CMU School of Drama


Thursday, April 02, 2026

Judge Demands Public Roadmap for Live Nation Settlement as Scrutiny Mounts Over Deal

TicketNews: The federal settlement that abruptly pulled the Department of Justice out of its antitrust case against Live Nation and Ticketmaster is now facing heightened scrutiny, with Judge Arun Subramanian ordering the parties to publicly outline how they plan to move the agreement through Tunney Act review.

4 comments:

Max A said...

THIS IS NEWS TO ME!!! The freaking antitrust lawsuit we’ve all been hearing about for months on end has been abruptly stopped with almost no fanfare?? I cannot believe Live Nation is literally just going to continue to monopolize over the whole industry, and I don’t see a way that they’re not gonna do that. Of course Trump himself personally pushed for the settlement. It’s like the villain’s plot twist in a bad children’s cartoon. Me when Live Nation is comically evil and wants money. You’re telling me an ex-Live Nation board member went to Trump and pushed for him to help resolve the case? And no money was involved and no corrupt deals were made? The department of justice is a joke for this. 30 states rejected the settlement and somehow this is just and fair democracy. There’s no way to put the facts of this settlement in a way that doesn’t sound inherently corrupt.

Ryan Hoffman said...

I am very glad there is some demand for not only accountability to be made but also transparency in that process. I’m pretty sure that since the start of the school year, I have been writing news comments about ticket master and their lawsuit they’re currently in. They’ve had a monopoly for years, consistently using that to their advantage to charge concert goers whatever they want and all the fees they want, and now that they finally lost the war of if they can do whatever they want, there is zero transparency or future outlook. It’s just such an issue that you get charged in some cases 50% of the ticket value in fees alone, that’s just straight up unacceptable, and should never have occurred. They get sued over something unacceptable such as that and now just go radio silent. To be honest, seeing how large of a company they are, I did not expect a judge to do this, but I am very glad they did.

Aiden Rasmussen said...

This is one of those situations in our political landscape where hope is easily lost on me. This issue received little to no time in the public eye, so we must rely on our politicians to get something done. Lately when that’s the case, it doesn’t get done. Luckily we have Judge Arun Subramanian demanding a clear outline for adherence to the terms of the settlement. This is despite the settlement being absolutely ridiculous, as a massive ticketing monopoly received nothing but a slap on the wrist. On the other hand, the article mentions that over 30 states reject the settlement, and are pursuing their own trials. As I’ve said, there isn’t very much hope, but the opportunity for change is still present. Justice is incredibly important in this situation. Just about any American who’s purchased any sort of live entertainment tickets has been significantly affected by Live Nation. The many states and parties pursuing charges should absolutely remember that settling will not deter Live Nation, and that the issue is much larger than their individual grievances.

Jess G said...

this is one of those things that i think about a lot as a person who goes to a lot of concerts and concert like events. It’s so weird to me to think that in a world in which there is supposed to be a free market and we’re supposed to be able to pick and choose our products and they’re supposed to be competition. There’s just not every single ticket I’ve ever bought has been from live nation, which is such a strange concept to me. I can’t even understand that I can’t fathom the fact that there’s no competition so they can do whatever they want and it’s just terrible that we as a society have decided that we’re just gonna be OK with this and we’re not gonna try and figure out another way like buying tickets directly from the venues or doing the good old-fashioned. Buy the tickets outside the venue like I used to do when I was younger.