Live nation
Page: 5
Officials with the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division plan to sue Live Nation after they wrap up a two-and-a-half-year investigation into the company, according to two high-level sources with knowledge of the matter.
The lawsuit will take aim at Ticketmaster’s use of exclusive venue contracts for its ticketing services, the sources say. Last week, Live Nation officials met with attorneys from the Department of Justice to discuss the case, including DOJ Assistant Attorney Jonathan Kanter, but neither the DOJ nor Live Nation commented on the meeting’s details. There’s no clear timeline on when the DOJ plans to officially close its investigation or file suit, and the two sides could meet again to discuss the case. Both The Wall Street Journal and Politico have previously reported that the DOJ planned to sue Live Nation in published reports earlier this year.
Live Nation officials are continuing to cooperate with the investigation, company president Joe Berchtold indicated on a May 2 earnings call. Based on the issues the DOJ has raised with Live Nation, Berchtold said he believes the lawsuit is related to “specific business practices at Live Nation” and “not the legality of the Live Nation/Ticketmaster merger.”
Trending on Billboard
That’s both good and bad for Live Nation officials. On the one hand, if the merger isn’t central to the government’s case, then ending the merger and splitting the company up probably isn’t on the table — at least according to Berchtold. Alternatively, if the government believes that the company’s use of exclusive ticketing contracts with venues is monopolistic, it could propose an even harsher penalty.
That’s because politicians like Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), who chairs the anti-trust subcommittee in the Senate, have zeroed in on Ticketmaster’s 70-80% market share of the top 100 highest-grossing theaters, arenas and stadiums in North America. Klobuchar has repeatedly said she believes Ticketmaster uses exclusive contracts to lock up market share. In contrast, Ticketmaster attorneys and industry advocates have argued before that the exclusive nature of these contracts benefits venues because it simplifies the ticket-buying process for consumers and generates important revenue for venues that they would not earn without an exclusive agreement.
DOJ officials are also expected to argue that Live Nation has illegally abused its power in the concert business to drive up ticket prices over the last decade, in part through additional fees that can add as much as 30% to ticket prices.
But officials from Ticketmaster, which Live Nation controls, have long argued that artists set their ticket prices, not Ticketmaster, and that only a small percentage of the fees collected above face value go to the ticketing company, with the vast majority of those funds going to venues to help cover the costs of a concert.
The government also bears the burden of proving why its proposed remedies — like forcing Live Nation to sell its stake in Ticketmaster — would benefit consumers.
Simply being named in an antitrust lawsuit filed by Kanter has the potential to significantly damage Live Nation reputationally and financially. A detailed lawsuit against it could galvanize the company’s critics behind a narrative that alleges the concert conglomerate acts monopolistically and abuses its power, undoing the company’s efforts in recent years to improve its image and destigmatize its business model.
A lawsuit will also likely have a negative impact on the company’s share price and serve as a major distraction for Live Nation when it would otherwise be focused on strategic expansion following its most successful fiscal year ever, with revenue up 36% from the previous year and an impressive $1.8 billion in adjusted net income.
Instead, Live Nation may face the full weight of America’s top law enforcement agency, which this year has taken on companies like Apple and Google with market capitalizations that are each 100 times larger than Live Nation’s. While Kanter’s efforts against these companies have been applauded by powerful allies including Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), who has vowed to “make antitrust sexy again,” Kanter’s efforts so far have been unsuccessful, with the DOJ losing the bulk of the major antitrust cases it has filed. In December 2022, a judge dismissed the DOJ’s efforts to block a merger between security firms Booze Allen Hamilton and Everwatch as well as mergers between UnitedHealth Group and Change Healthcare, U.S. Sugar Corp and Imperial Sugar, Meta and Within, and Microsoft and Activision.
Kanter also lost a major ruling in the DOJ’s antitrust case against Google earlier this year when a judge struck down a request to bar the tech giant from offering up evidence that activities the government had deemed anti-competitive also had positive qualities that improved the product and generated positive consumer feedback.
“If the government can tip the scales and prevent courts from considering pro-competitive effects, the government could win every case by default,” wrote Sean Heather, a senior vp at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, in a recent paper on the Google case.
The Google litigation, which deals with ongoing business practices at the company as opposed to a merger, could be a litmus test for a yet-to-be-filed Live Nation suit. In the Google case, the government alleges that the company controls 90% of the online search advertising market by paying out billions of dollars each year to companies like Apple and Samsung to be the default search engine on their computers and smartphones.
