Live Nation and its ticketing subsidiary Ticketmaster are currently the subjects of an antitrust case, brought forth by the Department of Justice and 40 states. Ahead of the trial next year, Live Nation is preparing for the possibility of losing exclusive ticketing contracts with venues.
Live Nation President/CFO Joe Berchtold spoke at the Bank of America Securities Media, Communications & Entertainment Conference on September 3 and said a handful of executives were focused on the DOJ lawsuit, though the business is otherwise running per usual. He noted that “most of the things that we think are the greatest concern around exclusivity, length of exclusivity, these are not things that are ultimately drivers of our success.”
However, Berchtold touched on the subject of exclusivity, as the suit alleges Live Nation and Ticketmaster use anticompetitive practices to restrict artists from venues with exclusive contracts — and in some cases, block venues from using other ticketing firms.
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“Exclusivity in ticketing, certainly in the US, is driven by how venues seek to monetise their rights,” Berchtold said. “So the question isn’t, ‘Are we doing anything bad by forcing exclusivity?’ Because we’re not forcing it, we’re not demanding it – that’s what they’re auctioning off. So if they’re told that they can’t auction off exclusivity, then fine, we’ll adjust.”
He added that Live Nation is “the best platform in the world.”
“We’ve had clients that… even when they’re not exclusive, they put all their tickets through our platform because it’s the best platform to sell tickets,” Berchtold said. “So I wouldn’t say it’s impacting how the business is operating at all at this point.”
Berchtold also mentioned transparency in the interview, commenting on President Donald Trump’s executive order to bring “common sense” changes to the industry.
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“We’ll see what comes out of the executive order that might be helpful,” Berchtold said. “I think the more transparency, the better for the industry. We’ve tried to play our part in terms of creating more transparency: we led with all-in pricing well before it became regulated, we’ve supported a lot of other reforms.”
He noted that ” transparency is inevitable” in the industry, as it’s been discussed across not only the U.S., but the UK and other countries as well. Transparency will “ultimately be good for the fans, it’ll be good for the artists, it’ll be good for everybody in the system,” Berchtold added.
The DOJ’s lawsuit has a trial date set for March 2026.
