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Key Investment Group (KIG) is asking a federal judge to throw out a recently filed Federal Trade Commission (FTC) lawsuit against the ticket resale company over alleged violations of the Better Online Ticket Sales (BOTS) Act.
In August, the FTC filed suit against KIG, alleging the company violated the BOTS Act when it purchased thousands of Taylor Swift tickets for her 2023-2024 Eras Tour and resold them for more than $1 million in profit. The lawsuit was filed days before a similar complaint was filed against Ticketmaster for allegedly refusing to enforce its own rules against scalpers and allowing unrestricted resale on its platform. Since then, Ticketmaster has made changes to its resale policies and, like KIG, has argued that the FTC is misapplying the BOTS Act.
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The FTC sued KIG in August, alleging the Colorado-based ticket resale operation used networks of accounts, IP masking, SIM boxes and other technical tools to evade Ticketmaster’s ticket-purchasing limits and acquire hundreds of high-demand tickets for resale. The agency claims these tactics “circumvented” the ticketing giant’s security controls in violation of the BOTS Act.
KIG is the first of the two firms to file a motion to dismiss. In a sweeping 36-page missive filed on Nov. 24, KIG attorney Bezalel A. Stern with law firm Manatt, Phelps and Phillips argues that the FTC’s complaint attempts to regulate long-established broker practices — like using multiple IP addresses to buy tickets or operating dozens of Ticketmaster accounts — that do not involve bots.
“KIG does not use bots. KIG does not circumvent any security measure,” the company tells the court, arguing the FTC is attempting to impose an unprecedented interpretation of the law that contradicts the law’s legislative history and the FTC’s own prior guidance.
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Stern stresses that the BOTS Act was explicitly drafted to stop “malicious computer code” that lets bot operators overwhelm ticketing websites and jump ahead of human buyers. KIG argues that since it employs human buyers — not automated scripts — the law does not apply. “Without the use of bots, there can be no BOTS Act violation,” KIG claims in the filing.
KIG’s brief also turns the FTC’s own evidence against it. In its lawsuit, the FTC included Ticketmaster records showing the ticketing company tracked KIG’s accounts and purchasing practices — even those created under alternate names — and knowingly allowed them. In a 2024 Ticketmaster email cited by the FTC, a Ticketmaster representative tells KIG that purchases made across different accounts are “within guidelines” so long as each individual account respects the posted per-account ticket limit. KIG’s motion argues that email destroys the FTC’s theory of unlawful “circumvention,” because ticket brokers at KIG cannot “avoid,” “evade” or “deceive” Ticketmaster’s controls when Ticketmaster explicitly authorizes the behavior.
KIG also highlights a contradiction between the FTC’s case against it and the agency’s separate September lawsuit against Ticketmaster and Live Nation. In that parallel case, the FTC alleges the ticketing company “knowingly allows, and in fact encourages, brokers to use multiple Ticketmaster accounts.” KIG argues the FTC cannot simultaneously claim Ticketmaster encourages multi-account purchasing while accusing KIG of “circumventing” the very same rules.
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The filing emphasizes that the FTC never alleges that KIG purchased tickets “within seconds” or at speeds indicative of automated software — the hallmark of bot activity described in past enforcement cases. According to KIG, the FTC is trying to convert everyday reseller practices into federal violations simply because they involve scale.
The FTC’s cited evidence — including a bank audit, news reports and previous consent decrees involving actual bot operators — does not establish that KIG knew its conduct was illegal under the BOTS Act, KIG’s motion claims.
Elsewhere in the motion, KIG alleges that the case began with a politically charged push by the White House to crack down on scalping. The company notes that minutes after President Trump — joined by Kid Rock — signed a March 2025 executive order demanding aggressive enforcement of the BOTS Act, the FTC sent KIG a draft complaint threatening litigation unless the company admitted wrongdoing.
KIG says the agency is now “expanding the BOTS Act far beyond its written and intended scope,” and warns that if the FTC’s theory were adopted, “every person or company who purchases tickets using more than one account” could be accused of violating federal law.