While Live Nation officials are confident they can prevail in the looming antitrust case, they will do so with far fewer resources than other companies hauled before the Justice Department in recent years. Live Nation’s market cap currently sits at $22 billion, whereas Google and Apple’s combined market cap is $6.7 trillion, making Live Nation one of the smallest companies in recent decades to be the subject of such a lawsuit.
Live Nation declined to comment for this story. The Department of Justice did not respond to requests for comment.
Australians are getting more of Olivia Rodrigo’s GUTS.
The U.S. pop-rock superstar adds four more shows to the GUTS swing, doubling her original itinerary for Australia.
Produced by Live Nation, the GUTS World Tour Australian dates now includes concerts at Melbourne’s 15,000-capacity Rod Laver Arena on Oct. 13 and 14, and Sydney’s 22,000-capacity Qudos Bank Arena on Oct. 21 and 22. New Zealand alt-pop artist Benee is support on the Australia shows.
The “drivers license” singer last week announced her first-ever run of Asia and Australia, adding nine regional dates to her global jaunt, taking in Bangkok, Thailand; Seoul, South Korea; Hong Kong; Tokyo, Japan; Singapore; and Australia’s two biggest cities, Melbourne and Sydney.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Rodrigo had Australia on her schedule last September for what was meant to be her first ever promotional trip, though the visit was subsequently canceled.
In the end, it didn’t matter.
Trending on Billboard
Rodrigo’s sophomore album, GUTS, blasted to No. 1 on the ARIA Chart, and logged two weeks at the summit. All 12 tracks from it appeared in the top 50 on the ARIA Singles Chart, including “Vampire,” which logged a week at No. 1, and “Bad Idea Right?,” which peaked at No. 3.
Rodrigo’s debut 2021 LP SOUR spent eight non-consecutive weeks at No. 1 in Australia, and launched the chart-toppers “Drivers Licence” and “Good 4 U.”
The superstar singer is currently on the road in the U.K. and Europe, following her initial run of shows in North America, which featured stops in Palm Springs, Calif., New York City, Toronto and more cities. Though aged just 21, Rodrigo handled a potentially embarrassing wardrobe fail like a seasoned pro during her show Tuesday (May 14) at London’s O2 Arena.
Olivia Rodrigo’s GUTS World Tour – Australia Dates:Oct. 9 – Melbourne – Rod Laver ArenaOct. 10 – Melbourne – Rod Laver ArenaOct. 13 – Melbourne – Rod Laver Arena *Oct. 14 – Melbourne – Rod Laver Arena *Oct. 17 – Sydney – Qudos Bank ArenaOct. 18 – Sydney – Qudos Bank ArenaOct. 21 – Sydney – Qudos Bank Arena *Oct. 22 – Sydney – Qudos Bank Arena *
Live Nation was the top-performing music stock and one of four stocks in positive territory this week. The concert promoter gained 2.5% to $97.02 while three other concert promotion stocks — Sphere Entertainment Co., Madison Square Garden Entertainment and CTS Eventim — each lost ground.
The Billboard Global Music Index fell 1.9% to 1,788.83 as 16 of its 20 stocks finished the week in negative territory. Music streaming companies Deezer and Anghami were two of the week’s other big winners with gains of 1.0% and 0.9%, respectively. Still, the index has risen 16.6% year to date and 12 of the 20 stocks have posted gains in 2024.
Another notable gainer this week was Believe, which closed Friday at 15.04 euros ($16.21), up 0.3% from the prior week. A closing price of 15.04 euros is above the 15.00 euros offer price by consortium of investors that aims to take Believe private. Some minority shareholders may remain, however, because the consortium, which has lined up 71.92% of share equity, will not implement a squeeze-out and force shareholders representing the remaining 28.08% of share capital to sell.
Trending on Billboard
iHeartMedia shares declined 42.7% to $1.30, leaving the radio broadcaster with a market capitalization of just $194 million. Its shares fell 36.1% on Thursday following its first-quarter earnings release and dropped another 5.8% on Friday.
As streaming has surged in popularity and economic importance, radio companies have struggled to reinvent themselves. In 2021, iHeartMedia shares surpassed $28 after the advertising market recovered from a COVID-19 pandemic-related collapse. But in the subsequent three years, its shares have lost nearly all their value as sluggish radio advertising has overshadowed iHeartMedia’s budding podcast business.
