US jury finds Live Nation guilty of monopoly

After four days of deliberations and a two-year judicial journey, a Manhattan jury ruled that Live Nation, the concert giant that also owns Ticketmaster, had acted in a monopoly regime. An unprecedented ruling that could have a wide-ranging impact on the global music industry.

The judge presiding over the case, Arun Subramanian, will determine in a separate proceeding the sanctions that could include significant divestments by Live Nation or even the break-up of Live Nation and Ticketmaster, an outcome the federal government had called for when the case was filed almost two years ago under President Joe Biden.

The giant will also face economic damages in the 34 US states that filed the lawsuit. The jury ruled, in fact, that Ticketmaster overcharged consumers by $1.72 per ticket. Whatever the penalty, it is certain to have a major impact on the multi-billion dollar concert industry, in which Live Nation has been an unrivalled giant.

Last year, the company organised 55,000 events and sold 646 million tickets worldwide. And Ticketmaster sells about 10 times as many tickets as its closest rival, Aeg. This is not the first time that the platform has found itself at the centre of controversy and complaints. The most notorious case was the chaotic presale for Taylor Swift's Eras Tour, with hours of waiting, system errors and crazy prices, which the company attributed to a cyber attack. It was that episode that prompted the Biden administration and the US Congress to open a monopoly investigation into the two concert giants.

The jury's ruling is also a slap in the face to Donald Trump's Justice Department, which had reached a settlement agreement with Live Nation only a few weeks ago. However, 34 of the 40 states that had filed the federal lawsuit rejected the terms and proceeded to trial independently. The attorney general of one of these states, California, Rob Bonta called the verdict 'a historic and resounding victory for artists, fans and concert venues'.