On Wednesday, Feb. 18, a federal judge advanced the Justice Department’s antitrust suit against Live Nation and Ticketmaster to a scheduled trial with a summary judgment upholding some key claims and dismissing others.

The Justice Department and 39 states sued Live Nation and Ticketmaster in 2024 for alleged anticompetitive practices affecting artists, venues, fans, and start-ups seeking to enter the industry with its flywheel of mutually reinforcing business interests. The ruling arrived in response to a motion for dismissal by Live Nation and Ticketmaster’s legal counsel, and distinguishes between evidentially substantiated antitrust claims and those nuanced by standard fan and industry practices in the expansive case

U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian ruled that claims related to Live Nation’s dominance in the large amphitheatre market and connected “artist-facing” behaviors will proceed to trial, holding that illegal “tying” agreements may force artists into promotion agreements with Live Nation for access to the venues under its control. Subramanian suggested that given “Live Nation’s alleged market power and ‘unremitting’ policy, a reasonable jury could certainly find that artists were coerced into going with Live Nation as their promoter to get into its amphitheaters.”

The summary judgment also upheld claims related to Ticketmaster’s alleged monopoly in the venue-facing ticketing market, and allowed state-level claims reflecting the suit’s initial scope to proceed. The dimensions of the Justice Department’s case excised include the plaintiff’s construction of a distinct antitrust market for promotion services at major concert venues, which was determined as unsustained on the national level, as well as claims related to the “fan-facing” ticketing market; Subramanian asserted that fans’ shopping was guided by their preferred performers, rather than price-shopping, undercutting the notion of a monopolistic hold.

“We are grateful that the district court dismissed all claims in the concert promotions and concert booking markets,” Live Nation said in a statement. “With those claims gone, we see no possible basis for breaking up Live Nation and Ticketmaster.  We look forward to addressing the remaining claims at trial. The deficiencies we identified in the government’s monopoly power and conduct claims have not gone away, and we continue to believe that we will prevail in the end.”

The Justice Department’s antitrust suit against Live Nation and Ticketmaster will proceed on March 2. Live Nation’s legal battles persist in several other cases, including the Federal Trade Commission’s suit for illegal ticket resale practices. Read more here.