Jury Rules Live Nation is an Illegal Monopoly

Today (Wednesday, April 15), a jury found Live Nation and Ticketmaster guilty of violating federal and state antitrust laws in their widespread dominance of live music. Judge Arun Subramanian will now decide whether Live Nation must sell Ticketmaster.

The verdict:

• The jury found that Live Nation monopolized ticketing services, concert ticketing, and the use of amphitheaters.

• The verdict also affirmed that Live Nation illegally required the use of its concert promotion services with the use of its venues.

What’s next:

• Subramanian can require Live Nation to sell Ticketmaster or impose lesser consequences, such as banning certain operations considered anti-competitive.

• Live Nation is expected to fight the verdict in a federal appeals court.

• The states suing Live Nation have said a sale of Ticketmaster is their desired outcome.

The trial:

• The lawsuit was filed by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and a large group of states in 2024.

• The DOJ settled its portion of the lawsuit a week after the trial began without requiring a sale, but the states pressed on.

• John Abbamondi, former CEO of Barclays Center, a prominent amphitheater in New York City, said that Live Nation threatened to move concerts to new venues if he started using rival ticketing service, SeatGeek.

• Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino denied such claims during his testimony.

• Live Nation's legal team based its closing arguments on the idea that the company's success was due to better business practices than its rivals, rather than illegal tactics.

• Last month, leaked Slack messages between Live Nation employees were released, one of which stated: “Robbing them blind baby. That’s how we do.”

• Those messages became a linchpin of the plaintiff’s closing arguments delivered by antitrust litigator Jeffrey Kessler.

• Kessler: “Who talks like this? What type of company uses this language? The answer, I think you will find, is a monopolist who views itself to be above the law.”