The index didn’t fall further than 1.9% because many of its most valuable companies suffered only minor losses this week. Spotify, the largest contributor to the float-adjusted index, dropped only 0.5% while HYBE, one of the index’s more valuable components, fell just 1.5%.
Those small losses, and Live Nation’s 2.5% gain, helped offset larger losses by some other valuable components of the index. Universal Music Group fell 3.1% to 28.01 euros ($30.22) and Warner Music Group dropped 7.3% to $31.64 following its fiscal second quarter earnings release on Thursday. Evercore and Morgan Stanley both dropped their price targets by $2 on WMG’s stock on Friday. Guggenheim maintain its WMG price target.
While music stocks had a rough week, stocks were broadly up around the world. In the United States, the S&P 500 gained 1.9% to 5,222.68 and the Nasdaq composite improved 1.1% to 16,340.87. In the United Kingdom, the FTSE 100 rose 2.7% to 8,433.76. South Korea’s KOSPI composite index gained 1.9% to 2,727.63. China’s Shanghai Composite Index rose 1.6% to 3,154.55.
Today, Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Marcus King announced the launch of the Curfew Foundation, a new foundation dedicated to raising funds for various causes close to King’s heart and developing a support system for musicians from all walks of life who are battling challenges such as mental health and addiction.
The name Curfew is inspired by Matt Reynolds, a friend of King’s who was a singer-songwriter, tour manager and pillar in the music community, who took his own life in 2017. Nicknamed “Curfew” by Colonel Bruce Hampton, Reynolds’ unexpected passing inspired King and mutual friend Charles Hedgepath to name the foundation in their friend’s honor.
“I began the process of forming my non-profit organization Curfew Foundation with my friend, writing partner and fellow Greenville, S.C. native, Charles Hedgepath in late 2018/early 2019,” King says. “This idea came to me after the death of multiple peers and friends within the music community and a feeling that something needed to change. I’m very excited to be part of the change and part of the community and team working to get the message out and to help those in need.”
Trending on Billboard
Tour promoter Live Nation has pledged to contribute $1 from every ticket sold on King’s upcoming Mood Swings tour to the Curfew Foundation with Marcus King’s Family Reunion Festival in August also matching this commitment.
Curfew plans to focus on various areas of need, including supporting fine arts programs, as well as providing instruments and funding to music programs in schools. Additionally, the foundation will advocate for mental health, sobriety and addiction support, combatting isolation by offering a hotline for those in crisis and emphasizing the importance of community support.
King also announced today a partnership with Stand Together and the 1 Million Strong impact initiative that seeks to transform the way people think about and approach addiction and recovery. King is aiming to inspire others to prioritize mental health and support both sober touring musicians and fans.
“I am so delighted to be working with Stand Together Music! I met their team at SXSW during a SPIN event, and learned all about 1 Million Strong and the incredible work they’d been doing for sober concert goers! I was so moved by the passion, enthusiasm and their commitment to creating a space and accepting atmosphere for people to enjoy the music while not being afraid to be themselves,” said King. “It all resonated so deeply with me and my personal journey. I went through a prolonged period of self-medication in an effort to feel something, anything. The high I’m chasing now is being entirely present in the music along with a few thousand of my closest pals.”
Together, King and 1 Million Strong are working to build a more inclusive experience for the sober community who live and work around a historically alcohol-exposed environment and often feel marginalized from the rest of the music community. Mood Swings tour initiatives will include offering Marcus King-themed mocktails, which will be available for concert attendees and guests to enhance their sober party experience.
“Music brings people together, breaks down barriers, and accelerates change. In that unity, we have the opportunity to drive real progress in the addiction, recovery, and mental health space by partnering with Marcus King,” said Colette Weintraub, head of Stand Together Music, Sports & Entertainment. “There can be a prevailing belief in society that people who are struggling with addiction or mental health are deficient or broken. We don’t believe that. We believe people are strong and resilient.”
Dates for King’s Mood Swings tour are listed below. Learn more about the mood swings tour here: Visit the website here.
