Attorney General James Announces Court Win Allowing Lawsuit Against Live Nation and Ticketmaster to Continue

NEW YORK – New York Attorney General Letitia James today announced a significant victory in her case against Live Nation and Ticketmaster after a judge denied Live Nation’s partial motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by Attorney General James, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), and a bipartisan coalition of 40 attorneys general. In May 2024, Attorney General James, DOJ, and the coalition sued Live Nation and its subsidiary Ticketmaster, alleging that Live Nation abuses its market power to overcharge consumers, limit artists’ ability to perform at different venues, and restrict venues it doesn’t own from working with other ticketing vendors.

“It’s time to end the Era of Live Nation’s excessive market power, which has left fans seeing Red after being forced to pay high ticket prices,” said Attorney General James. “The live events industry is in need of a Renaissance, and this decision will allow us to continue our entire case against Live Nation. I look forward to continuing to fight for fans, artists, and venues against the Mayhem of Live Nation’s anticompetitive tactics.”

Live Nation is a live entertainment company that owns, operates, or has exclusive booking rights for hundreds of venues nationwide, including New York’s Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall, Barclays Center, and other venues across the state. Live Nation controls many aspects of sports events and live performances, from producing and promoting events to renting venues they own and selling tickets through its subsidiary, Ticketmaster, which accounts for nearly 80 percent of the ticketing industry. Due to Live Nation’s wide-ranging control of various aspects of the live events industry, competitors have been forced out, leaving consumers, venues, and artists with limited options and forcing them to endure high costs.

In the lawsuit, Attorney General James, DOJ, and the bipartisan multistate coalition argue that due to Live Nation’s anticompetitive conduct:

• Fans have to pay more fees that are not transparent, have limited options when purchasing tickets, and have fewer concert choices;
• Artists have fewer opportunities to play concerts, and fewer choices for promoting their concerts and selling tickets to their own shows; and
• Venues have fewer options for obtaining concerts and ticketing services, which forces them to continue using Live Nation and Ticketmaster and pass the higher costs onto consumers.

The ruling today, issued by Judge Arun Subramanian in the Southern District of New York, denies Live Nation and Ticketmaster’s attempt to dismiss Attorney General James, DOJ, and the coalition’s lawsuit. The lawsuit seeks disgorgement and civil penalties from the companies and a stop to their anticompetitive conduct that is harming consumers, artists, and venues.

Joining Attorney General James and DOJ in the lawsuit are the attorneys general of Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, and the District of Columbia.

For New York, this matter is being handled by Senior Enforcement Counsel Bryan Bloom, Assistant Attorneys General Jeremy Kasha and Benjamin Cole, and Antitrust Fellow Juliana Karp, under the supervision of Deputy Bureau Chief Amy McFarlane and Bureau Chief Elinor Hoffmann, all of the Antitrust Bureau. The Antitrust Bureau is a part of the Division of Economic Justice, which is led by Chief Deputy Attorney General Chris D’Angelo and overseen by First Deputy Attorney General Jennifer Levy.