A six-week trial just kicked off in Manhattan to determine whether the world's biggest live-entertainment company illegally strangled competition across ticketing and concert promotion.
DOJ says Live Nation broke the concert industry
DOJ says Live Nation broke the concert industry
- Federal prosecutors opened the antitrust case on March 3.
- Live Nation Entertainment faces monopolization allegations in court.
- The 2010 merger with Ticketmaster could potentially get unwound.
- State attorneys general piled onto the DOJ's original lawsuit.
- Claims about monopolizing national concert promotion got tossed.
- Allegations of inflated fan ticket prices were also dismissed.
- Three core claims survived for the jury to evaluate.
- Ticketmaster's coercive venue contracts anchor the remaining case.
- DOJ pegs Ticketmaster's major-venue share at roughly 80%.
- AEG's AXS reportedly holds a distant 9% for comparison.
- Live Nation counters with 40% across all venue types.
- Ticketmaster allegedly nets under $2 per ticket after expenses.
- Prosecutors cited the botched 2022 Eras Tour presale as evidence.
- Internal messages allegedly called the tech duct-tape engineering.
- Live Nation blamed a massive bot attack for the meltdown.
- Defense argued nobody else could have handled that demand.
- Brooklyn's Barclays Center ditched Ticketmaster for SeatGeek temporarily.
- DOJ alleges retaliatory tour losses punished that venue switch.
- Live Nation tried blocking evidence about its Songkick acquisition.
- Prosecutors frame that deal as neutralizing a competitive threat.
- The Biden administration originally filed this case in 2024.
- DOJ antitrust chief Gail Slater resigned after a White House push.
- Live Nation added Trump ally Ric Grenell to its board.
- Settlement talks reportedly happened outside the Antitrust Division.