May 10 – The Masonic – San Francisco, CA
May 11 – Grand Sierra Ballroom – Reno, NV
May 14 – The Wiltern – Los Angeles, CA
May 15 – The Van Buren – Phoenix, AZ
May 17 – The Complex – Salt Lake City, UT
May 18 – Fillmore Auditorium – Denver, CO
May 22 – The Monument – Rapid City, SD w/ Chris Stapleton
May 24 – Denny Sanford PREMIER Center – Sioux Falls, SD w/ Chris Stapleton
May 25 – Harrah’s Stir Cove – Council Bluffs, IA
May 26 – EPIC Event Center – Green Bay, WI*
May 29 – The Pageant – St Louis, MO
May 30 – GLC Live at 20 Monroe – Grand Rapids, MI
May 31 – Blossom Music Center – Cleveland OH w/ Chris Stapleton
June 01 – Railbird Festival – Lexington, KY
June 02 – Salt Shed – Chicago, IL
June 04 – College Street Music Hall – New Haven, CT*
June 06 – Freedom Mortgage Pavilion – Philadelphia, PA w/ Chris Stapleton
June 07 – Jiffy Lube Live – Bristow, VA w/ Chris Stapleton
June 08 – Landmark Theatre – Syracuse, NY
June 10 – Ruby Amphitheater – Morgantown, WV*
June 12 – T-Mobile Center – Kansas City, MO w/ Chris Stapleton
June 13 – Thunder Ridge Nature Arena – Ridgefield, MO w/ Chris Stapleton
June 14 – The Criterion – Oklahoma City, OK
June 15 – Globe Life Field – Arlington, TX w/ Chris Stapleton
July 11 – Darien Lake Amphitheater – Darien Center, NY w/ Chris Stapleton
July 12 – The Pavilion at Star Lake – Pittsburgh, PA w/ Chris Stapleton
July 13 – Palace Theatre – Albany, NY
July 16 – Egyptian Room – Indianapolis, IN
July 18 – Huntington Center – Toledo, OH w/ Chris Stapleton
July 19 – Schottenstein Center – Columbus, OH w/ Chris Stapleton
July 20 – The Fillmore Detroit – Detroit, MI
Sept. 04 – Orpheum – Vancouver, BC
Sept. 06 – Grey Eagle Event Center – Calgary, AB
Sept. 07 – Midway Music Hall – Edmonton, AB
Sept. 09 – Burton Cummings Theatre – Winnipeg, MB
Sept. 13 – Massey Hall – Toronto, ON
Sept. 14 – London Music Hall – London, ON
Sept. 17 – Kemba Live! – Columbus, OH
Sept. 19 – Warner Theatre – Washington, D.C.
Sept. 20 – Warner Theatre – Washington, D.C.
Sept. 21 – The Ritz – Raleigh, NC
Sept. 24 – Avondale Brewing – Birmingham, AL
Sept. 26 – Riverside Theater – Milwaukee, WI
Sept. 28 – The Sylvee, Madison, WI
Sept. 29 – Vibrant Music Hall – Des Moines, IA
Oct. 07 – Roxian Theatre – Pittsburgh, PA
Oct. 09 – State Theatre – Portland, ME
Oct. 11 – House of Blues Boston – Boston, MA
Oct. 12 – The Fillmore – Philadelphia, PA
Oct. 13 – Brooklyn Paramount – Brooklyn, NY
Oct. 17 – La Riviera – Madrid, Spain
Oct. 18 – Sala Apolo – Barcelona, Spain
Oct. 20 – Fabrique Milano – Milan, Italy
Oct. 21 – Komplex 457 – Zurich, Switzerland
Oct. 23 – Le Transbordeur – Lyon, France
Oct. 25 – Essigfabrik – Cologne, Germany
Oct. 27 – Markthalle – Hamburg, Germany
Oct. 28 – De Roma – Antwerp, Belgium
Oct. 29 – AFAS Live – Amsterdam, Netherlands
Oct. 31 – Metropol – Berlin, Germany
Nov. 01 – The Grey Hall – Copenhagen, Denmark
Nov. 03 – Bataclan – Paris, France
Nov. 05 – Eventim Apollo – London, UK
Nov. 06 – Albert Hall – Manchester, UK
Nov. 07 – Barrowland Ballroom – Glasgow, UK
Nov. 09 – O2 Institute – Birmingham, UK
Nov. 10 – The Great Hall – Cardiff, UK
Nov. 12 – Olympia – Dublin, Ireland
HipHopWired Featured Video
Travis Scott and Live Nation have reportedly settled a majority of the wrongful death lawsuits brought against them in the wake of the Astroworld tragedy. Out of 10 wrongful death lawsuits to emerge after the incident, one case went to trial this week.
