The Justice Department’s endeavor to break up Live Nation, Ticketmaster’s parent company, has officially made its way to the courtroom.
The antitrust case, which began with jury selection Monday, is unfolding in federal court in New York. Opening statements are scheduled to start Tuesday, with the trial expected to last six weeks.
The lawsuit, filed in 2024 by the Justice Department and dozens of state attorneys general, as well as Washington, D.C., alleges that Live Nation has illegally dominated the live concert industry by monopolizing ticketing, concert booking, venues and promotions.
The complaint, which was filed in the Southern District of New York, accuses the company of engaging in “anticompetitive conduct” that leads fans to pay more in fees, artists to get fewer opportunities to play concerts and venues to have limited choices for ticketing services.
Ticketmaster has for years been the target of scrutiny by music fans who reported frustrations with buying tickets through the platform.
Live Nation directly manages more than 400 musical artists and owns or controls more than 265 concert venues in North America. And through Ticketmaster, the lawsuit says, it controls around 80% of major concert venues’ ticketing — as well as a growing share of the resale market.
“Through interconnected agreements associated with Live Nation’s various roles as ticketer, promoter, artist manager, and venue owner,” the complaint says, “Live Nation has created a feedback loop that pushes ticketing and ancillary fees higher while allowing Live Nation to be on all sides of numerous transactions and thereby double-dip from the pockets of fans, artists, and venues.”
Here’s what else to know.
How did we get here? Some credit the ‘Swifties’
Attempts to advocate for ticketing reform have spanned decades. The rock band Pearl Jam tried to push the issue forward 30 years ago when its members testified before Congress, saying Ticketmaster had refused to agree to low concert ticket prices and fees. The case was dismissed a year later, and Ticketmaster’s dominance has persisted over the decades that followed.
But frustration over Ticketmaster began to boil over when it incurred the wrath of one of the country’s largest fan bases: Swifties, aka followers of Taylor Swift.
In late 2022, overloaded presale queues for the domestic leg of Swift’s 2023 Eras Tour caused the site to crash and led Ticketmaster to cancel the sale. The fiasco even drew the attention of Swift herself, who called it “excruciating” to watch.
Soon afterward, in January 2023, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing examining Ticketmaster’s dominance in the industry. During the bipartisan hearing, which probed whether Ticketmaster’s outsize control has unfairly hurt customers, even senators couldn’t refrain from making references to Swift.
The Swifties also brought their own lawsuits against Ticketmaster in December 2022. One class-action suit was dropped by the end of 2023, while another suit, filed together by 355 individual ticket buyers, still awaits trial.
What Live Nation has said about the claims
Live Nation Entertainment has denied that it’s a monopoly.
The company has told NBC News that the Justice Department’s lawsuit “won’t solve the issues fans care about relating to ticket prices, service fees, and access to in-demand shows.”
“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, such as the fact that the bulk of service fees go to venues, and that competition has steadily eroded Ticketmaster’s market share and profit margin,” the company said.
Last week, Live Nation asked U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian to pause the case so it could appeal his decision denying the case’s dismissal.
Subramanian, who was appointed by President Joe Biden, declined to delay the trial and ruled to allow the Justice Department’s claims to proceed.
Artists, music and sports execs are expected to testify
Potential witnesses for the trial include: musician Kid Rock (whose real name is Robert Ritchie), Minnesota Timberwolves CEO Matthew Caldwell, Roc Nation CEO Desiree Perez, Live Nation Entertainment CEO Michael Rapino and Mumford & Sons keyboardist Ben Lovett.
Kid Rock is expected to testify about “competitive conditions for concert promotions and primary ticketing, including the impact of Defendants’ actions on artists and fans,” according to the potential witness list provided by the plaintiffs’ attorneys. In January, he told the Senate Commerce Committee at a hearing that the ticketing industry is “full of greedy snakes and scoundrels.” (It appears Kid Rock is still partnering with Live Nation for his “Freedom 250” tour, with tickets currently being sold exclusively through the platform.)
Lovett’s testimony, meanwhile, would be likely to address “artist preferences and competitive dynamics associated with the promotions and amphitheaters markets,” according to the plaintiffs’ potential witness list document. He’s also listed on the defendants’ potential witness list document.
Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino and former Ticketmaster CEO Irving Azoff are also expected to take the stand. They were instrumental figures in the 2010 merger.
Azoff, who represents major artists such as Harry Styles, is “likely to testify about industry trends, dynamics, and competition, the selection of live event promotion companies, and tour and show routing and venue selection, as well as ticketing provider preferences,” according to the potential witness list provided by the defendants’ attorneys.
Rapino’s expected testimony would focus on “the company’s business, its corporate structure, strategy, and finances, including the different lines of business and how they interact, as well as industry trends, dynamics, and competition.” The defendants’ attorneys also said he would be likely to “rebut the plaintiff’s allegations of misconduct and anticompetitive effects.”
Other legal battles continue
Last year, the Federal Trade Commission separately sued Live Nation and Ticketmaster over allegations of illegal and deceptive business practices that it says caused consumers to pay “significantly more” than the face value of a ticket.
Seven states — Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Nebraska, Tennessee, Utah and Virginia — joined the FTC’s suit, which was filed in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.