DOJ v. Live Nation-Ticketmaster: full case transcription
// Mission Dossier
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How the fee mechanics actually work, and how to avoid the worst of it on your next purchase.
Get the dossier: $7 instant download →Live Nation-Ticketmaster has unlawfully maintained monopolies in several concert promotions and primary ticketing markets and engaged in other exclusionary conduct affecting live concert venues, including arenas and amphitheaters.
The live music industry in America is broken because Live Nation-Ticketmaster has an illegal monopoly. Our antitrust lawsuit seeks to break up Live Nation-Ticketmaster's monopoly and restore competition for the benefit of fans and artists.
A jury found that Live Nation and Ticketmaster have unlawfully maintained and abused their monopoly power that prevents other ticketing services, venue owners, and concert promoters from successfully competing. Today a jury in New York found Live Nation and Ticketmaster operated as an illegal monopoly. This verdict ensures that Live Nation and Ticketmaster will be held accountable for violations of federal and state antitrust laws.
Fees are collected at three separate points on a single ticket: when a scalper originally buys it, when that scalper resells it, and when a fan ultimately buys it from the scalper. Live Nation-Ticketmaster is also alleged to knowingly allow scalpers to evade the ticket buying limits placed upon ordinary customers, and to list tickets at prices that do not reflect mandatory fees added only at checkout.
Live Nation controls over 80 percent of the US's major concert venue primary ticketing, has exclusive arrangements with 265 concert venues, and manages more than 400 big name artists.
This transcription covers the core allegations, the jury's liability finding, and the FTC's documented fee mechanics. The full complaint runs well over 100 pages and includes extensive internal company communications cited as evidence; the remedy phase following the jury's liability verdict remains an active, ongoing legal process not yet finalized.
Case: United States et al. v. Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. et al. Filed May 23, 2024, S.D.N.Y.
Case: FTC v. Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. and Ticketmaster LLC. Filed September 2024.
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