As reported by the Associated Press, the bulk of the wrongful death lawsuits have been settled including the case of Madison Dubiski, 23, a Houston native who was one of the people killed in the tragic incident. Although the Dubisiki matter was set to go to trial this past Tuesday (May 7), that case was also settled.
“Mr. Scott is grateful that a resolution has been reached without the need for a trial,” Ted Anastasiou, a representative for the rapper, offered in a statment. “The confidential agreement will honor Madison Dubiski’s legacy and promote improvements for concert safety.”
The last open lawsuit is from the family of Ezra Blount, 9, who was the youngest person to lose their life at Astroworld. The judge overseeing the matter said that if the family doesn’t settle, this may be the next trial instead of the several injury cases brought against the defendants. ‘
Neal Manne, an attorney for Live Nation, said that around 2,400 injury cases are still pending. Over 4,000 plaintiffs filed hundreds of lawsuits after the conclusion of the concert.
After an investigation into the Astroworld tragedy was conducted, a grand jury did not indict Travis Scott along with five other individuals.
—
Photo: Gilbert Flores / Getty
Nine of the 10 wrongful death lawsuits filed after a deadly crowd surge at the 2021 Astroworld music festival have been settled, including one that was set to go to trial this week, an attorney said Wednesday.
Jury selection had been set to begin Tuesday in the wrongful death suit filed by the family of Madison Dubiski, a 23-year-old Houston resident who was one of 10 people killed during the crowd crush at the Nov. 5, 2021, concert by rap superstar Travis Scott.
But Neal Manne, an attorney for Live Nation, the festival’s promoter and one of those being sued along with Scott, said during a court hearing Wednesday that only one wrongful death lawsuit remained pending and the other nine have been settled, including the one filed by Dubiski’s family.
Trending on Billboard
Terms of the settlements were confidential and attorneys declined to comment after the court hearing because of a gag order in the case.
The one wrongful death lawsuit that remains pending was filed by the family of 9-year-old Ezra Blount, the youngest person killed during the concert. Attorneys in the litigation were set to meet next week to discuss when the lawsuit filed by Blount’s family could be set for trial.
“This case is ready for trial,” Scott West, an attorney for Blount’s family, said in court.
But Manne said he and the lawyers for other defendants being sued were not ready.
State District judge Kristen Hawkins said she planned to discuss the Blount case at next week’s hearing along with potential trials related to the injury cases filed after the deadly concert.
Hawkins said that if the Blount family’s lawsuit is not settled, she is inclined to schedule that as the next trial instead of an injury case.
More than 4,000 plaintiffs filed hundreds of lawsuits after the concert. Manne said about 2,400 injury cases remain pending.
The announcement that nearly all of the wrongful death lawsuits have been settled came after the trial in Dubiski’s case was put on hold last week. Apple Inc., which livestreamed Scott’s concert and was one of the more than 20 defendants being sued by Dubiski’s family, had appealed a court ruling that denied its request to be dismissed from the case. An appeals court granted Apple a stay in the case.
In the days after the trial stay, attorneys for Dubiski’s family settled their lawsuit with all the defendants in the case, including Apple, Scott and Live Nation, the world’s largest live entertainment company.
At least four wrongful death lawsuits had previously been settled and announced in court records. But Wednesday was the first time that lawyers in the litigation had given an update that nine of the 10 wrongful death lawsuits had been resolved.
Lawyers for Dubiski’s family as well as attorneys representing the various other plaintiffs have alleged in court filings that the deaths and hundreds of injuries at the concert were caused by negligent planning and a lack of concern over capacity and safety at the event.
Those killed, who ranged in age from 9 to 27, died from compression asphyxia, which an expert likened to being crushed by a car.
Scott, Live Nation and the others who’ve been sued have denied these claims, saying safety was their number one concern. They said what happened could not have been foreseen.
After a police investigation, a grand jury last year declined to indict Scott, along with five others connected to the festival.
Live Nation shares fell 10.9% to $89.98 this week after The Wall Street Journal reported the U.S. Department of Justice plans to file a lawsuit against the company in the coming weeks. The DOJ could seek any number of remedies, but, in recent years, there have been calls from both the public and private sectors to break up the company and separate the concert promotion business from the ticketing business.
