US blindsides states with surprise settlement in Live Nation/Ticketmaster trial

The Trump administration agreed to stop pursuing a breakup of Live Nation and Ticketmaster as part of a settlement that blindsided state attorneys general in the middle of a trial. Attorneys general from 27 states and the District of Columbia are continuing to pursue the case without the US government, at least for now.

The US Department of Justice and most US states sued Live Nation and its Ticketmaster subsidiary in 2024, during the Biden administration. The lawsuit alleged that Live Nation has a monopoly on “the delivery of nearly all live music in America today,” and asked a federal court to order the divestiture of Ticketmaster.

The case went to trial, and testimony began last week in US District Court for the Southern District of New York. But the US and Live Nation informed the court of a proposed settlement on March 8, taking state attorneys general by surprise. The judge presiding over the case reportedly said in court today that the way the settlement was announced “is absolutely unacceptable.”

States reserving the right to continue litigation filed a motion for mistrial, saying they need time to prepare for a new trial and evaluate the terms of the settlement between the US and Live Nation. The “sudden disappearance” of the US from the case will likely give the jury the incorrect impression that Live Nation’s “antitrust violations have been cured or resolved, or that Proceeding Plaintiff States’ claims lack merit,” the states said.

The motion for a mistrial was supported by Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

Under the settlement agreed to with Trump’s Justice Department, “Live Nation would agree to change how it makes ticketing deals with venues, allowing those businesses to use multiple vendors to sell tickets to fans, rather than work with Ticketmaster exclusively,” according to a New York Times report that cites anonymous sources. “In addition, the company would allow touring artists to use other promoters when performing in its amphitheaters,” and “pay financial damages to the states that join the settlement.”

State AG: “Settlement falls far short”

CBS News reported that “Live Nation agreed to pay $280 million in civil penalties” to states and make its ticketing platform available to other ticket sellers. A USA Today report said the deal “puts in place a 15 percent cap on service fees for people who want to use” Live Nation amphitheaters.

An earlier version of the USA Today report said the deal included the sale of 13 amphitheaters, but Live Nation said that is not correct. “All amphitheaters where Live Nation has a relationship will move to an open booking model. No venues are being sold,” a Live Nation spokesperson told Ars. “Across our amphitheater portfolio there are venues we own, operate or lease, and others where we simply have a booking relationship. The 13 venues referenced fall into that latter category—Live Nation does not own, operate or lease those venues. We previously had exclusive booking arrangements with them. Under the agreement, those exclusive booking deals will become non-exclusive, allowing other promoters to book shows at those venues as well.”

A report in The Hill said that the settlement “would require Live Nation to reserve 50 percent of tickets for entities that do not have an exclusive agreement with the company, in addition to barring it from retaliating against venues that select a primary ticketer other than Ticketmaster or refusing artists access to amphitheaters if they use a promoter other than Live Nation.”

Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell said the “settlement falls far short of protecting consumers, artists, and venues from the harms that Live Nation and Ticketmaster have caused.” Campbell’s office said the penalties are “too small for a company that reported a record-setting $25.2 billion in revenue in 2025,” and that the terms don’t do enough to address exclusive contracts with concert venues.

Campbell’s office said that “Live Nation owns or controls more than 265 concert venues in North America… conducts the majority of concert promotions across the country, manage[s] more than 400 musical artists, and, through its wholly owned subsidiary, Ticketmaster, controls roughly 80 percent or more of major concert venues’ primary ticketing for concerts.

“AG Campbell will continue to litigate her case against Live Nation and advocate for the complete divestiture of Ticketmaster” alongside other state attorneys’ general, her office said.

Judge: “Absolute disrespect for the court”

The settlement agreement was reportedly signed by the DOJ and Live Nation on Thursday last week and discussed in court Monday morning. Judge Arun Subramanian, who will be asked to approve the settlement, “noted that at a meeting in his chambers on Friday morning, neither side told him it had executed an agreement,” the NYT report said.

“It shows absolute disrespect for the court, the jury and this entire process,” Subramanian reportedly said during today’s court proceeding. “It is absolutely unacceptable.”

The DOJ lawsuit against Live Nation was joined by 39 states and the District of Columbia. “The Court and Plaintiff States were unaware of any substantive settlement discussions until after a jury was empaneled in this case on March 2, 2026, despite the fact that Defendants shortly thereafter informed the Court and the Plaintiff States that they believed a settlement was imminent,” states wrote in a memorandum of law today to support the motion for a mistrial.

State attorneys general were “kept in the dark and excluded materially from settlement discussions” while they prepared for trial, the filing said. On March 5, the states were “notified of the near-final terms of the settlement at 4 P.M.” and given one day to determine whether to accept or reject them,” the filing said.

States to take over lead role at trial

The US was taking the lead role in the case before the settlement was announced. In addition to seeking a mistrial, the states asked the court to stay the proceedings to give them time “to fully prepare to assume the lead role at trial and explore settlement.”

The states “have had no opportunity to obtain and reallocate the resources necessary to try the case on their own or to meaningfully discuss the settlement with Defendants and attempt to negotiate the terms,” the filing said. “Moreover, despite the primary role that DOJ has played before the jury, the United States (and several additional individual Plaintiff States) will now vanish from the trial… Due to the substantial prejudice caused by this settlement and DOJ’s abrupt exit after taking the lead role up to and during the first week of trial, a mistrial is warranted.”

New York took the lead role in the states’ filing today. “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,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said today. “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.”

Most of the states that backed the filing have Democratic attorneys general. But the group is bipartisan with Republican attorneys general from Kansas, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Utah, and Wyoming.

Other states involved in the lawsuit either decided to join the US settlement or have not yet taken a position. States agreeing to the settlement are Arkansas, Iowa, Mississippi, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and South Dakota, the filing said. The other states involved in the lawsuit are Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, Texas, and West Virginia.

This article was updated with a statement from Live Nation.