Feb 8 (Reuters) – Live Nation executives and lobbyists are in talks with senior officials at the U.S. Department of Justice in a bid to avoid a trial over allegations that the concert promoter operates an illegal monopoly, news outlet Semafor reported on Sunday.
These discussions are taking place outside the DOJ’s antitrust division and involve senior officials, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.
Reuters could not immediately verify the report. Live Nation and the DOJ did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for a comment.
DOJ, along with a group of 30 states and the District of Columbia, filed a lawsuit in 2024 seeking to break up Live Nation. The lawsuit alleges that the company has unlawfully maintained its dominance in the live entertainment industry.
According to the complaint, Live Nation and its Ticketmaster unit illegally inflated concert ticket prices and engaged in practices that harmed both artists and consumers.
Concert fans and politicians have for years urged regulators to re-examine Live Nation’s 2010 acquisition of Ticketmaster. Calls for renewed scrutiny intensified after the ticket seller botched sales for Taylor Swift’s “Eras” tour in 2022.
The botched rollout left fans stuck in hours-long online queues, facing prices many said were excessive, and sparked wide-spread complaints about poor customer service. The episode reignited criticism of the company’s market power and its impact on consumers.
(Reporting by Akanksha Khushi in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
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