(The Center Square) – Live Nation, owner of Ticketmaster, was recently denied dismissal of an antitrust lawsuit brought by the Department of Justice nearly a year ago and joined by North Carolina and dozens of other state prosecutors.
Plaintiffs say the 15-year-old entertainment company has created an unlawful monopoly. On March 13, a motion to dismiss by Live Nation was rejected by District Judge Arun Subramanian.
“The court was right to deny Live Nation’s attempts to avoid legal accountability and we’ll continue fighting for lawful ticketing and a healthy live show industry,” state Attorney General Jeff Jackson said in a release.
Jackson was in the U.S. House of Representatives when the suit was filed May 23 and Josh Stein, now governor, was the state’s attorney general. Each won election Nov. 5. The Department of Justice leads the plaintiff list for the filing in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
The lawsuit was filed by the Biden administration’s Department of Justice led by Attorney General Merrick Garland, with Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter leading this case. Pam Bondi is the attorney general in the Trump administration, and Gail Slater – confirmed by the U.S. Senate two days before Subramanian ruled – took the post held by Kanter.
“These allegations aren’t just about a refusal to deal with rival promotors,” Subramanian wrote in his ruling. “They are about the coercion of artists.”
Trial is set for March 2026. Subramanian is more widely known as the judge presiding over the case of Sean “Diddy” Combs.
The litigation says, according to a release from Jackson, the entertainment company “harmed ticket buyers by charging higher fees and hiding information from consumers about the actual cost to see a show; maintained its monopoly by locking venues into restrictive, long-term, exclusive agreements and threatening venues with losing access to Live Nation-controlled tours and artists if they sign with a rival ticketer; and forced artists to select Live Nation as a promoter over its rivals by leveraging its large network of venues.”
Live Nation and Ticketmaster are connected to a number of amphitheaters in North Carolina. Additionally, some large arenas are also tied to the entertainment giant. Among them large and small are the Lenovo Center and the Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek in Raleigh; First Horizon Coliseum in Greensboro; Live Oak Bank Pavilion in Wilmington; Durham Performing Arts Center, or DPAC, and the Carolina Theatre in Durham; Spectrum Center in Charlotte; and the Orange Peel and the Harrah’s Cherokee Center in Asheville.