In February, Senator Amy Klobuchar, who helped organize the Jan. 2023 Senate hearing at which Live Nation president/CFO Joe Berchtold testified, called on lawmakers to “update and enforce antitrust laws” to prevent Live Nation and Ticketmaster from working on concert to “keep ticket prices high.”
“This merger never should have been allowed to happen,” Klobuchar wrote on X in February. “Break them up,” Senator Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wrote in November 2022 following the Taylor Swift pre-sale fiasco. Likewise, the American Economic Liberties Project and the American Antitrust Institute have both called for the DOJ to break up the company.
Trending on Billboard
Live Nation shares have fallen 15.1% in the four weeks since the week ended March 22 but remain up 34.3% year to date. The company will report first-quarter earnings on May 2.
The large declines seen among some of the most valuable music companies caused the Billboard Global Music Index to drop 4.5% this week — its largest one-week loss since November 2022. That brought the index’s decline over the past two weeks to 7.5% after it reached an all-time high the week ended April 5.
Major stock indexes also suffered substantial losses this week. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite fell 5.5% to 15,282.01 as video streaming giant Netflix and chipmaker Nvidia fell 9.1% and 10%, respectively, on Friday (April 19). The S&P 500 dropped 3.0% to 4,967.23. In the United Kingdom, the FTSE 100 fell just 1.2% to 7,895.85. South Korea’s KOSPI composite index lost 3.4% to 2,591.86. China’s Shanghai Composite Index was an outlier, rising 1.5% to 3,065.26.
Radio giant iHeartMedia had the biggest decline of the week after dropping 12.8% to $1.90. That brought the company’s year-to-date loss to 28.8% and its 52-week decline to 54.3%. Music streaming leader Spotify suffered the largest drop in terms of lost market capitalization, however, after an 8.2% decline, to $275.79, raised $4.9 billion of market value. Spotify will release first-quarter earnings on Tuesday (April 23).
Hipgnosis Songs Fund shares predictably surged this week on news that Concord has offered to acquire the company for $1.4 billion, or $1.16 (0.94 pounds) per share. The stock finished the week up 24.2% to 0.919 pounds ($1.14), just under Concord’s offer price. The board encouraged shareholders to accept Concord’s bid, which was a 32.2% premium over the prior day’s closing price. That would provide immediate returns, the board explained, because the company needs “substantial financial and governance changes to improve its financial performance” that will suppress the share price in the meantime.
The other big gainers for the week came from South Korea. HYBE gained 8.2% to 230,500 won ($167.70) and SM Entertainment rose 4.0% to 78,100 won ($56.82). Year to date, HYBE is down 1.3% and SM Entertainment is off 15.2%.
The U.S. Department of Justice is planning to sue Live Nation over alleged violations of federal antitrust laws, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.
A lawsuit will be filed within weeks that alleges the concert giant leveraged its dominance over the live music industry to undermine competition for ticketing, the Journal reported Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter. Few other details about the planned case were revealed.
Live Nation has faced widespread criticism from angry fans and lawmakers since its botched handling of Taylor Swift’s “Eras” tour in 2022. Days after the incident, news broke that the DOJ had already been investigating Live Nation for months over potential antitrust violations.
Trending on Billboard
Representatives for Live Nation and the DOJ did not immediately return requests for comment from Billboard.
Since Live Nation and Ticketmaster merged in 2010, the company has long faced criticism that it exerts an unfair dominance over the market for live concerts. The DOJ approved the merger at the time, but imposed a so-called consent decree designed to prevent the company from abusing its position. Those restrictions were set to expire in 2020, but they were extended by five years after the DOJ accused Live Nation of repeatedly violating the decree.
That same criticism resurfaced in late 2022 with the disastrous roll out of tickets to Swift’s tour, which saw widespread service delays and website crashes as millions of fans tried – and many failed – to buy tickets. Live Nation pinned the blame on a “staggering number of bot attacks,” but lawmakers quickly argued that the incident was the result of a market dominated by one company.
“Ticketmaster’s power in the primary ticket market insulates it from the competitive pressures that typically push companies to innovate and improve their services,” said Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), the chair of the Senate subcommittee for antitrust issues.
