Don’t miss the full story, whose reporting from Larry Neumeister at The Associated Press is the basis of this artificial intelligence-assisted article.
A federal antitrust trial opened in New York on Tuesday, with the Justice Department seeking to break up Live Nation and its subsidiary Ticketmaster, alleging the entertainment giant holds an illegal monopoly over the concert industry.
• The trial stems from a 2024 lawsuit alleging Live Nation and Ticketmaster dominated the industry by suppressing competition and controlling concert promotion and ticketing.
• U.S. Justice Department attorney David Dahlquist argued the concert ticket industry is “broken” and cited the company’s monopoly power as the central issue of the case.
• Defense attorney David Marriott disputed the government’s claims, arguing Live Nation does not hold monopoly power and enabled 159 million people to attend 55,000 concerts in 2025.
• Judge Arun Subramanian told jurors that evidence will be presented over six weeks before they decide whether the companies violated antitrust laws.
• Ticketmaster, founded in 1976 and merged with Live Nation in 2010, is the world’s largest ticket seller across live music, sports, and theater.
• The 2022 crash of Ticketmaster’s site during presales for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour was cited as a key example of the company’s harmful market dominance.
• The Justice Department accused Live Nation of using long-term contracts of five to seven years to prevent venues from working with competing ticket sellers.
• Live Nation maintained that artists and teams — not the company — set ticket prices and determine how tickets are sold.
READ MORE: Trial that could lead to the breakup of Ticketmaster’s parent company gets underway
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