U.S. District Judge George L. Russell III will now consider the motion and whether to dismiss the government’s case before discovery begins. If not, the FTC will proceed to try to prove that KIG’s coordinated multi-account strategy amounted to illegal bot-level activity.
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Olivia Dean spoke, Ticketmaster has taken action.
Last Friday, Nov. 21, the English artist took a moment out of her busy scheduled to lay one on Ticketmaster, Live Nation and AEG Presents for the resale ticket prices to her 2026 North American tour.
Tickets to her The Art of Loving Tour went on sale to the general public that day, and sold out in minutes. Though, with some resale prices climbing into the thousands of dollars, Dean had some harsh words.
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“@Ticketmaster @Livenation @AEGPresents you are providing a disgusting service,” she wrote on Instagram Stories. “The prices at which you’re allowing tickets to be re-sold is vile and completely against our wishes. Live music should be affordable and accessible and we need to find a new way of making that possible. BE BETTER.”
Ticketmaster is trying to “do better,” by capping all future ticket resale prices for the tour on its platform and refunding fans for any markup they already paid to resellers on Ticketmaster.
According to a statement from Ticketmaster, which merged with Live Nation in 2010, Ticketmaster has activated its Face Value Exchange for the tour, with immediately effect, and without transfer restrictions. That move should ensure that any future ticket sales on its site are capped at the original price paid — with no added fees, the message continues.
Refunds will be processed by Dec. 10, the company insists, though may take additional days to post, depending on individual banks.
“We share Olivia’s desire to keep live music accessible and ensure fans have the best access to affordable tickets,” comments Michael Rapino, CEO, Live Nation Entertainment. “While we can’t require other marketplaces to honor artists’ resale preferences,” Rapino adds, “we echo Olivia’s call to ‘Do Better’ and have taken steps to lead by example. We hope efforts like this help fans afford another show they’ve been considering—or discover someone new.”
The ticketing giant shared some insights into sales for the tour, for which demand was so “high,” the artist added three additional nights at the Madison Square Garden.
After reviewing all sales, reads Ticketmaster’s message, less than 20% of primary tickets were listed for resale –“showing that Olivia’s demand was driven by genuine fans who intend to go to the show rather than resellers out for profit.”
Dean had been opening for Sabrina Carpenter on the final leg of the U.S. singer’s Short n’ Sweet Tour, and announced her own North American headlining trek earlier in November.
A London native, Dean’s star has been on the rise of late, thanks in part to her Saturday Night Live debut Nov. 15, and her subsequent trip to Australia, where she performed an exclusive open-air show in Sydney and at the 2025 ARIA Awards.
That whistlestop trip down under translated immediately into a No. 1 on the ARIA Chart, as “Man I Need,” lifted 2-1 for the very first time. Dean currently has four tracks on the Billboard Hot 100, including “Man I Need” at No. 5. The 26-year-old’s The Art of Loving album is also slotted at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 dated Nov. 22.
Dean’s 2026 tour kicks off in the U.K. and Europe, beginning with Glasgow, Scotland, in April, and wraps June 20 in Dublin. Her U.S. summer trek is slated to kick off in San Francisco on July 10, and she’ll be making stops in Los Angeles, New York City, Atlanta, Toronto, Las Vegas, Boston, Houston and finish up in Austin on Aug. 28.
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Attorneys for Live Nation and Ticketmaster are hoping to end the Department of Justice’s sweeping antitrust case before it goes to trial, filing a 51-page summary-judgment motion that argues the claims of the DOJ and the 41 state AGs who joined the suit have failed to prove that the concert giant operates like a monopoly.
The filing, submitted to Federal Judge Arun Subramanian in the Southern District of New York, casts the government’s lawsuit as an overreach that collapses due to a lack of evidence.
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Live Nation’s attorneys at Latham Watkins and Cravath, Swaine & Moore allege that the DOJ began the litigation with harsh accusations against Live Nation, saying the DOJ accused the global promoter of operating “multiple, self-reinforcing monopolies” replete with “‘systematic’ and ‘intentional’ corruption of competition across ‘virtually every aspect of the live music ecosystem.’”
