National Independent Venue Association Tells Judge to Reject the Proposed DOJ-Live Nation Settlement
Proposed Settlement’s Flaws Include an 8,000-Seat or Above Threshold for Live Nation’s Ticketing Monopoly - a Gerrymandered Definition That Writes Festivals and Most Venues Out Entirely - and a Penalty Equal to Roughly 1.7 Hours of Live Nation's Revenue
WASHINGTON, D.C. (September 8, 2026) - The National Independent Venue Association (NIVA) has filed formal comments with the U.S. Department of Justice in United States et al. v. Live Nation Entertainment, Inc., urging the court to reject the proposed settlement and adopt structural remedies that will rein in the illegal monopoly a federal jury identified in April.
NIVA represents independent venues, promoters, festivals, and presenters across all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Under the Tunney Act, the court must find that a proposed antitrust settlement serves the public interest before it can be entered.
“The jury's verdict creates a historic opportunity to restore competition to a market in which Live Nation's power has been allowed to encroach across multiple parts of the live entertainment ecosystem for decades,” wrote Stephen Parker, Executive Director of NIVA, in the association's comments. “The proposed consent judgment will not rein in Live Nation’s illegal monopoly, is not in the public interest, and should be rejected.”
NIVA's filing identifies four remedies necessary for any settlement to serve the public interest:
A 50 percent tour cap, prohibiting Live Nation-controlled entities from promoting more than half of the domestic dates on any headline artist's tour in a calendar year. Between 69 and 74 percent of the top 200 U.S. tours over the last three years were promoted exclusively by Live Nation or had a significant number of dates booked by the company.
Divestiture of Ticketmaster, paired with prohibitions on rebuilding the relationship through exclusive agreements, revenue sharing, data sharing, and prior approval for future acquisitions.
Divestiture of Live Nation's artist management businesses, so that a manager advising an artist does not work for the same corporation that promotes the tour, operates the venue, and sells the ticket.
Making independent stages financially whole, with a significant share of any penalty reserved by state attorneys general for state music and live performance funds. In 2025, 64 percent of independent stages in the United States reported they were not profitable. Live Nation reported $25.2 billion in revenue that same year.
“The entity that books a tour determines the price for the shows on it,” Parker wrote. “Without a tour cap, even if the company were broken up into two or three entities, Live Nation would still set ticket prices and fees for most shows in the United States due to their control of the tours. Live Nation drew the 50% line itself for ticketing. If 50% is an appropriate threshold for a building's ticket inventory, 50% is likewise an appropriate cap for each artist's tour.”
Among the failures NIVA identifies in the proposed settlement:
It reaches the fewest venues. One of NIVA's central objections is one of scope: nearly every obligation is keyed to a defined "Major Concert Venue," meaning arenas and amphitheaters with 8,000 or more seats hosting at least ten covered events a year. That is a gerrymandered threshold, since the jury found the primary ticketing-monopolization claim carried no capacity limit at all. The company has announced new 2,000+ capacity rooms for Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, Nashville, Tampa, San Diego, Salt Lake City, and many more. Those are not covered - even though the facts of the case and the verdict dictate that they should be. Multi-day, multi-artist festivals are excluded from the definition of a "Live Entertainment Event,"
It calls a contract renegotiation a divestiture. At the 13 named amphitheaters, no building, lease, or equity changes hands; terms may be altered on terms agreeable to Live Nation, and the company could keep booking most shows. The Ford Idaho Center, one of the 13 amphitheaters, publishes a promoter guide on its own website inviting outside promoters in. An independent promoter already programs Maine Savings Amphitheater.
Its penalties may never reach the harmed. Five million dollars per violation, big buildings only, with multiple threats against one venue in a single undefined "contracting cycle" counted as one violation. That figure is roughly estimated to be 1.7 hours of Live Nation's annual revenue, and none of it goes to an injured venue, promoter, artist, or fan.
It lets the buying continue unchecked. Live Nation only has to give 30 days' notice before acquiring a ticketing company, promoter, or major venue, and it never needs permission. Acquisition of festivals and any venue under 8,000 seats require no notice.
"A divestiture that transfers nothing, at venues that Live Nation has chosen, half of which may already permit what it mandates, is not adequate relief,” Parker wrote. "Alongside fans, independent venues, festivals, promoters, and presenters have been threatened, undermined, and marginalized by Live Nation's unchecked market power."
NIVA submitted its full comments to the Antitrust Division on September 4, 2026.
Access NIVA’s Comments HERE.
ABOUT NIVA
The National Independent Venue Association (NIVA) is the nation’s live entertainment association, representing independent venues, festivals, promoters, and presenters across the United States. NIVA works to preserve and nurture the ecosystem of independent stages. NIVA empowers members and their teams with member benefits, advocacy on the state, local, and federal levels, an annual industry-leading conference, and more.
NIVA led the Save Our Stages campaign, culminating in landmark legislation in 2020 that established the $16.25 billion Shuttered Venue Operators Grant program, the largest arts investment in U.S. history.
NIVA is committed to equity in its support of independent stages. It seeks to create and encourage opportunities for venues, promoters, and festivals owned, operated, and staffed by people of color, women, non-binary, LGBTQ+, veterans, and people with disabilities.
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