{"id":2320110,"date":"2026-03-09T18:35:52","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T18:35:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2320110"},"modified":"2026-03-09T18:35:52","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T18:35:52","slug":"live-nation-ticketmaster-settle-antitrust-lawsuit-with-government","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/live-nation-ticketmaster-settle-antitrust-lawsuit-with-government\/","title":{"rendered":"Live Nation, Ticketmaster Settle Antitrust Lawsuit With Government"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\tLive Nation<\/a> and Ticketmaster<\/a> have settled their blockbuster antitrust case with the Department of Justice.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe deal was reached just one week after the case went to trial<\/a> in New York City, with a justice department official sharing some details of the tentative deal during a call with reporters Monday. The deal will not force Live Nation and Ticketmaster \u2014 which merged in 2010 \u2014 to be broken up. But the live-entertainment giant will reportedly face a fine of approximately $300 million and be forced to implement several changes to its business.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tLive Nation\u2019s large network of amphitheaters is a particular target of the settlement. The deal caps service fees at 15 percent of the ticket prices at Live Nation-owned amphitheaters. And Live Nation will be forced to divest from at least 13 of its amphitheaters (with that number possibly rising as states sign on to the settlement, the DOJ official said).<\/p>\n

\n\tTo potentially open up more competition in the ticketing space, Ticketmaster will have to now allow rival companies, like SeatGeek and Eventbrite, to list tickets on its platforms. And the DOJ is mandating that Ticketmaster\u2019s exclusivity contracts with venues last no longer than four years. Contracts will also now allow some carveouts to let venues allocate a certain number of tickets to third parties.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tLive Nation will reportedly have to pay $200 million in damages to the states that sign onto the settlement. But the DOJ official noted that a deal is still being hashed out with the individual states. While the official was confident most states would sign onto the deal, some could still pursue their own claims against Live Nation. (Reps for Live Nation did not return a requests for comment.)\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Department of Justice and 38 state attorneys general (plus Washington, D.C.) sued Live Nation in May 2024. While the government was able to skirt Live Nation\u2019s efforts to toss the suit, the scope of the DOJ\u2019s claims were narrowed significantly during the two years it took for the case to reach court. A summary judgment from February dismissed claims that Live Nation has a monopoly over the concert promotion industry, and that its conduct has led to higher ticket prices.<\/p>\n

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\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n

\n\tJudge Arun Subramanian did allow the DOJ\u2019s most significant claims to remain. First, that Live Nation illegally \u201cties\u201d access to its amphitheaters to its promotion services, meaning any artist that wants to play one of those venues has to use the company as a promoter. And second, that Live Nation illegally forces venues to sign long-term contracts with Ticketmaster, as opposed to other ticketing services, in part by threatening to keep popular tours from hitting venues that don\u2019t use Ticketmaster.<\/p>\n

\n\tDuring the first, and only, week of court hearings, the jury heard from executives of major venues and rival companies, testifying to Live Nation\u2019s power and influence, and their alleged penchant for retaliation (which the company has long denied). John Abbamondi, former chief executive of the Barclays Center in Brooklyn claimed that after the venue indicated it might start working with SeatGeek, Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino indicated that the company would steer its lucrative concerts away from Barclays.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe court heard excerpts from a recorded phone call between Abbamondi and Rapnio, in which the latter said, \u201cIt was, you know, going to be a tough time to deliver tickets or concerts, with a new competitor in town, regardless of ticketing.\u201d\u00a0 Abbamondi said he interpreted this comment as a \u201cveiled threat \u2014 maybe not-so-veiled threat that it would be difficult for them to put concerts in Barclays Center.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tSeatGeek\u2019s CEO Jack Groetzinger also took the stand to discuss the company\u2019s difficulties in convincing venue to start using their platform. Groetzinger even claimed one SeatGeek employee floated the idea of offering venue \u201cretaliation insurance,\u201d where SeatGeek would help cover any revenue lost if Live Nation did take its concerts elsewhere.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\t\tRelated Content<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n

\n\tIn a new statement, SeatGeek\u2019s general counsel, Adam Lichstein, called the settlement \u201cincredibly disappointing news for all live event fans\u201d and said it \u201cdoes little to change\u201d the live entertainment marketplace.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMeaningful reform requires deep structural changes, not more of the surface level consolations that have failed for the last 16 years,\u201d he continued. \u201cWe applaud the dozens of State AGs who are continuing to bring this case forward on behalf of the tens of millions of fans who view Live Nation-Ticketmaster as a harmful monopoly.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tPrior to the settlement, the trial was set to last five to six weeks. The list of witnesses was also expected to include a pair high-profile artists, including Kid Rock and Mumford & Sons\u2019 Ben Lovett, as well as numerous high-powered execs, including Rapino and Live Nation president Joe Berchtold.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe settlement, however, still needs approval from Subramanian, who is expected to discuss it with Rapino and DOJ\u2019s antitrust head Omeed Assefi at a hearing tomorrow (March 10). Subramanian was, notably, one of several parties caught off guard by the settlement, and expressed his frustration at Monday\u2019s hearing. Per The New York Times<\/a>,<\/em> the DOJ and Live Nation indicated that they\u2019d signed a deal last Thursday, but neither party alerted the judge to this development on Friday. Subramanian said, \u201cIt shows absolute disrespect for the court, the jury, and this entire process. It is absolutely unacceptable.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tAccording to one report<\/a>, the DOJ\u2019s own lead prosecutor, David Dahlquist, said he was also unaware of the settlement his side had agreed to until this morning. Many of the state AGs who signed onto the case also expressed frustration with the nature of the deal, and how it was reached, with a contingent signing a motion to declare mistrial early Monday afternoon. <\/p>\n

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\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n

\n\tIn a statement of her own, New York\u2019s attorney general Letitia James said<\/a> the settlement \u201cfails to address the monopoly at the center of this case, and would benefit Live Nation at the expense of consumers. We cannot agree to it.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMy attorney general colleagues and I have a strong case against Live Nation, and we will continue our lawsuit to protect consumers and restore fair competition to the live entertainment industry,\u201d she added. \u201cWe will keep fighting this case without the federal government so that we can secure justice for all those harmed by Live Nation\u2019s monopoly.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.rollingstone.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Live Nation and Ticketmaster have settled their blockbuster antitrust case with the Department of Justice.\u00a0 The deal was reached just one week after the case went to trial in New York City, with a justice department official sharing some details of the tentative deal during a call with reporters Monday. The deal will not force […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2320111,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[27786,312145],"class_list":["post-2320110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-live-nation","tag-ticketmaster"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Live-Nation-Ticketmaster-Settle-Antitrust-Lawsuit-With-Government.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2320110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2320110"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2320110\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2320112,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2320110\/revisions\/2320112"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2320111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2320110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2320110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2320110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}