“Strong words,” Live Nation lawyers write. “If there was a lick of truth to them, one would expect Plaintiffs to now have mountains of evidence… And yet… Plaintiffs have barely a molehill.”
Live Nation’s attorneys go on to argue that the government has not proven the most fundamental element of a monopolization claim: monopoly power. Citing long-standing Supreme Court precedent, the company notes that “monopoly power is the foundational element of every monopoly maintenance case,” and insists the DOJ has failed to meet that threshold.
Instead of using traditional evidence of monopoly power to make its case – like high prices or significant barriers to entry — Live Nation says the DOJ case is built on inferences and derivative legal arguments, relying on “gerrymandered” market definitions to make its case. According to the motion, the government relies on a convoluted formula to define a “major concert venue,” singling out venues with capacities above 8,000 that host 10 or more concerts during at least one year in the 2017–2024 period. Stadiums, large theaters, smaller amphitheaters and many other common concert venues are excluded.
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Live Nation argues this structure ignores how competition in the concert business actually works, noting that “made-for-litigation markets plainly do not encompass ‘the area of effective competition’ that the law requires,” pointing out that rival ticketing companies such as SeatGeek, AXS, Eventim and Paciolan compete broadly and do not restrict their efforts to the DOJ’s handpicked venues.
Company attorneys argue that the DOJ’s narrowed market definition is the only way the government can claim Ticketmaster has a monopoly. According to Live Nation, the DOJ’s own expert calculated that Ticketmaster’s market share would fall from 86% to 49% if stadiums — venues the DOJ included when it challenged the Live Nation–Ticketmaster merger in 2010 — were defined as “major concert venues.”
“Far from having the ‘power to exclude competition,’ Ticketmaster has lost over 30 points of market share since the merger,” in 2011 between Live Nation and Ticketmaster, the company’s attorneys claim.
Beyond market definition, the company spends considerable space pushing back on one of the DOJ’s central theories: that Ticketmaster’s long-term exclusive ticketing contracts with venues hamper competition. Live Nation argues that exclusivity has been the industry standard in North America for decades and remains preferred by venues because it leads to higher up-front payments, smoother operations, integrated technology, and reduced consumer confusion about where to buy tickets.
“Every venue witness has testified that they seek and prefer exclusive ticketing contracts,” the memo reads, arguing that no venue manager interviewed in the lawsuit claimed to be coerced into an exclusive contract or pushed for a multi-ticketer system and was prevented from pursuing one.
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The DOJ has also accused Live Nation of tying concert promotion to its Ticketmaster’s offering, alleging that the company threatens or retaliates against venues by steering Live Nation-promoted tours away from buildings that choose rival ticketing services. Live Nation’s lawyers said evidence behind these allegations was paper thin, writing, “At most three venue witnesses support this claim—one in the last five years. … Three out of thousands could not possibly prove the market-wide anticompetitive effects required for a monopolization claim.”
According to the filing, the rest of the government’s evidence comes from rival ticketing companies — statements Live Nation calls inadmissible hearsay that cannot survive summary judgment. The company further notes that similar allegations were investigated by the DOJ in 2019, leading to a modification of the consent decree but not a finding of systemic misconduct. Since then, Live Nation says, “the outside antitrust monitor… has not reported a single violation.”
The company also disputes the government’s claims tied to Live Nation’s amphitheaters. Prosecutors allege that Live Nation illegally ties access to amphitheaters to its own promotion services, discouraging artists from working with independent promoters. Live Nation responds that this theory is contradicted by how touring actually works: artists, it says, control routing decisions, approve venues, set ticket prices, and choose their promoters based on guarantees and deal terms. The filing points out that the DOJ deposed only one artist throughout the entire case and that his testimony did not support the government’s claim. According to the motion, the artist “answered, without ambiguity or qualification,” that he had not been coerced to hire Live Nation as a condition of playing an amphitheater. “That is no basis for a trial,” the filing states.
