Everyone hates Ticketmaster. Why did Trump tolerate them?

today Decryptionwe’re talking about the major antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation, and what it could mean for antitrust law and competition in general now that the Trump-era Justice Department has decided to settle its part of the case. This is despite many states – including New York, California and Texas – continuing to fight.

To break it all, you joined me edge Senior political correspondent Lauren Viner. Lauren is our resident court expert, and by that I mean she’s been in the courtroom herself History of this trial From the beginning.

You may not be familiar with the name Live Nation, but you’ve almost certainly come across one of its many, many subsidiaries – the most famous of which is called Ticketmaster. A long time ago Decryption Listeners may remember The episode we did on Ticketmaster in 2023in the wake of the failure of Taylor Swift’s Eras tour. That’s when the Ticketmaster website crashed during the first big rush for Eras Tour tickets. It was a huge scandal, and the Swifties were so politically powerful, it dragged Live Nation before Congress after widespread backlash spilled into the mainstream.

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

This seemed like a real case against Live Nation, regardless of political affiliation — no one likes Ticketmaster, and breaking up the company would score political points for whoever ultimately pulls the trigger. It was also meant to be a sign of strong bipartisan support for antitrust.

The lawsuit was filed during the Biden administration. So, even though Trump has since replaced Biden-era antitrust leaders, there was good reason to believe that the new people in charge, particularly Justice Department antitrust chief Gil Slater, would keep up the pressure, especially against tech companies. You may remember that J.D. Vance used to call himself “A.” A fan of former FTC Chairwoman Lena Khan and Call for the breakup of Google.

But nothing can be predicted about a second Trump administration. In early February, it was Gail Slater eviction. Just one week into the Live Nation trial, part of that lawsuit came to an abrupt and shocking end. Ministry of Justice He settled his share of the caseto extract what many in the live events and wider music industries consider weak concessions. This has sparked accusations of outright corruption on behalf of Trump himself She reportedly intervened In the case directly to demand a quick settlement.

But the lawsuit is not over yet. Because the case against Live Nation also includes dozens of US states and territories, the majority of state attorneys general still refuse to give up the fight. So Live Nation remains in court, fighting accusations that it runs an illegal monopoly in the ticket business, which is illegally linked to its promotional business… and which is illegally linked to its venue business.

But the Justice Department settlement raises all kinds of complex questions about the position of antitrust policy in the United States today, especially regarding ongoing cases against big tech companies like Apple and Amazon.

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

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