In December 2022, the New York Times reported that DOJ had already been investigating Live Nation for months before the Swift debacle, including reaching out to venues across the country to ask about the company’s conduct. A year later, Reuters reported that the probe was ongoing, with federal investigators focusing on whether Live Nation imposed anticompetitive agreements on venues.
Last year, Live Nation hired Dan Wall, a veteran competition attorney who previously headed the antitrust practice at the law firm Latham & Watkins, as an executive vice president for corporate and regulatory affairs. In a blog post last month, Wall publicly defended the company against allegations similar to those that could be coming in the DOJ’s lawsuit, arguing that ticket prices were set by artists and driven up by the forces of supply and demand.
“In the ongoing antitrust attacks on Live Nation and Ticketmaster, a constant theme is that their alleged ‘monopolies’ are responsible for high ticket prices,” Wall wrote. “Rhetorically, that’s understandable, because if you want to rile up fans against Live Nation and Ticketmaster, there is no better way than to blame them for something you know fans dislike.”
On Wednesday (April 10), Music Forward Foundation’s All Access Fest is expecting roughly 1,200 students and young adults to enter the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles to learn all about the music industry.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Launched in 2018, the music and live entertainment convention gives 16–24-year-olds the opportunity to meet professionals who work in the business and provides resources for those who want to pursue a career in it.
This year’s day-long event will feature panels, networking sessions, roundtables and exhibit booths with more than 100 industry professionals from entertainment companies including BMG, Snap Inc., Downtown Music, Live Nation, Concord, Ticketmaster, EMPIRE and many more.
Exhibitors for the 2024 edition will include AEG, Girls Make Beats, Universal Music Group, Los Angeles Film School, Lux Lighting, Inner City Arts and Belmont University. In addition to high school students, hundreds of post-secondary students from colleges including Cal State Fullerton, Cal State Northridge, Carnegie Mellon University, Loyola Marymount University, NYU, Pepperdine University, UCLA, UC Irvine, UNLV, USC, Santa Monica College, and more are also expected to attend.
Trending on Billboard
The wide breadth of industry partners and experts at All Access is designed to give students — many of whom are coming from the Los Angeles, Compton, Inglewood and Centinela school districts — and other young people a greater understanding of all the possible employment opportunities in the music business, from artist to record label executive to lighting tech to costume handler.
“A lot of the kids, particularly in the demographics that we’re reaching, don’t know about these opportunities,” says Nurit Smith, executive director at Music Forward Foundation. “They don’t know the ecosystem. That’s why when we talk about live entertainment, we’re looking at touring from all different angles.”
Nurit Smith
Music Forward Foundation
Live entertainment is just one of many areas of expertise that All Access covers. The event can help give attendees an understanding of what it takes to be a touring musician or someone who makes those touring dreams a reality in a number of different capacities. To that end, promoters Insomniac Events and C3 Presents — which put on festivals like EDC and Austin City Limits, respectively — will have activations at the event, helping showcase the path to getting involved in that aspect of the industry.
After several years of virtual or hybrid events, Music Forward Foundation — a national non-profit in the Live Nation family — returned last year to a fully in-person convention, which Smith says made a huge impact coming out of the pandemic. The young people were a lot more eager for interpersonal connections rather than panels, so this year, the format “is being flipped on its head,” he explains.
“We’re gamifying this whole thing” with a scavenger hunt, Smith says. During the hunt, participants can have their resumes reviewed and will also be given the opportunity to meet three new people, have a new headshot taken and engage in additional activities that will help them experience different facets of the music industry and where their interests might align with a future career. “We really want to help them navigate this exciting and dynamic space that we’re creating and be very active in their learning,” Smith adds.
Additional happenings at the convention include an artist lounge for open mic sessions, artist wellness activities, an appearance from artist Blu DeTiger, A&R listening sessions and direct access to industry mentors.
While All Access Fest is only in its sixth year, Music Forward Foundation has been helping young people for more than three decades. The organization was established in 1993 as the International House of Blues Foundation in association with the famed House of Blues franchise. After House of Blues was acquired by Live Nation in 2006, the foundation became Music Forward as it expanded its reach and partnered with music entities far beyond the scope of its parent company. In its more than 30 years of work, the foundation has invested more than $42 million back into the music community and placed hundreds of young adults in paid positions.
While those numbers speak to the foundation’s ongoing efforts, Smith insists that All Access’ success is, in other ways, incalculable. “The success of supporting this next generation’s pathway will be the connective tissue in the partnerships that we all build together,” she says.
