Live-Music Rivals Push Judge to Reject DOJ Settlement with Live Nation-Ticketmaster

Federal Judge Arun Subramanian faces a decision on the Department of Justice’s proposed consent decree that would keep Live Nation’s ownership of Ticketmaster while imposing antitrust safeguards. The decree, offered a week into Live Nation’s spring antitrust trial, requires Ticketmaster to offer non-exclusive contracts to venues and to share its back-end technology with rival ticketing firms.

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A jury previously found Live Nation liable for monopolizing the live-music market through its combined control of concert promotion, venue ownership, and ticketing. State attorneys general have continued the trial, and Live Nation has announced its intent to appeal the verdict.

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AEG and SeatGeek, both major competitors that promote concerts, own venues, and operate ticketing services, submitted public comments urging the court to reject the settlement. AEG argues that as long as Ticketmaster remains vertically integrated, venues will feel pressure to retain Ticketmaster because Live Nation controls concert content. SeatGeek contends that the decree merely offers a “feeble gesture” by allowing venues to shift only portions of their primary ticketing business, while fearing loss of Live Nation concert revenue. Veteran promoter Louis Messina, whose Messina Touring partners with AEG, warned that the settlement would not curb high Ticketmaster fees or prevent Live Nation from blocking independent promoters, describing the proposal as “full of loopholes.”

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Live Nation’s executive vice president of corporate and regulatory affairs, Dan Wall, maintains that the settlement adequately addresses the DOJ’s concerns. He characterizes the rival filings as self-serving and asserts that they misrepresent the terms of the agreement.

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• “AEG and SeatGeek are Live Nation’s competitors, and their filings advance their own commercial interests, not those of artists, venues or fans.” — Much

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• “Much of what they say misrepresents the settlement’s terms,” — Dan Wall, Live Nation’s executive vp of corporate and regulatory affairs

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