On Tuesday opening statements will begin for the federal antitrust trial against Live Nation, one of the largest entertainment companies in the world. In a New York City courtroom, prosecutors are expected to argue that Live Nation and its subsidiary, Ticketmaster, have engaged in anticompetitive practices that profoundly harm musicians, venues and ticket buyers.
The trial is the result of a lawsuit originally filed by the Justice Department in 2024, though calls for reforms to the ticketing industry have been building for much longer. Back in 2022, chaotic sales for Taylor Swift's blockbuster Eras Tour — which included high pricing, long queues and a crashing platform — resulted in outcry from the singer and legal action from coalitions of Swifties. That event led to scrutiny from government officials, laying the groundwork for this week's events. In recent years, artists including The Cure and Olivia Dean have also criticized Live Nation and Ticketmaster for its pricing models and fought for fans to receive partial refunds.
Despite Live Nation's repeated attempts to get the government's lawsuit dismissed, U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian ultimately ruled to move forward with a trial. In response to questions from NPR, Live Nation stated that a majority of ticket prices in the U.S. are under $100 and referred to a breakdown of the Justice Department's claims written by Dan Wall, executive vice president of corporate and regulatory affairs at Live Nation.
Who's involved?
The federal government and 39 states, plus the District of Columbia, are suing Live Nation and its subsidiary, Ticketmaster.
Since its foundation under a different name in 1996, Live Nation has promoted live events and managed venues. Over the years, it acquired additional companies in the live entertainment space and became the top concert promoter in the U.S. Ticketmaster, which was founded by two Arizona State University staffers in 1976, started out selling hardware for ticketing systems and expanded into the leading ticket selling company in the country. (In 1994, Pearl Jam famously boycotted Ticketmaster, alleging the company's control over ticketing was driving up service charges, which prompted a Justice Department investigation that was later dropped).
In 2009, Ticketmaster and Live Nation announced plans to merge, sparking backlash from artists like Bruce Springsteen and lawmakers including Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer. The following year, the Justice Department approved the consolidation of the two companies under a number of conditions meant to ensure it would not monopolize the live music industry. Now, the Justice Department claims Live Nation has not held up its end of the bargain.
What is Live Nation being accused of?
The government alleges that Live Nation and Ticketmaster are unfairly wielding their power over concert promotion, artist management, venue operations and ticketing services to shut out competitors. According to the amended lawsuit, Live Nation manages more than 400 artists and owns or controls more than 265 venues in North America, while Ticketmaster controls around 80% of ticketing in the primary marketplace, plus a growing share of the resale market.
"The government and a bunch of state governments looked at what was happening and said, 'We think this company has too much control over too many different areas of the industry and it's using its different parts of the music business as weapons,'" says John Newman, a law professor at the University of Memphis who focuses on antitrust law. "When it's facing venues, it's using its control over promotion and ticketing as a weapon. Then, when it's turning around and dealing with artists, it's using its control over event venues as a weapon. There's just too much control over too many different areas."
The government alleges that artists are pressured to use Live Nation and Ticketmaster's promotion services in order to perform at its venues, especially major amphitheaters; on the other hand, venues are allegedly cornered into signing long term, exclusive contracts with Live Nation and Ticketmaster in order to gain a number of benefits, including being able to host lucrative shows. Ultimately, the government claims that both artists and venues lose the ability to make independent choices or work with competing promotion and ticketing companies without facing major financial risks or retaliation from Live Nation.
"These business practices can, and often do, work against the interests of those with relatively little power and influence, especially working musicians and fans," reads the lawsuit.
In a statement provided to NPR, Live Nation denied the government's claims.
"There is more competition than ever in the live events market — which is why Ticketmaster's market share has declined since 2010," reads the statement. "The outcome of this trial will do nothing to lower ticket prices for fans or address the industry issues they care about most."
It's hard to predict how federal prosecutors and Live Nation's defense attorneys will make their case in the courtroom or how it will be received by a jury of New Yorkers, but Newman says one thing's for sure: the government will likely have to acknowledge its own role in allowing the merger to occur in the first place.
"The government is put in the awkward position of saying, 'We made a mistake. We should have acted more forcefully back then, but we didn't,'" says Newman.
Now, it's up to a jury and judge to decide how to alter Live Nation's business model moving forward, if at all. If found guilty of violating antitrust laws, Ticketmaster and Live Nation could be broken up. "If that happens, it would radically reshape the live music industry in the U.S.," Newman says.
What could this mean for fans?
In February, Judge Subramanian dismissed several monopoly claims, including the government's argument that Live Nation's control over the industry is unfairly driving up ticket prices and causing significant harm to consumers. Judge Subramanian ruled that the government had not provided enough evidence to prove that current prices are above competitive rates. But even without a designated focus on how fans are impacted by the company's business practices, if Live Nation and Ticketmaster are forced to separate, ticket buyers will likely feel the difference.
"If you separate the two, it's going to increase competition," says Dustin Brighton, a spokesperson for the Coalition for Ticket Fairness, which advocates for increased transparency and consumer protections in the live events space. "Consumers will always benefit from a marketplace where there's a lot of competition and where they have more opportunity to get what they want."
Brian Berry is executive director of Ticket Policy Forum, an association of ticket sellers and resellers in the U.S. advocating for more competition across the industry. He says a wider array of choices not only has the potential to lower prices and fees, but also to improve the ways fans currently obtain tickets.
"If you've ever used the Ticketmaster app, you realize it was probably launched when the VCR and fax machine were coming on to the market," he says. "[There's] not a whole lot of innovation there. It's a terrible experience. It's broken. There are better platforms."
Are there other pending legal cases against Live Nation?
The antitrust trial is part of a larger web of legal actions taken against Live Nation in recent years.
In 2024, sales for the Oasis reunion tour in the U.K. — and particularly Ticketmaster's use of "dynamic pricing" — sparked an investigation by a U.K. government watchdog agency into whether the company breached consumer protection law. Ultimately, the agency found that Ticketmaster "may have misled Oasis fans." As a result, the company agreed to be more transparent about pricing tiers moving forward.
In September, the Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit against Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation, alleging that the company willingly misleads consumers about ticket prices and cooperates with scalpers to markup resale prices — all at the expense of artists and music fans.
There are still ongoing class-action and fan-led lawsuits against Live Nation and Ticketmaster, too, but the federal antitrust trial is the biggest legal action against the company so far, and has the most potential to change the status quo in the live entertainment industry.
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