Justice Department lawyer says concert ticket industry is broken because of Ticketmaster

NEW YORK (AP) — A U.S. Justice Department lawyer told jurors at a civil antitrust trial Tuesday that the concert industry is broken because Ticketmaster and its parent Live Nation Entertainment have monopolized the market, driving up prices for consumers, but the companies say the government’s wrong.

David Dahlquist, an attorney with the Justice Department’s antitrust division, said in his opening statement that the United States and 39 states are counting on the Manhattan federal jury to end the monopoly and reward artists and consumers with a competitive marketplace that will leave them with more money.

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“This case is about power, the power of a monopolist to control competition,” he said. “Today, the concert ticket industry is broken.”

David Marriott, arguing on behalf of the companies, disputed the government’s claims.

“We’ll let the numbers do the talking,” he said. “We do not have monopoly power.”

Judge Arun Subramanian has told jurors that evidence will be presented over the next six weeks before they’ll be left to decide whether Live Nation and Ticketmaster broke antitrust laws.

The trial stems from a lawsuit filed in 2024 that alleged the companies have dominated the industry by suffocating competitors and controlling everything from concert promotion to ticketing.

Ticketmaster, which was established in 1976 and merged with Live Nation in 2010, is the world’s largest ticket seller across live music, sports, theater and more.

Dahlquist noted that the ticket seller sparked outrage in November 2022 when its site crashed during a presale event for a Taylor Swift stadium tour.

The company said the site was overwhelmed by both fans and attacks from bots, which were posing as consumers to scoop up tickets and sell them on secondary sites. The debacle prompted congressional hearings and bills in state legislatures aimed at better protecting consumers.

Dahlquist said Live Nation’s anti-competitive practices include using long-term contracts ranging from five to seven years to keep venues from choosing rivals and blocking venues from using multiple ticket sellers.

Ticketmaster’s clashes with artists and fans date back three decades. Pearl Jam took aim at the company in 1994, years before the Live Nation merger, although the Justice Department ultimately declined to bring a case.

Live Nation has maintained that artists and teams set prices and decide how tickets are sold.

Marriott said Live Nation was the world’s biggest supporter of musical artists, enabling 159 million people in 2025 to see 11,000 artists at 55,000 concerts.

He said the government has exaggerated how much the companies make, including by saying Ticketmaster pockets $7 a ticket, when it actually gets $5 and clears less than $2 after expenses.

Live Nation and Ticketmaster, he said, “are all about bringing joy to people’s lives.”