Last month Live Nation, one of the largest live entertainment companies in the world, unexpectedly reached a settlement with the Department of Justice just one week into its highly anticipated antitrust trial. Thirty-three states and the District of Columbia are still moving forward with the case, which argues that Live Nation and its subsidiary Ticketmaster have monopolized the live music industry at the expense of venues, artists and fans.
According to the Associated Press, Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino spent hours on the witness stand of a lower Manhattan courtroom in March. He denied claims that his company's control over concert promotion, ticketing, venue ownership and artist management unfairly dominates the live entertainment landscape. Instead, Rapino argued that under his leadership, Live Nation has spent two decades helping fix a "fragmented" industry for both artists and fans.
Some artists beg to differ. Before Live Nation and Ticketmaster merged in 2010, artists like Pearl Jam had already argued the company's business practices push out competitors and reduce artists' ability to make their own choices about where to perform, who to work with and how to sell tickets to their fans. Since then, the list of complaints has grown: Taylor Swift, The Cure, Zach Bryan and Olivia Dean have all criticized the company for how it handles ticket sales (and resales) for high-profile concerts.
The outcome of the trial — and particularly a scenario in which Live Nation and Ticketmaster are forced to separate — has the potential to reshape the live music ecosystem. But several artists NPR spoke with say Live Nation's alleged dominance in touring and ticketing is just one aspect of much larger concerns they have about the state of the industry, which span far beyond a single company. Independent venue closures, social media algorithms, streaming royalties and the rise of generative AI have contributed to a wider ecosystem that artists say is becoming increasingly difficult for working musicians to weather — and which they say makes the sustainability of touring more crucial than ever.
Ben Walsh, founder, vocalist and guitarist of the Scranton, Pa. rock band Tigers Jaw, says ticket prices for his band's current headlining tour across the country in support of their new album Lost On You started sounding alarms when Ticketmaster presale codes first went out to fans.
"Our tour wasn't even fully on sale yet, and I was getting a few messages saying, '$75 for a ticket, are you guys crazy?'" he tells NPR. "And I'm like, 'We're not charging $75 a ticket. That is crazy.'" Walsh says that upon closer look, some presale tickets were already being resold through Ticketmaster for significantly higher prices — all before the tour was publicly on sale.
In an effort to curb scalping and high resale prices, Ticketmaster implemented the Face Value Exchange program in 2019, which allows all artists using Ticketmaster ticketing to opt into a system where tickets can only be resold for the original listing price, though there are limits depending on certain state laws. Walsh says that to his knowledge, Tigers Jaw is not part of the program.
Walsh says he was able to clear up the misunderstanding for fans that reached out to him directly, but he says it's frustrating that high resale prices — which the band doesn't profit from — have become pervasive not just for tickets to see major pop stars, but across the indie scene, too. He worries it reflects poorly on Tigers Jaw, he says, and it might discourage people from going to shows at all.
"We've enjoyed plenty of success as a touring band, but we're still working side gigs when we're not on tour," he says. "We are still trying to hit that next level up, so every ticket counts for us."
In March, private messages in which two Live Nation employees called fans "stupid" and joked that the company was "robbing them blind" were made public by government lawyers. The Associated Press reported that the employee who wrote the messages, who is the head of ticketing for Live Nation's venues, testified that he regretted the exchange. During his testimony, Rapino condemned the messages and promised to "deal with it," ensuring that that's not the way the company conducts its business. But Walsh says the rapid rise of ticket prices on Ticketmaster suggests otherwise, and he thinks it ultimately impacts everyone who tours. The more someone pays to see an A-lister, the less disposable income they're likely going to have to check out smaller shows, he says.