‘Everybody Hurts — Except Live Nation:’ DOJ Says It Has ‘Reams of Evidence’ for Monopoly Trial

The Department of Justice (DOJ) says in a new court filing that it has uncovered substantial evidence of Live Nation and Ticketmaster using “interlocking monopolies across the live entertainment industry” to harm rival promoters and ticketers, as well as artists, venues and fans.  

The DOJ, along with dozens of state attorneys general, is gearing up for a scheduled March trial in its blockbuster 2024 antitrust lawsuit that aims to break up Live Nation and Ticketmaster. The feds allege that since acquiring Ticketmaster in 2010, Live Nation has used its simultaneous control of both ticketing and live event promotion to shut out competitors.

Live Nation filed a summary judgment motion last month, urging a New York federal judge to toss the case without a trial because there’s “barely a molehill” of evidence that it has done anything monopolistic. The DOJ’s opposition brief, made public on Monday (Dec. 15), counters that this is simply not true.

“Defendants fall far short of their summary judgment burden because plaintiffs have developed reams of evidence that, viewed in the light most favorable to plaintiffs, shows that defendants’ anticompetitive conduct in all markets has harmed the competitive process,” writes a team of lawyers from the DOJ Antitrust Division.

The government claims to have evidence of the Live Nation-Ticketmaster combination being wielded to corner 85% of the market share for primary ticketing. According to the DOJ, it can prove Live Nation regularly threatens venues with fewer shows if they don’t use Ticketmaster and withholds its promoted acts from venues that use competitors like AXS or SeatGeek.

The brief says that on average, NBA and NHL arenas that switched away from Ticketmaster between 2017 and 2024 lost five more Live Nation shows per year than arenas that didn’t switch. It also cites testimony from an unnamed former venue executive that there is “widespread fear in the industry” of this sort of retaliation from Live Nation if a different ticketing service is used.

The DOJ says Live Nation has also used its power to eat up a 55% market share of the concert promotion business. The brief argues that Live Nation has shut out competition by buying up both rival promoters and scores of amphitheaters — and then forcing artists to use its promotion services in order to perform at those venues.

“Everybody hurts — except Live Nation. Artists earn less because they cannot tour [amphitheaters] without Live Nation, and so they cannot benefit from competition between promoters,” reads the brief. “Live Nation’s ancillary per fan arena fee — which venues pay to Live Nation, often via per ticket rebates — more than doubled from [2017 to 2024]. Live Nation hiked these fees because it could.”

Reps for Live Nation did not immediately return a request for comment on Tuesday (Dec. 16). The company has vehemently denied all the DOJ’s claims, arguing in its summary judgment motion that the government is using a “gerrymandered” definition of the relevant market to fudge the numbers — and that competition in the live events space has actually increased since the Ticketmaster merger.

Live Nation now has the chance to file a reply to the DOJ, after which U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian will make his decision on summary judgment. If the judge grants Live Nation’s motion entirely, the case will be thrown out. If not, it will go to trial in the new year.