Live Nation insists its amphitheaters are a competitive asset and not a leverage point to suppress competition. The company analogizes amphitheaters to tools of the trade: promoters, not artists, rent the venues, and the ability to offer those venues is part of how promoters compete for tours. The motion argues that amphitheaters typically are not rented to competing promoters for structural business reasons, not because of an anticompetitive scheme.
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Throughout the filing, Live Nation repeatedly invokes the DOJ’s own prior statements from 2010 in which the agency acknowledged the benefits of the company’s vertical integration with Ticketmaster. In approving the Live Nation–Ticketmaster merger, the DOJ wrote that “vertical integration can produce procompetitive benefits” and that “most instances of vertical integration… are economically beneficial.”
Live Nation attorneys also argue regularly in their memo that the DOJ cannot show harm to consumers—not through higher prices, a drop in shows or a decline in concert quality. Citing Microsoft and other precedent, Live Nation argues that such evidence is indispensable in a monopolization case. The filing states, “There must be evidence of actual harm to consumers; ‘harm to one or more competitors will not suffice.’ Plaintiffs never show that anything Defendants have done harmed artists or venues.”
The motion concludes by arguing that after extensive discovery, there are no triable issues remaining to be adjudicated. “The faithful application of law to the evidence adduced should yield summary judgment for Live Nation and Ticketmaster,” the filing states.
Attorneys for the government will have their chance to file a response in the coming weeks before Judge Subramanian determines whether the case proceeds to trial. If the summary-judgment motion is granted, much or all of the government’s case could be dismissed outright or the government could be forced to refile parts of its lawsuit.
Live Nation is also facing a lawsuit by the Federal Trade Commission over how the company operates its secondary ticket business.
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The 2020s have been a turbulent time for agents and the musicians they represent. The decade started off with an unprecedented global pandemic that forced the shutdown of live shows indefinitely, and as lockdown orders lifted, early concerts often dealt with no-shows, rising costs and an over-supply of acts going back on the road at once.
Now, in 2025, the live music market is stabilizing, but it’s never looked quite like this. Artists are bringing more production value to shows than ever, festival ticket sales are softening and talents like Harry Styles and Beyoncé are offering fewer tour stops — but more nights in each location.
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Creative Artists Agency’s (CAA) top agents are in the midst of it all, often singlehandedly sparking trends with the decisions they make with their superstar clients when they are ready to hit the road. To talk through the evolution of live entertainment post-pandemic, CAA managing director Rob Light (Bruce Springsteen, Beyoncé, Ariana Grande, Fleetwood Mac) and co-head of global touring Rick Roskin (Slipknot, Eric Clapton, Santana, Kelly Clarkson) joined Billboard‘s new music industry podcast, On the Record w/ Kristin Robinson, this week.
Below is an excerpt of that conversation.
Watch or listen to the full episode of On the Record on YouTube, Spotify or Apple Podcasts here, or watch it below.
How did you make sure to help your artists’ tours stand out after pandemic lockdowns lifted and everyone rushed back onto the road?
Roskin: You have to make a statement because there’s a ton of volume. I mean, you can look at what plays in every city on a weekly basis, and there are a ton of shows. So somehow you have to figure out a way to cut through the clutter and break through and get noticed.
Light: A great example of that was three summers ago was with Harry Styles and his management team. Harry could have easily sold out two or three or four nights at MetLife Stadium. But everybody was playing Met Life Stadium. It wasn’t a big event, everybody was doing it. They came up with the idea of ‘let’s do 15 nights at Madison Square Garden.’ And he owned New York. Didn’t matter who was playing stadiums those nights. Everybody was talking about that move. It was a huge statement and intentional. I really do believe, you know, trying to find those moments are really part of our job. You can’t create them every day. You can’t create them on every tour, but any moves you’re making should hopefully lead to something.
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We’re also seeing artists like Beyoncé doing fewer cities, but more dates within those cities. I’m wondering why you think that’s occurring now?
