A jury has found that concert giant Live Nation and its Ticketmaster subsidiary had a harmful monopoly over big concert venues, in a lawsuit over claims brought by dozens of US states.
A Manhattan federal jury deliberated for four days before reaching its decision on Wednesday in the closely watched case involving a business that dominates live entertainment in the US and beyond.
At the end of the hearing, the judge told lawyers on both sides to meet one another “and the United States” to provide a joint letter proposing a schedule for motions and how the remedies phase of the case would occur. He told them to deliver it by late next week.
Live Nation Entertainment owns, operates, controls booking for or has an equity interest in hundreds of venues. Its subsidiary Ticketmaster is widely considered to be the world’s largest ticket-seller for live events.
The civil case, initially led by the US federal government, accused Live Nation of using its reach to smother competition, by blocking venues from using multiple ticket sellers, for example.
“It is time to hold them accountable,” Jeffrey Kessler, a lawyer for the states, said in a closing argument, calling Live Nation a “monopolistic bully” that drove up prices for ticket buyers.
Live Nation insisted it is not a monopoly, saying artists, sports teams and venues decide prices and ticketing practices. A company lawyer insisted its size was simply a function of excellence and effort.
“Success is not against the antitrust laws in the United States,” David Marriott said in his summation.
Ticketmaster was established in 1976 and merged with Live Nation in 2010. The company now controls of 86% of the market for concerts and 73% of the overall market when sports events are included, according to Mr Kessler.
Ticketmaster has long been criticised by fans and some artists. Grunge rock titans Pearl Jam battled the business in the 1990s, even filing an anti-monopoly complaint with the US Department of Justice, which declined to bring a case.
Decades later, the Justice Department, joined by dozens of states, brought the current lawsuit during Democratic former president Joe Biden’s administration. Days into the trial, Republican President Donald Trump’s administration announced it was settling its claims against Live Nation.
The deal included a cap on service fees at some arenas, plus new ticket-selling options for promoters and venues — potentially allowing, but not requiring, them to open doors to Ticketmaster competitors such as SeatGeek or AXS. But the settlement does not force Live Nation to split from Ticketmaster.
A handful of states joined the settlement, but more than 30 pressed ahead with the trial, saying the federal government had not got enough concessions from Live Nation.
The trial brought Live Nation chief executive Michael Rapino to the witness box, where he was questioned about matters including the company’s Taylor Swift ticket debacle in 2022. He blamed a cyberattack.
The proceedings also aired a Live Nation executive’s internal messages declaring some prices “outrageous”, calling customers “so stupid” and boasting that the company was “robbing them blind, baby”.
The executive, Benjamin Baker, apologetically testified that the messages were “very immature and unacceptable”.