Justice Department’s New Deal with Live Nation Stinks
There is probably one opportunity, and one opportunity only to solve the biggest problem plaguing the live music industry in the United States, and that is the current trial that Live Nation is going through with the United States Justice Department.
Along with dozens of states, the Justice Department was trying to get the company to divest from its ticketing arm, Ticketmaster. The two companies merged in 2010, and were deemed to be a monopoly by regulators, Justice Department officials, and state’s attorney generals.
On February 28th, a jury trial commenced in Manhattan to decide the fate of Live Nation and Ticketmaster. But amid the trial, a backroom settlement deal was struck over the weekend. Reading the elated statements from Live Nation CEO Michael Rappino, and the defeated statements from advocates for the breakup of the company, it seems pretty clear what this outcome means: big business and its ability to persuade the government won out over the interests of the average consumer yet again.
But the fight is not over.
In the deal, Live Nation would make certain concessions. But it’s a far cry from breaking apart from Ticketmaster, or making significant steps to ensure competition in the marketplace, or to protect independent promoters and venues who are the most affected by the Live Nation/Ticketmaster monopoly.
In the deal, Live Nation would divest from its exclusive booking agreements with 13 amphitheaters in the United States, including venues in Milwaukee, Cincinnati, Syracuse, New York, and Austin. It would also cap service fees at these venues at 15% of the ticket price. The deal also lets up to 50% of all tickets to be sold through any ticketing marketplace at amphitheaters that Live Nation owns, operates or controls.
The deal also calls for Live Nation to pay $280 million into a settlement fund to pay out civil penalties to the dozens of states who are a party to the lawsuit.
All of this is far short of what most of the states want, not to mention the music consumer who regularly gets squeezed through surge pricing, exorbitant fees, and inequitable and predatory resale markets. This deal would do little to change the live music landscape for either artists or their fans.
Furthermore, the settlement was struck without the knowledge of many of the states that are a party to the lawsuit, let alone their approval. States rejecting the deal include Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming and the District of Columbia.
Supposedly there are about ten states that approved the deal, but it is a minority of the parties involved. Even the judge in the case, Arun Subramanian, said that it was “entirely unacceptable” that he wasn’t even informed about the deal as it was being worked out, and a term sheet was authored.
Parties are also balking at the $280 million number as a drop in the bucket. Live Nation made $25.2 billion in total revenue in 2025, a 9% increase over 2024.
“They could potentially make it back by this Friday,” says Stephen Parker, the executive director of the National Independent Venue Association, while pointing out, “The reported settlement does not appear to include any specific and explicit protections for fans, artists, or independent venues and festivals.”
The Attorney General for California, Rob Bonta, who is one of 26 attorney generals rejecting the deal said in a statement,
“Today, U.S. DOJ has chosen to settle with Live Nation, but a bipartisan group of attorneys general, including California, have chosen to continue this fight and get a better deal for consumers—the deal Americans nationwide deserve. Just in the first week of trial, we’ve already heard that Live Nation fully intended to take advantage of fans—and were able to do so because fans had no other place to go. Live Nation has manipulated the market, made itself untouchable by any competitor, and raked in the cash—not because it is better, but because it has acted illegally and created a monopoly.”
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes said, “The case against Ticketmaster is strong, and I am committed to seeing it through. The settlement recently announced by the federal government does not adequately remedy the harm done to Arizona consumers and the live music marketplace,” reads the statement. “Arizona is prepared to continue litigating this case alongside our bipartisan coalition of attorneys general to hold Ticketmaster accountable in court and secure real relief for music fans.”
The states that are reportedly trying to decide whether to accept the deal to remain in the lawsuit include Florida, Louisiana, and Texas.
The good news is that due to the amount of states still wanting to move forward with the trial, it is currently set to resume next week with the remaining states making their case. But it could be more difficult now to see real change through the trial process since multiple states and the United States Justice Department have pulled out.
– – – – – – – –
If you found this article valuable, consider leaving Saving Country Music A TIP.
March 11, 2026 @ 7:59 am
Its almost like if you systematically fire all the lawyers who are good at their job fron the Justice Department, youre left being incapable of serving up a win for the american consumer… as Mel Allen used to say, how bout that!
