The U.S. Department of Justice announced on Monday that it had reached a tentative agreement in an antitrust lawsuit against Ticketmaster and Live Nation Entertainment. However, multiple states have vowed to continue their own lawsuits rather than approve the deal.
Critics of the event ticketing company have accused it of seeking monopoly control over the industry to artificially maintain high sales fees for consumers.
“We will continue our lawsuit to protect consumers and restore fair competition to the live entertainment industry.”
In 2024, Mark Meador wrote: “Live Nation Ticketmaster created a dominant conglomerate with an unprecedented amount of control over the live ticketing market, resulting in monopoly power it has used to entrench its position in the marketplace.” Meador was later nominated as a Federal Trade Commission commissioner.
A senior Justice Department official described the deal as a “win-win for everybody” during an anonymous call with reporters. Under the terms, Live Nation must divest 13 U.S. amphitheaters and pay a $280 million fine.
The official stated that a double-digit number of states have signaled they will approve the deal. However, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced she would not support it, stating: “My 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.”
Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren (D) also criticized the agreement in a social media post, writing: “Donald ‘Art of the Deal’ Trump settled the Ticketmaster-Live Nation antitrust case. If you love going to concerts, Trump’s deal means you’ll keep paying a ‘Ticketmaster Tax.’ And artists will keep getting bullied. It’s time to break up Ticketmaster-Live Nation.”
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