Jury Rules Live Nation Illegally Monopolized Ticketing Market

Live Nation just took a hit that could reshape how Americans buy concert tickets. A federal jury in Manhattan on Wednesday found that Live Nation and its Ticketmaster unit illegally held monopoly power in the live-event ticketing business, siding with the 34 states plus DC after a five-week antitrust trial, NBC News reports. Jurors, who began deliberating on Friday, concluded that Ticketmaster's conduct led to fans in the plaintiff states paying an extra $1.72 per ticket at major concert venues.

• US District Judge Arun Subramanian will decide what penalties and other remedies the company faces. The company could be forced to split from Ticketmaster, a move then-Attorney General Merrick Garland called for when a federal antitrust case was filed in 2024, the BBC reports. That case was settled last month.

Lawyers for the states argued that Live Nation dominated the industry end-to-end—ticketing, promotion, booking, and venues—and used that control to squeeze artists, venues, and fans, including by steering venues into long-term exclusive ticketing deals. Live Nation countered that its market share has been exaggerated and that being a large, aggressive competitor is not against the law. "Success is not against the antitrust laws in the United States," attorney David Marriott said in his summation, per the AP. The company's stock fell more than 6% after the verdict. During the trial, lawyers for the states cited messages from regional ticketing directors mocking "stupid" fans and boasting of "robbing them blind.'

The 34 states rejected the Department of Justice settlement that required Ticketmaster to spin off up to 13 amphitheaters, reserve half of tickets at some venues for nonexclusive deals, and cap service fees at 15%. That deal, which Live Nation accepted without admitting wrongdoing, resolved the federal government's claims but not those from the states, which pressed ahead and won Wednesday's verdict.

• California Attorney General Rob Bonta called the verdict a "historic and resounding victory for artists, fans, and the venues that support them," NBC reports. "In the face of dwindling antitrust enforcement by the Trump Administration, this verdict shows just how far states can go to protect our residents from big corporations that are using their power to illegally raise prices and rip-off Americans," Bonta said in a statement.