Light: The cost of touring has gone up exponentially and the size of these productions becomes more and more intricate so that if you can sit in one place you can actually make them a little bigger and better — and the audience is willing to come to you. Beyoncé goes to New York for a week, for example, and Boston, Washington and Philly, they’re all gonna come to her if that’s the only place to see it. Also, if you have kids, sitting in one place actually makes touring more palatable.
I don’t think that the idea of day-to-day playing a city, getting on a bus and going to the next will ever go away, but if you have control of your career at that moment, it’s certainly easier to tour this way.
Roskin: To get a little technical, you know, a huge tour eight years ago or ten years ago, was about 13 semi-trucks [of production equipment]. I mean, that would be like, ‘Oh my God. That is a massive tour.’ You know, tours now are carrying 30, 40, 50 trucks of production. To move that is incredibly expensive. Everything has been amped up. In this boom post-Covid, artists are taking it to a level that no one’s ever seen before…Actually — The Weeknd’s stadium tour had about 60 trucks.
Let’s talk about Coachella 2026. Coachella decided to put its tickets for 2026 on sale very early this year. I have to say, I read that at the time as them maybe being nervous about not selling out. I know that that’s been an increasing issue for them over the last few years, but Coachella 2026 sold out pretty immediately. Why do you guys think it sold so quickly?
Light: Nothing replaces star power, and it’s a great lineup. Let’s be fair, but I think part of the reason they decided to go earlier is that they realize the public is getting more and more trained to buying earlier and so waiting till January feels late now… It was a great way for Coachella to make a statement about the festival season. They want to buy in advance, they want to make those plans, they want to be able to travel. I think was very smart on Paul [Tolette] and his team’s part to go earlier, and when you have that lineup — with Sabrina [Carpenter] and Justin [Bieber] — you’re going to do great. Why not go early?
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In general, it seems like festivals aren’t quite as hot as they used to. Ticket sales across the board are softening. Why do you think that is happening now?
Light: There’s a lot of factors. There’s no one answer that fills the floor. Part of it is, you’ve got so many shows and ticket prices have gone up. There’s decisions being made now, like ‘how much money do I have?’ I have to pick and choose where I am going to go. Part of it is who the headliners are, and then another part of it was just a proliferation of festivals. They were everywhere and you couldn’t go to every one. So when you feel softness at the edges, it’s really a function of ‘I can’t beat everyone. I have to pick and choose.’
Lately, festival attendees are arriving later to the festival, which means those baby artists who are at the bottom of the poster and the top of the day are going to have even less crowds than before. I’m wondering, do you still think that, for emerging artists at CAA, that being on those festival lineups is still as worthwhile as it once was?
Light: I’ve said this for years about those slots, and this is where agents really play a role in the artist development of a career. Part of getting on a festival is being on the poster. You want to be part of that and playing at 12 or one or two o’clock may not be great, but a great agent is going to stop and say, How do I get back to that market within four or five months of having done that gig? Because two or 3,000 kids who might have seen me and have told their friends now want to be able to see them on their own, and so to just show up anywhere and play one day at two o’clock and disappear for a year? Is bad management, bad agenting. If you’re going to get one of those slots, how am I going to take advantage of that moment and make other things happen off the back of it?
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Along with the cost of touring rising, we’re also seeing ticket prices rise as well. I remember that Bruce Springsteen tried dynamic ticketing a few years ago, and that led to some of the tickets ending up being thousands of dollars. I’m wondering now, a few years later, like we’re reflecting back on that, how you feel about dynamic ticketing as a model for big tours?
