Everyone hates Ticketmaster. Why’d Trump go easy on them?

Today on Decoder, we’re talking about the major antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation, and what it might mean for antitrust and competition law in general now that the Justice Department under Trump has decided to settle its part of the case. That’s even as many states — including New York, California, and Texas — carry on the fight.

To break it all down, I’m joined by Verge senior policy reporter Lauren Feiner. Lauren is our resident court expert, by which I mean she’s been in the courtroom herself and chronicling this trial from the beginning.

You might be unfamiliar with the name Live Nation, but you’ve almost certainly encountered one of its many, many subsidiaries — the most infamous of these is called Ticketmaster. Longtime Decoder listeners might recall an episode we did on Ticketmaster back in 2023, in the wake of the Taylor Swift Eras Tour fiasco. That was when Ticketmaster’s website crashed during the first major rush for Eras Tour tickets. It was such a scandal, and Swifties are so politically powerful, that Live Nation was then dragged in front of Congress after widespread backlash spilled over into the mainstream. 

In 2024, the Department of Justice launched an antitrust lawsuit against the company, seeking to break it up — to split Ticketmaster off from Live Nation to try and combat predatory practices and increasing ticket fees.

This seemed like a real slam dunk case against Live Nation, regardless of political affiliation — nobody likes Ticketmaster, and breaking up the company would score political points for whoever finally pulled the trigger. It was also supposed to be a sign of strong bipartisan antitrust support. 

The lawsuit was filed under the Biden administration. So even though Trump has since replaced Biden’s antitrust leaders, there was good reason to believe the new people in charge, in particular DOJ antitrust chief Gail Slater, would keep up the pressure, especially against tech companies. You might remember that JD Vance used to go around calling himself a fan of former FTC chief Lina Khan and calling for the breakup of Google. 

But nothing about the second Trump admin is predictable. In early February, Gail Slater was pushed out. And then just one week into the Live Nation trial, part of that lawsuit came to a sudden and shocking end. The DOJ settled its portion of the case, extracting what many in the broader live event and music industries see as weak concessions. This has stirred up accusations of outright corruption on behalf of Trump himself, who reportedly intervened in the case directly to demand a speedy settlement.

But the lawsuit isn’t over yet. Because the case against Live Nation also included dozens of US states and districts, there is still a majority of state attorneys general who have refused to give up the fight. So Live Nation remains in court, fighting off accusations that it operates an illegal monopoly in the ticket business, which is illegally tied to its promotions business… which is illegally tied to its venues business.

But the DOJ settlement raises all sorts of complicated questions about where antitrust policy stands in the US today, especially with regard to ongoing cases against Big Tech companies like Apple and Amazon.  

Lauren has been tracking all of these developments in detail — the trial, the settlement, and now the states continuing the fight — so let’s get into it. 

If you’d like to read more about what we discussed in this episode, check out these links:

• States’ anti-monopoly case against Live Nation continues Monday | The Verge
• The Live Nation trial restarts with a ‘velvet hammer’ | The Verge
• Live Nation settles government antitrust suit — and dodges a breakup | The Verge
• The Live Nation settlement has industry insiders baffled | The Verge
• Listen to the Live Nation CEO’s alleged threats to a concert venue | The Verge
• The threats and bare-knuckle tactics of MAGA’s top antitrust fixer | The Wall Street Journal
• The Trump admin just gave Live Nation the gift of a lifetime | The New York Times
• How Live Nation allegedly terrorized the concert industry | The Verge
• The US government is trying to break up Live Nation-Ticketmaster | The Verge (2024)
• Taylor Swift vs. Ronald Reagan: the Ticketmaster story | Decoder (2023)