Attorney General Bonta Asks Court to Break Up Live Nation/Ticketmaster

OAKLAND — California Attorney General Rob Bonta, as part of a bipartisan coalition of 34 attorneys general, today filed a remedies proposal seeking an order from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York that would require Live Nation to divest Ticketmaster. In order to terminate the illegal monopoly, deny Live Nation the fruits of its illegal behavior, and ensure that it cannot engage in practices likely to result in monopolization in the future, the coalition also asks for a divestiture of Live Nation-owned and operated major concert amphitheaters; this is an additional structural remedy that would stop Live Nation’s unfair and illegal leveraging of its ownership and operation of major concert amphitheaters to shut out rival promoters and force artists to use Live Nation as their promoter, even when they would prefer to work with another promoter. These structural remedies are necessary given that the company had been subject to behavioral remedies which did not prevent Live Nation/Ticketmaster’s unlawful conduct. Last month, Attorney General Bonta celebrated a historic verdict after a New York jury found Live Nation/Ticketmaster liable for harming consumers and the live music industry through its anticompetitive conduct. The jury found that Ticketmaster overcharged tickets sold to consumers from May 2020 through 2024. 

“A jury found Live Nation manipulated the market, hurt artists, fans, and businesses nationwide, all while getting richer — not because it is better, but because it acted illegally. Now, it’s time to ensure they can’t hurt consumers or the live ticketing industry again,” said Attorney General Bonta. “Today, alongside a bipartisan coalition, I asked the court to break up Live Nation and Ticketmaster. It is vital that we secure strong structural remedies that prevent Live Nation’s anticompetitive conduct from continuing. As evidence in our trial clearly showed, we cannot trust this behemoth of a company to do the right thing by consumers.” 

BACKGROUND

In 2024, Attorney General Bonta, the U.S. Department of Justice (U.S. DOJ), and a bipartisan coalition of attorneys general filed a lawsuit against Live Nation alleging that its strong dominance over ticketing and concert amphitheater markets has allowed it to engage in a wide variety of anticompetitive behaviors that have harmed artists, fans, and venues. The trial in this case started on March 2, and on March 9, U.S. DOJ announced a settlement with Live Nation — an action promptly rejected by a bipartisan group of attorneys general.

Attorney General Bonta will never step away from California’s responsibility to look out for people's economic wellbeing and has made combating the affordability crisis one of California DOJ’s top priorities — much of that work has included antitrust enforcement. Just this year, he has sued to stop the merger of broadcasting titans, Nexstar and Tegna and has announced an investigation into the merger of Warner Bros and Paramount. Further, Attorney General Bonta has tackled other anticompetitive conduct, including by securing an end to Agri Stats’ price coordination scheme that unlawfully increased meat prices for consumers, and exposing Amazon’s illegal price fixing that was artificially driving up prices for Americans.