The Tcketmaster website is displayed on the computer screen. (Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images.)
Last week, the U.S. Department of Justice took a widely condemned move to settle an antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation Entertainment, a company that owns hundreds of concert venues, a massive promotions company, and Ticketmaster, the world’s largest ticket sales platform.
But Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost and 33 of his colleagues in other states are fighting on. There was a case he expected to go to the jury in federal court in New York delayed last week.
In 2024, when Joe Biden was still president, the Department of Justice sued an entertainment broker under Sherman Antitrust Act.
It accused Live Nation Entertainment has used its dominance in several areas of the entertainment industry to position itself as a gigantic middleman, driving up prices while starving out the artists patrons pay to see. It accused the company of using its dominant ownership of the most desirable concert halls, ticketing platform and concert promotion activities to lock out artists and patrons from its services and block competition.
The settlement limits the company’s fees at venues, opens its platform to third-party ticket sellers, forces it to sell about 12 of its 400 entertainment properties and pay $280 million to states that sued.
Critics were not impressed.
It has come “following years of evidence that Live Nation, the largest artist manager and concert promoter in America, in cooperation with its internal event ticketing monopoly Ticketmaster, has consistently defrauded fans and abused venues and artists.” – wrote antitrust activist Ron Knox Slingshot. “The government’s case finally went to trial and ended a week after it started. How could a company that has so blatantly abused its power in the live music industry for so many years, earning it the scorn of artists, independent venue owners and consumer advocates, give up on even the most cursory slap in the hand?”
President Donald Trump maintained he would lower prices for consumers. But the Live Nation settlement is one of several maneuvers to stave off antitrust enforcement that have been revitalized by the Biden administration.
In motion questionable legalityTrump removed two Democratic nominees from the Federal Trade Commission and pushed out the head of the Justice Department’s antitrust division.
Among other actions, the newly Republican FTC last year withdrew a lawsuit that blamed the country the largest food company and food supplier colluding to eliminate competition and at the same time raise prices.
The abrupt resolution of the Live Nation case enraged interested parties – as well as the federal judge who presided over the trial.
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“This shows a complete lack of respect for the court, the jury and the entire process,” U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian said, according to New York Times. “It’s absolutely unacceptable.”
Critics pointed out that the $280 million settlement represented just four days of Live Nation’s 2025 revenue. They also said that requiring Ticketmaster to host other providers could make scalping even worse and drive up ticket prices even further.
“Live Nation has long been a paragon of monopoly in the live entertainment industry.” John Breyault of the National Consumer League stated in: written declaration. “By owning Ticketmaster and dominating concert promotion and venue management, the company has gained extraordinary control over the live music ecosystem. This has left fans, artists and independent venues with nowhere to turn.”
Disappointment with the settlement was shared by 34 state attorneys general, including Yost of Ohio, Policy reported.
The Ohio Attorney General’s office did not respond to a request for comment, and Yost has not made any public statement on the matter. But others do.
“For years, Live Nation has made enormous profits by exploiting its illegal monopoly and driving up performance costs,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement. written declaration. “My office led a bipartisan group of attorneys general that sued Live Nation for exploiting fans, facilities and artists, and we are committed to holding Live Nation accountable.”
She added: “The recently announced settlement with the United States Department of Justice does not resolve the monopoly issue at the heart of this case and will benefit Live Nation at the expense of consumers. We cannot agree to this.”
Ohio lawmakers decided on a similar issue presented the bill aimed at stopping the conduct of Ticketmaster and other sellers who are accused of acting as intermediaries in artificially inflating prices.
