Live Nation reaches surprise settlement with justice department in antitrust case

Live Nation, which owns Ticketmaster, has reached a surprise settlement with the Department of Justice in its antitrust case just one week after the trial began.The settlement was announced during a court hearing Monday morning. Under the agreement, Live Nation will pay roughly $200m in damages to states that participated in the lawsuit, and Ticketmaster will be required to open parts of its platform to rival ticketing companies, reported Politico.The agreement also will require Ticketmaster to divest from some of the amphitheaters it owns and cap service fees for its venues at 15% of the ticket price. The agreement also limits long-term exclusivity contracts utilized by Ticketmaster when partnering with venues.Full terms of the agreement have not been publicly confirmed, and a judge still needs to approve the settlement terms.An attorney for New York State told jurors last week that Ticketmaster keeps an average of $7.58 of the price of each ticket for events at major concert venues, claiming the concert ticket conglomerate dominates live-event markets, harming artists, venues and fans.The justice department was set to argue that Live Nation holds illegal monopolies in certain ticketing and venue markets and that Ticketmaster dominates ticketing services through threats and multi-year exclusive contracts with venues.The lawsuit includes attorneys general from 30 states, including California, Massachusetts, Utah and Wyoming. Ten of these attorneys general have agreed to the settlement, according to a Wall Street Journal report.Letitia James, the New York State attorney general, criticized the settlement and declined to agree to it.“The settlement recently announced with the US 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,” James in a statement. “My attorney general colleagues and I have a strong case against Live Nation, and we will continue our lawsuit to protect consumers and restore fair competition to the live entertainment industry.”Live Nation and Ticketmaster did not immediately respond to a request for comment.