March 11, 2026 @ 8:07 am
I don’t know if brain drain is an issue here. If they ultimately lost the trial, then we could have that discussion. But from the reporting and the Attorney General statements I’ve seen, there was a LOT of damaging stuff coming out about Live Nation, including phone calls of threatening conversations and other stuff. 98% of legal actions end up being settled. Trials are always last resorts. There is an incentive for all parties to settle, because trials are so costly. But it really feels like the Justice Department had lost the will to prosecute this case.
Also, since so many states are involved, you have attorneys from the states as part of this process. That’s also why the trial continues forward.
March 11, 2026 @ 8:34 am
I mean it’s more than losing their will. They’re just unwilling to prosecute Monopoly cases or anything that works against big corporate right now.
March 11, 2026 @ 8:45 am
But if you’re gonna cut a lame deal, you do that six months, or six weeks ago, not after you’ve been through a week of trial, all the discovery, the subpoena of witnesses, they production of evidence presentations, etc. That’s what’s strange about this. They were RIGHT THERE, and according to the people in the court room, it was going well for the prosecution.
March 11, 2026 @ 10:07 am
Yeah the deal is the government being bribed to cut a deal for big business. The thing the American people voted for
March 11, 2026 @ 8:45 am
I don’t know what you mean. Surely all those campaign and Ballroom “donations” were entirely because corporate America wanted to give back to the American taxpayer!
March 11, 2026 @ 8:08 am
But Kid Rock wore his bedazzled bald eagle outfit to the Oval office. A clear sign that this issue would solved for average Americans. Curious.
March 11, 2026 @ 8:25 am
I’m not going to fault Kid Rock, or Taylor Swift, or Zach Bryan, or anyone else who has brought attention to this matter. You poll the public, and the vast majority of people will tell you they want something done with the Live Nation/Ticketmaster monopoly, and not what is in this settlement deal. This is a classic case of big business using its leverage to get its way while the people who are charge with representing our interests fail to. Good on the states that are balking at this deal and making a big deal about it.
March 11, 2026 @ 8:49 am
I’m also not gonna fault Kid Rock for lobbying against Live Nation/Ticket Master. But I will also say, if he doesn’t (and maybe he already did – no clue) speak out against the DOJ just not bothering to care about this issue, then his words mean less than nothing IMO.
Hard to take you seriously when you shoot a soft core porn video with RFK Jr. and then watch one of the things you so loudly campaigned for this Administration to address (Ticketmaster) go quietly into the night and not say something.
March 11, 2026 @ 9:10 am
I agree. Anyone with a bullhorn or a platform needs to be using that right now to make sure this matter is at least litigated properly by a jury of our peers. This isn’t lobbying for something that might happen in the future. The trial is happening right now.
The problem is you have a lot of artists who don’t want to get sideways with Live Nation, the Justice Department, or the Trump Administration, and so there are perverse incentives to stay silent.
March 11, 2026 @ 8:10 am
Absolutely true that big business is able to lobby for it’s own interests above the law. It totally is a monopoly and it looks like there no longer is the ability to effectively break up monopolies. Funny enough if Live Nation and Ticketmaster were broken up and ticket sales were divied up into smaller companies the scalping market would return more to individuals. Scams would be more rampant and ironically there would be a call for more regulation, but individuals would have to go thru more effort to find high-priced front row scalped tickets and the only true security would be using the ticket you purchased yourself. Allowing aspects of the free market to be the ‘wild west’ is better. Whenever you hear “it really was the wild west back then..” it is almost always viewed as having been better.
March 11, 2026 @ 8:39 am
This was the inevitable conclusion when Gail Slater – who President Trump (2.0) named as his chief anti-trust enforcer – was first sidelined and then eventually pushed out recently.
Slater was someone who even entities who generally dislike Trump respected and saw as someone who would at least somewhat follow in the Lina Khan vein of attempting to work on monopolization in industry. I recall the CEO of Proton writing a pretty forceful blog in support of her.
Then…crickets. Until the news broke at the start of the year that she was leaving her position.
Chalk it up as another campaign promise quickly abandoned once big industry started writing checks.
March 11, 2026 @ 10:01 am
2028 could be the first year since Bob Dole where this is a push for an independent presidential candidate that focuses on economic issues.
March 11, 2026 @ 9:49 am
i am not surprised it has been settled but I am surprised at the deal. It does make one wonder why the Government bothered to take action at all. Not much of a deal.