Coolcaesar, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Live Nation’s antitrust trial resumed today after a proposed settlement with the Department of Justice failed to result in deals with the wide majority of the co-filing states. One week after the Justice Department announced its tentative agreement, under circumstances that initially prompted several states to call for a mistrial, 36 state attorneys general assumed leadership of the suit, endeavoring to convince the Manhattan jury that Live Nation and Ticketmaster’s dominance in live entertainment markets had been sustained by anticompetitive business practices harming artists, venues, smaller promoters and fans.

In court on Friday, lawyers for the prosecution informed Judge Arun Subramanian that seven states – Arkansas, Iowa, Mississippi, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina and South Dakota – had joined in the Justice Department’s settlement. As the trial resumed today, only Arkansas, Nebraska and South Dakota had reached final signed deals.

Representatives for the remaining 36 states and the District of Columbia returned for the second week of trial, reiterating claims that Live Nation employed threats, retaliation and illegal tying agreements, among other tactics, to grease their flywheel model of interrelated promotion, management, venue operations and ticketing interests. Defense counsel continued to hold that the live events industry is more complicated and competitive than its depiction in the case, simultaneously submitting that Live Nation is actively invested in improving the fan experience through investments in venues and amenities.

Filed in 2024 by the Biden administration’s Merrick Garland-led Justice Department and 39 states, Live Nation’s antitrust lawsuit initially sought to separate the entertainment giant from its Ticketmaster subsidiary, with the  attorney general explicitly declaring that the company engaged in “unlawful, anticompetitive conduct to exercise its monopolistic control over the live events industry in the United States.” The proposed settlement in its antitrust suit would require the company to pay $280 million in damages and implement structural changes to its business model, including a cap on service fees at 15% of a ticket’s face value at amphitheaters, a four-year limit and competition carveouts for Ticketmaster’s long-term venue exclusivity contracts and divestment from more than 13 of its major amphitheater agreements.

Announcing her objection to the settlement terms and her intention to carry on legal actions, New York Attorney General Letitia James said that the Justice Department’s deal failed “to address the monopoly at the center of this case, and would benefit Live Nation at the expense of consumers. The first week of proceedings and discovery, prior to the agreement that underhanded settlement process that Judge Subramanian called “entirely unacceptable,” resulted in such controversial revelations as a call in which Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino appeared to threaten former Barclays Center CEO John Abbamondi for switching ticketing partners and messages between two executives celebrating “taking advantage” of customers.