount could increase if more states sign on to the settlement. The DOJ didn’t immediately release the states that have.
Terms of the agreement must be approved by a federal judge. A trial began last week in New York.
Live Nation didn’t immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment. The company has previously denied wrongdoing.
The senior justice official said Live Nation is also offering to send each state that signs on to the settlement $280 million. However, states like New York and California are not happy with the government’s agreement and still plan to pursue their own lawsuits.
“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,” said New York Attorney General Letitia James in a statement. “We cannot agree to it.”
California Attorney General Rob Banta issued a similar statement, saying that his state and a bipartisan groups of attorney generals “have chosen to continue this fight and get a better deal for consumers.”
In total, 26 states plus the District of Columbia said they plan to continue their lawsuit against Live Nation, according to Bonta.
However, Monday’s announcement brings a partial end to a two-year legal battle stemming from a lawsuit that was filed against the company during the Biden administration as well from more than 30 state and district attorneys general.
Prosecutors accused Live Nation of monopolizing the ticketing and live events industry by cutting exclusive deals with the country’s largest venues, ensuring that all their future events were ticketed through the company’s platform.
The industry came under intense scrutiny in 2022 after glitches at Ticketmaster blocked millions from purchasing tickets for Taylor Swift’s “Eras” tour. The debacle revealed how a lack of competition had led to harms ranging from poor customer service to confusing pricing to expensive ticketing fees to restrictions on ticket resales — amounting to what many consumers called death by a thousand cuts.
The previous Justice Department also wanted the company to split up Live Nation and Ticketmaster, which merged in 2010.
Politico first reported the news.
Monday’s settlement comes a month after the senior DOJ leadership pushed out Gail Slater, the former head of the Justice Department’s antitrust division. Slater was known to advocate for aggressive approaches to the antitrust cases she oversaw.
Last year, Live Nation named Richard Grenell, who is one of President Donald Trump’s closest advisers to its board of directors. Antitrust advocates immediately were concerned that his appointment was an effort by Live Nation to avoid the company being split up.
The-CNN-Wire
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