Light: Bruce got a really bad rap because at that same time that one guy bought a ticket at a high price, Elton John and the Rolling Stones were charging tickets for twice the price. But because he was a working man, somebody took a shot at him. There’s always going to be supply and demand. It just is. And what we try to create, and all the ticket companies try to create, is the closest way to be fair, where the money is going to the artist, right? If we’re going to do dynamic pricing, and you’re buying a ticket at a higher price, but the artist is getting paid. He or she deserves that. They built that career. What we hate is when you know, scalpers and bots and stub hubs and all these middle people now are making money with no skin in the game. They did nothing other than got a ticket, and now they’re reselling it. The artist doesn’t see any of that money…But I’m a fan of dynamic pricing, simply because it allows everybody to be equal in the process so if I can afford it, and it’s a show I want to see, I get to pay for it. I want to see the artist get paid. I don’t want to see some outlier get paid.
The federal government is attacking Ticketmaster on multiple fronts right now. This includes the FTC suing the company, and it has to deal with resale. Do you think that Ticketmaster should play a part in the resale of tickets, and if it does, does there need to be a cap on the secondary market?
Roskin: On platinum ticketing, most artists have a cap on what they allow the tickets to sell for, usually the cap ranges from two to three times value. So even if the secondary tipping market exceeds that, it doesn’t feel like it’s so harsh. But as far as the secondary ticketing market goes, it isn’t going anywhere.
This was one of Rob’s stories, but I’ll tell it. Years and years ago, AC/DC was doing a tour, and they go out on the road, and they’re like, ‘we’re gonna sell all tickets paperless. You’re gonna have to walk in with your credit card, scan your credit card at the door. They’re gonna see your name. You go into the venue,’ and through this they thought they were going beat scalpers, and they’re going to finally win. What ends up happening is that the scalpers sent gift cards to their own people who bought tickets, and they walk up with the gift cards, scan the tickets, and they beat AC/DC’s brilliant idea to get rid of scalpers. They are always gonna find a way to get ahead. Be it bots, be it AI, whatever — it is our responsibility as agents is to figure out ways that as much money stays with the artist.
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Live Nation reported an 11% increase in total revenue in the third quarter on Tuesday (Nov. 4), the result of continued fan demand for live music and a shift to stadiums from amphitheaters and arenas.
On a call with analysts and investors, CEO Michael Rapino and COO Joe Berchtold discussed the finer points of the results. Although it’s only November, all signs point to more growth in revenue, ticket sales, attendance and sponsorships in 2026. Fan demand isn’t falling back to earth any time soon, and Live Nation has made investments — renovations, new venues and acquisitions — to capture as much of that demand as possible.
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Here are some of the highlights from the earnings call and Tuesday’s earnings release.
Stadiums Dominated 2025 and Will Be Big Again in 2026
In the concert business, the venue matters. Live Nation’s owned and operated amphitheaters historically generate better margins than other venues, but in 2025, there have been more stadium shows. “A lot of artists decided not to play arenas and amphitheaters and go for stadiums,” said Rapino. In fact, in the third quarter, Live Nation had 250 fewer amphitheater shows and 120 more stadium shows, according to Berchtold. But because Live Nation operates some of those stadiums — such as Rogers Stadium in Toronto and Estadio GNP in Mexico City — those shows boosted the quarter’s per-fan profitability, Berchtold said.
With the FIFA World Cup taking place in the U.S., Canada and Mexico in the summer of 2026, there have been some concerns that soccer matches would limit stadiums’ availability and put a damper on North America tours. But those fears “haven’t seemed to come to life,” Rapino said, adding that stadiums should have “a very strong year [in 2026].”
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Fans Keep Spending
People may be suffering through nagging inflation and feeling economic jitters, but music fans are proving to be a resilient bunch, as per-fan spending at Live Nation’s owned and operated venues rose 8% through October. Part of the growth comes down to offering the right products. Non-alcoholic drink sales were up by 20%, and ready-to-drink options were up, too. The growth can also be attributed to renovations at amphitheaters that created VIP areas with premium food and beverage options.
Amidst the growing importance of VIP options to Live Nation’s business, the company said it’s not seeing any pullback from lower income brackets. “No, we have not seen any of that,” Rapino said when asked by Citi analyst Jason Bazinet if there was evidence of “bimodal” consumer behavior. Many shows for 2026 are already on sale, Rapino noted, and the company saw “no pull-back anywhere.”
