Live Nation Antitrust Trial: DOJ Accuses Entertainment Giant of Monopoly Power
The Department of Justice has accused Live Nation and Ticketmaster of wielding outsized control over the live entertainment industry in a blockbuster antitrust trial, alleging the company illegally used its monopoly power.
Federal prosecutors have accused Live Nation and Ticketmaster of “illegally using their monopoly power to help themselves” instead of artists, fans, or venues during opening statements for the blockbuster antitrust trial.
The case, which could reshape the live-entertainment industry, officially began Tuesday, March 3, following jury selection. The federal government accuses Live Nation of leveraging its venue network to pressure artists into using its promotion services and forcing venues into exclusive, long-term contracts with Ticketmaster, which it acquired in 2010.
“Today, the concert ticket industry is broken, in fact the concert industry itself is broken,” U.S. attorney David Dahlquist said during his opening statement. “It is controlled by a monopolist. It is controlled by Live Nation.”
Live Nation denies the allegations. David Marriott, a lawyer for the company, insisted they “did not have monopoly power” during his opening statement. He argued that the live-entertainment “marketplace is more competitive than ever it has been before,” asserting, “Every customer we get is a hard-fought battle in a competitive market.”
The Department of Justice filed its lawsuit in May 2024, seeking the breakup of Live Nation and Ticketmaster. The government has skirted Live Nation’s efforts to dismiss the suit. Pre-trial rulings narrowed the DOJ’s claims; Judge Arun Subramanian dismissed claims that Live Nation has a monopoly over concert promotion and that its conduct led to higher ticket prices.
The judge allowed the DOJ’s two most significant claims to remain. First, that Live Nation illegally “ties” access to its amphitheaters to its promotion services. Second, the DOJ alleges that Live Nation illegally forces venues to sign long-term contracts with Ticketmaster, threatening to withhold popular tours from venues that don’t use Ticketmaster.
Dahlquist outlined Live Nation’s “flywheel,” a self-reinforcing business model forcing artists to engage at the venue, ticketing, and promotion levels. Referencing the Taylor Swift Eras Tour on-sale chaos, he argued that Ticketmaster faced so little competition that it hadn't bothered to improve its technology.
The prosecutor highlighted Ticketmaster’s fees, calling them “the highest they have ever been in the United States.” Dahlquist told the jury they would see internal Live Nation messages mocking concertgoers, including one stating Ticketmaster was “robbing them blind, baby.”
Marriott countered that Ticketmaster takes approximately five percent of ticket prices and owns a fraction of the 20,000+ venues in the U.S. He insisted there are “more ticketing options today” than ever before.
“We’ll let the numbers do the talking. We do not have monopoly power,” Marriott said. He later added that the company is “all about bringing joy to people’s lives.”
The Live Nation trial is expected to last about five to six weeks. Witnesses include Kid Rock, Mumford & Sons’ Ben Lovett, and Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino.
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