Registration for All Access Fest is free and open to young adults, regardless of school enrollment. In September, Music Forward will also host a virtual All Access Fest to reach more people globally.
The Brooklyn Paramount, Live Nation‘s new 2,700-capacity venue in downtown Brooklyn, opens its doors Wednesday (March 27) with its first show: A headlining performance by Damian and Stephen Marley.
The concert kicks off an inaugural season at the venue that will bring artists including PinkPantheress, Oneohtrix Point Never, Waxahatchee, Norah Jones and Sting to its stage in the coming months.
For Live Nation, Brooklyn Paramount fills a gap in the New York market between the promoter’s two 1,100-capacity clubs, Manhattan’s Irving Plaza and Brooklyn’s Warsaw, and its 3,500-capacity outdoor venue, The Rooftop at Pier 17.
Trending on Billboard
“It was my journey for the last 10 years, finding this exact capacity within our pipeline of venues in New York City, because it was the one that we were missing,” says Stacie George, senior vp of Live Nation Northeast. “Now we have a home for artists in between those two stages [of development].”
The Brooklyn Paramount concourse.
Evan Joseph
The addition of Brooklyn Paramount to Live Nation’s portfolio allows the promoter to better compete with AEG and its regional affiliate The Bowery Presents, which operates three venues across the city — Webster Hall, Brooklyn Steel and Terminal 5 — that range in capacity from 1,500 to 3,000, as well as Madison Square Garden Entertainment’s Beacon Theatre (2,900 capacity). And, taken in conjunction with Live Nation’s Manhattan clubs Mercury Lounge and Bowery Ballroom, which hold about 250 and 600, respectively, Brooklyn Paramount now creates a clear path for an artist in Live Nation’s ecosystem from small rooms all the way up to the 5,000-capacity Central Park Summerstage, with which the promoter inked an exclusive booking partnership in late 2022.
“We want an artist, manager, agent to feel that we invest in their artist all the way from the beginning,” George says. “We want to grow with your artists and continue to give them amazing venues to play at. Your hope is always that you retain that relationship and that history.”
That doesn’t only apply to artists “on their way up” to the arena level but “on their way down”: “We want to be with them across their full journey and long musical career,” George says.
Brooklyn Paramount’s concert space from the back of its floor.
Evan Joseph
Brooklyn Paramount’s new chapter is just the latest in its rich, nearly century-long history. First opened in 1928, the venue hosted seminal artists including Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino and Buddy Holly throughout the ’30s, ’40s and ’50s. Long Island University (LIU) purchased the space in 1954 and, shortly after, converted it to a gymnasium. Nearly a decade ago, LIU began working to renovate the dormant theater; the venue’s re-opening is the culmination of a five-year planning, design and construction process by Live Nation.
For George, one of Brooklyn Paramount’s strongest assets is its location, which is immediately accessible by several subway lines and the Long Island Rail Road. And she expects the venue’s fusion of old Brooklyn history — its Rococo ceiling is among the many design details the renovation preserved — and modern amenities to attract fans and artists alike. For the former, the venue offers multiple high-end cocktail bars and a VIP balcony and lounge (Ella’s, taking its name from Fitzgerald). For the latter, Brooklyn Paramount provides spacious artist accommodations with showers, a workout space and even a game room with Pac-Man and a pinball machine.
From a production standpoint, the theater has parking space for three buses. “In New York, that’s a luxury,” George says with a laugh. “Half the time the buses have to drive to, like, New Jersey to park at a Walmart, because they can’t park in front of the venue.”
Ella’s VIP lounge at Brooklyn Paramount.
Evan Joseph
In terms of booking, Brooklyn Paramount plans to continue to program a spectrum of genres in keeping with its initial calendar and to satisfy the diverse clientele it’s courting. While the venue was designed primarily as an all-general-admission space, some shows, like the multi-night runs by Jones and Sting, will be seated. Brooklyn Paramount has already announced more than 60 shows through October, and George says it has locked in an additional 50 that have yet to be unveiled.
Several hundred guests received a first look at the venue — “this beautiful masterpiece,” as George puts it — on Tuesday night at its re-opening preview party, with live music including a DJ set by St. Vincent in Ella’s. “Seeing people walk in and just have that ‘wow’ moment — that’s exciting,” George says.