Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) is urging states to continue in their suit against Live Nation and seek a breakup of Live Nation and Ticketmaster.
Blumenthal sent letters to 27 states attorneys Monday, after the Justice Department reached a settlement last week with Live Nation, a few days after the federal antitrust trial had already begun. Forty state attorneys had joined the suit, which accused Live Nation, which owns Ticketmaster, of using its positions as the nation’s largest concert promoter, ticket seller and venue owner to undermine competition.
A handful of states also settled with Live Nation last week, but more than 30 states are pressing forward with the trial in Manhattan on Monday, where the same jury has reconvened to resume proceedings.
In addition to the letters commending the states for continuing in litigation, Blumenthal also sent out a report from a years-long investigation from the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which he led. The report claims that Live Nation had more of a hand in driving up ticket prices than it has previously claimed.
“Despite the company’s recurrent insistence that decisions about ticket prices and fees are largely out of its hands, Live Nation has exerted its enormous influence over venues and artists to increase fees and ticket prices. Ticketmaster also used its monopolistic dominance in the primary ticketing market, and deceptive marketing practices, in order to drive more tickets in the lucrative secondary market,” the report reads.
Specifically, the report claims that Ticketmaster has pushed artists to make tickets available on the resale market before making them publicly available, which has driven up prices for fans and larger profits for Ticketmaster, which can take a percentage of resale fees. The report cites a resale day for Bad Bunny tickets in 2021 and a related Ticketmaster presentation saying that the company could have made millions more if the artist had allowed resale of tickets as soon as the presale began. The presentation also stated that “[n]ew data capabilities will strengthen our case for fewer resale restrictions on key onsales.”
Additionally, the report claims that Live Nation “pushed artists to aggressively expand the use of dynamic pricing,” as shown through materials from board meetings and emails from Ticketmaster executives. Between 2019 and 2022 the number of dynamically priced tickets sold by Ticketmaster to North American concerts increased by more than 700 percent, per the report.
“The Subcommittee’s review of artist contracts showed that, for the top five artists of 2022, Ticketmaster retained the right to allocate some portion of venue tickets to Platinum pricing regardless of an artist’s decision,” the report states.
This, in turn, led to higher profits, as a September 2022 presentation to Live Nation’s board of directors, showed a 94 percent increase in revenue for Morgan Wallen shows that had used dynamically priced tickets compared to those that did not, according to the report.
Live Nation did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report or the claims within it. The company has asserted in the past that ticket pricing is determined by the artists, who set the base prices and the venues, who set the service fees. However, the report comes days after Live Nation employees boasted about “gouging” fans with fees and parking costs in Slack exchanges that became public as part of the trial.
In addition to urging state attorneys general to continue to seek a breakup of Live Nation and Ticketmaster, the report also calls for congress to consider a price cap on secondary sales and congressional restrictions on “deceptive and abusive ticketing practices.”
Under the terms of the settlement agreement with the DOJ, Live Nation said it would pay as much as $280 million in settlements, tied to the damages the plaintiff states had reported in their complaint. The company also said it would no longer have exclusive booking agreements with 13 of the amphitheaters it operates across the U.S., and that it would cap fees on amphitheaters at 15 percent, as well as open up some of Ticketmaster’s tech other platforms. Blumenthal, however, warned that he didn’t believe that was enough.
“The Department of Justice’s settlement with Live Nation Entertainment, announced on March 9, 2026, is the latest proof that the Trump Administration cannot be trusted to protect American consumers. The DOJ abruptly dropped its demand to break up Live Nation and Ticketmaster after Ticketmaster hired lobbyists and fixers with deep ties to the Trump Administration, and instead settled for a meager fine, the divestment of a selection of venue booking agreements, and agreed to a few conditions on how it operates. This settlement will do little to protect musicians, their fans, and independent venues. Alarmingly, it may drive up prices and further cement Ticketmaster’s monopoly,” the report states.
