A judge has ordered several states to hold settlement discussions in their antitrust trial against Ticketmaster-owner Live Nation.
Those states had joined in a Justice Department (DOJ) antitrust suit against Live Nation, and objected when the department reached a settlement with the company, asking U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian to declare a mistrial, Bloomberg News reported Tuesday (March 10).
Subramanian denied that request, ordering the states to try to come to a resolution with Live Nation. If they can’t come to an agreement, the trial may resume next week.
“It’s unclear to me why you would need anything more than the right people, here, in court,” Subramanian said. He ordered Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino to stay in New York for the negotiations this week.
The Bloomberg report noted that the states have retained attorney Jeffrey Kessler and the law firm Winston & Strawn as their advocates in this case. Kessler successfully sued the NCAA for antitrust violations over its rules forbidding student athletes from accepting compensation in a case that made it to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The DOJ announced Monday (March 9) that it had reached a settlement with Live Nation to resolve the antitrust allegations without requiring the company to sell off TicketMaster, the main sticking point in the government’s initial case.
The deal would see Live Nation pay $200 million and open its platform to rival ticketing services such as EventBrite. Several states, including New York and California, said they were unhappy with the settlement proposal and planned to continue their litigation.
“The settlement recently announced with the U.S. Department of Justice fails to address the monopoly at the center of this case, and would benefit Live Nation at the expense of consumers. We cannot agree to it,” New York State Attorney General Letitia James said in a news release following the settlement.
The Justice Department filed its antitrust suit against Live Nation in 2024, following 14 years of scrutiny stemming from the company’s purchase of Ticketmaster. Things came to a head in 2022, when fans of Taylor Swift found themselves stuck for hours in online queues to purchase high-priced tickets for the singer’s “Eras” tour.
Fans of Swift and other musicians had sued Live Nation and Ticketmaster in 2024, claiming companies had colluded with other organizations to drive up ticket costs.
“This lawsuit is based on false assumptions about how ticketing works. Artist teams, not Ticketmaster, set prices,” a Live National spokesperson told Wired at the time. “Live Nation does not own stadiums in the U.S. and primary tickets are consistently priced below market value, as evidenced by resale prices averaging more than double.”
