It was a “legal setback” for Live Nation, the global giant of live entertainment and ticketing, as reported by The Los Angeles Times. The parent company of Ticketmaster was found guilty of illegal monopoly by a US federal civil jury on Wednesday, April 15. They were accused of overcharging spectators and pressuring venues to use their ticketing service, Ticketmaster.
This verdict, reached after several days of deliberations, “opens the way to a possible dismantling of the entertainment giant, an objective explicitly mentioned in the complaint originally filed by the US Department of Justice under the Biden administration,” as highlighted by The Verge.
The jurors on Wednesday determined that Ticketmaster “overcharged spectators $1.72 per ticket in ‘large concert venues’ due to its anti-competitive practices,” as reported by NBC News.
A dominating “colossus” in the live entertainment market
The 33 suing US states accused “Live Nation, which merged with Ticketmaster in 2010, of building a dominant colossus in essential segments of the live entertainment market, including concert promotion, venue management, and ticketing,” as explained by The Wall Street Journal. According to them, “its market share in ticket sales and concert promotion in large venues exceeds 70%.”
The judge overseeing the case launched in May 2024, Arun Subramanian, must now determine the measures to take to break this monopoly, which could range from selling concert venues to even a forced sale of Ticketmaster.
“Whatever measure the judge orders, it is likely to significantly alter the competitive landscape of the multibillion-dollar concert market, where Live Nation stands as a virtually unrivaled giant,” emphasized The New York Times. The American newspaper noted that last year the company organized 55,000 events and sold 646 million tickets worldwide. According to testimonies during the trial, “Ticketmaster sells about ten times more tickets than its main competitor, AEG,” specified the New York Times.
An “embarrassing” verdict for the Trump administration
It is also an “extremely embarrassing verdict for the Trump administration,” which after a week of trial had “reached a settlement” with Live Nation, settling for “minimal concessions” from the entertainment giant, as noted by Axios.
Despite this agreement, the 33 suing states decided to continue their lawsuits against Live Nation. In response to the reduced enforcement of antitrust laws by the Trump administration, this verdict shows “how far states can go to protect our citizens from big companies using their power to unjustly raise prices and cheat Americans,” reacted California Attorney General, Democratic elected official Rob Bonta, describing this verdict as “historic.”
According to Axios, the jury’s findings should also “encourage state attorneys general” in the US to “initiate further lawsuits targeting anti-competitive practices” of other large American companies.
