Although the Department of Justice reached a settlement with the companies in March 2026 and withdrew from the case, along with the states of Arkansas, Nebraska and South Dakota, prosecutors from more than 30 states continued to pursue the trial, led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta.
The verdict also comes amid political criticism of the earlier settlement. A group of Democratic senators said the agreement failed to address core issues in the live events market, commenting in a letter that, “fans, artists, and independent venues have suffered for too long under Live Nation-Ticketmaster’s monopoly control of live events. The recent settlement between Live Nation-Ticketmaster and the Justice Department fails to address these fundamental issues and stops far short of prying open this industry to new competition, innovation, and choice for consumers.”
John Rostron, CEO of The Association of Independent Festivals (AIF) – the national not-for-profit trade association representing the UK's independent music festivals – commented on the verdict, arguing that this is the first step towards challenging a wider issue across the music industry:
"AIF has long spoken out and provided evidence against Live Nation's control and practices, which harm artists, consumers and the rest of the live music sector. This jury ruling is a great first step to ending that harm, but this issue goes far beyond ticketing.
"With similar influence across everything from festivals and concerts to venues and artist management, we now need similarly strong rulings in relation to the entire live music ecosystem across all territories. We hope that the Competition and Markets Authority will use this moment to expedite real action in the UK."
In response to the verdict, Live Nation released a statement, commenting that “the jury’s verdict is not the last word on this matter. Pending motions will determine whether the liability and damages rulings stand.”
Live Nation has stated it will soon renew its motion for judgment “as a matter of law”, which the Court deferred until after the jury returned its verdict. That motion addresses all liability theories. The Court previously noted that Live Nation’s motion raises serious issues.
There is also a pending motion to strike the damages testimony on which the jury’s award was based. The Court deferred ruling on that motion as well, while noting significant concerns with the damages expert’s analysis.
“Of course, Live Nation can and will appeal any unfavourable rulings on these motions,” said Live Nation. “The jury’s award of $1.72 per ticket applies to a limited number of tickets – those sold at 257 venues, which represent about 20% of total tickets – and only to purchases by fans (excluding brokers) in certain states over the past five years. Based on that scope, we believe the aggregate single damages figure would be below $150 million, which would be trebled.
"In connection with the DOJ settlement, Live Nation has already accrued $280 million toward state damages and civil penalty claims. We remain confident that the ultimate outcome of the States’ case will not be materially different than what is envisioned by the DOJ settlement.”
Image credit: ©Disney
