The Justice Department announced Monday that it reached a tentative settlement in its antitrust suit against Ticketmaster and parent company Live Nation Entertainment that would spare the business from the threat of being broken apart amid government claims it held an illegal monopoly over concerts and other events.
But almost immediately, more than half of the nearly 40 states that had signed on to the department’s landmark litigation voiced serious concerns over the deal. Some state attorneys general said they had been left out of negotiations and vowed to continue their fight against the live entertainment behemoth in court.
The existence of the proposed settlement, which must still be approved by a judge, was disclosed in federal court in Manhattan, where an antitrust trial against Live Nation started last week. The government has accused the company of controlling virtually all aspects of the multi-billion live events business through stifling competition and forcing artists and venues into using its services.
Senior Justice Department officials said Monday’s proposed settlement is designed to drive down ticket prices by giving artists and consumers more choice.
Under the terms of the agreement, Live Nation would be required to cap ticket service fees charged to consumers at 15 percent and allow competitors like SeatGeek and StubHub to offer tickets for sale through Ticketmaster’s platform. The deal would also limit the company’s reliance on long-term exclusivity contracts, which it has used to lock venues into using it as the sole platform to sell tickets to their events.
Additionally, the settlement would require Live Nation to divest itself of exclusive booking arrangements with at least 13 amphitheaters across the country and pay civil damages of up to $280 million to states that have joined the litigation.
The Justice Department defended the settlement as a way to spur new competition and deliver immediate benefits to consumers without the risks inherent in attempting to win in court.
For Live Nation, which serves as the exclusive ticket vendor for roughly 80 percent of major concert venues across the U.S., the agreement fends off the threat of a court-imposed divestment of Ticketmaster, effectively undoing the 2010 merger between the two companies.
“Today marks a major step in improving the concert experience for artists and fans throughout the United States,” Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino said in a statement. “By giving artists greater flexibility in choosing their promotional partners and ticketing strategy while also keeping the cost of a concert more affordable for fans, we are putting more power where it should be — with artists and fans.”
Still, U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian, who has been overseeing the antitrust trial, rebuked Justice Department attorneys Monday over how the settlement negotiations were presented to him in court.
Subramanian noted he had not been informed of the agreement until late Sunday, though government lawyers acknowledged a tentative term sheet had been signed with the company days before and even as testimony in the case continued in his court.
Meanwhile, several state attorneys general who had joined the suit, including Letitia James in New York, accused President Donald Trump’s Justice Department appointees of hiding the settlement talks from them.
“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. We cannot agree to it,” James, a Democrat, said in a statement. Attorneys general in more than 20 other states and the District of Columbia also signaled, in a court filing Monday, that they planned to continue to pursue a case.
“Our resolve has not wavered,” Jonathan Skrmetti, the Republican attorney general of Tennessee, said in a statement. “We are proud to stand with a powerful core of conservative AGs and bipartisan partners from across the country committed to continuing the fight.”
Others questioned whether the deal’s terms would accomplish the Justice Department’s stated goal of improving conditions for consumers. Some concert industry insiders and consumer advocates expressed doubts that the plan to allow other companies to list tickets through Ticketmaster would ultimately drive down costs.
Stephen Parker, executive director of the National Independent Venue Association, said the agreement could create confusion “for fans that are just Googling a show and wanting to buy tickets to it and not realizing that they’re buying from a reseller versus a primary ticketing provider or venue.”
Adam Lichstein, general counsel for online ticket reseller SeatGeek, called the terms of the deal “incredibly disappointing.”
“Meaningful reform requires deep structural changes, not more of the surface-level consolations that have failed for the last 16 years,” he said.
The Justice Department’s suit — filed in 2024 under the Biden administration — was a rare antitrust effort that appeared to enjoy bipartisan support.
Public criticism of the Beverly Hills, California-based company exploded in 2022, when a surge of demand for presale tickets to Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour crashed Ticketmaster’s systems and drew focus on its role as the sole point of direct ticket sales for many events. Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle unleashed a battery of legislative proposals meant to crack down on abuse in ticketing and better highlight the fees that customers face before they reach the checkout page.
The Trump administration had signaled an eagerness to continue that fight early on.
In March, the president signed an executive order instructing the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission to ensure adequate enforcement of competitive practices laws in the live ticketing industry. Gail Slater, the Justice Department’s initial pick to lead its antitrust division, had taken active role in preparing the Live Nation case for a possible trial, Justice Department officials said Monday.
Slater, though, was abruptly ousted from her post last month in a clash over the pace of her office’s work and amid disputes with corporate lobbyists who had hoped to influence the administration’s stance on other antitrust cases.
Live Nation had also strengthened ties with people close to the Trump administration as it was facing its day in court. It named Richard Grenell, president of the Kennedy Center, to its board in May and enlisted former Trump campaign adviser Kellyanne Conway and Trump ally Mike Davis to assist in its efforts to reach a settlement in the case, Semafor reported last month.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota), an early critic of Live Nation’s business practices, described those recent moves on both sides of the case as “troubling” and said such “backroom dealings hurt consumers.”
In an interview with the Post, she added that while some aspects of the proposed deal appeared encouraging, she feared Ticketmaster would retain a stranglehold on the live music world unless it is broken up.
“These things may help on the margin,” Klobuchar said. “But they’re not gonna stop this monopoly dominance that should never have been allowed to happen in the first place.”
The post Consumer advocates, Democrats denounce Live Nation deal as inadequate appeared first on Washington Post.