More Gains into the Fourth Quarter and 2026
The fourth quarter and 2026 are expected to continue the trends seen in the first three quarters of 2025. Deferred revenue — money collected but not yet recognized as revenue for accounting purposes — is an important metric for assessing demand for upcoming events. Live Nation’s deferred revenue is up big from a year earlier: Event-related deferred revenue of $3.5 billion was up 37% from the prior-year period, and Ticketmaster’s deferred revenue of $231 million was up 30%. In addition, Live Nation says its large venue show pipeline for 2026 is up by double-digits, and ticket sales for concerts in 2026 have already reached 26 million. Sponsorship commitments for 2026 are up double-digits, too, according to the company.
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An International Tipping Point is Coming
Fans at international concerts are on track to surpass U.S. fans, the company revealed on Tuesday. In fact, international business is driving Live Nation’s growth. Whereas total fee-bearing gross transaction value (GTV) was up 7%, it rose 16% in international markets. And of the 26.5 million net new tickets from Ticketmaster enterprise clients, 70% came from outside the U.S. Additionally, more than half of the 5 million fans expected to attend concerts at Live Nation’s large (over 3,000 capacity) venues in 2026 will come from international markets.
Confidence in the Federal Antitrust Lawsuit
The U.S. Department of Justice’s lawsuit against Live Nation and Ticketmaster is set to go to trial on March 6. While the company’s latest quarterly SEC filing admits the case “could involve significant monetary costs or penalties,” its executives are publicly confident the lawsuit won’t lead to a nuclear option: namely, breaking up Live Nation and Ticketmaster. Berchtold pointed to the remedies decision in September in the Department of Justice’s case against Google, which aimed to restore competition in the internet search and search advertising markets. The court placed certain remedies on Google — a ban on exclusive distribution of Google Search and Chrome, for example — but didn’t break up the company. To Live Nation, the decision “very much validated our view that the claims in our case can’t lead to a breakup of Live Nation and Ticketmaster even if the DOJ prevails on one claim or another,” said Berchtold.
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Live Nation’s revenue grew 11% year over year to a third-quarter record of $8.5 billion, the company announced Tuesday (Nov. 4).
The world’s largest concert promoter and ticketing company continued to benefit from vigorous consumer demand for live music since the touring business came back from the COVID-19 pandemic. Adjusted operating income (AOI) of $1.03 billion was a 14% increase from the prior-year period. Importantly, event-related deferred revenue and Ticketmaster deferred revenue were up 37% and 30%, respectively, suggesting Live Nation is well situated for upcoming quarters.
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“Strong fan demand drove another record quarter, as we continue to attract more fans to more shows globally,” CEO Michael Rapino said in a statement. “With these tailwinds, 2026 is off to a strong start with a double-digit increase in our large venue show pipeline and increased sell-through levels for these shows.”
Foreign exchange had a small impact on reported results. In constant currency, revenue was up 9% (compared to 11% as reported) and AOI was up 12% (compared to 14% as reported).
Within the concerts division, record-high stadium show attendance drove revenue up 11% to $7.3 billion and AOI up 8% to $514 million. Live Nation hosted 51 million fans, and attendance was up by double-digits in all major markets. International markets were led by Europe and Mexico, where attendance growth reached double-digits.
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Fan demand has undergone explosive growth since the COVID-19 pandemic. Live Nation’s third-quarter revenue of $8.5 billion was 38% greater than the $6.15 billion it generated in the same quarter of 2022. That improvement is dwarfed by the 125% revenue growth the company has experienced since the third quarter of 2019, a time before Live Nation acquired a majority stake in Mexican promoter OCESA in 2021.
Within the Venue Nation segment, Live Nation’s division that owns and operates venues worldwide, fan spending through October rose 8% at amphitheaters and 6% at major global festivals. Investments in renovations have helped some venues improve fan spending. For example, onsite fan spending at Jones Beach in New York was up 35% through October, while onsite spending at Estadio GNP in Mexico City tripled in the first ten months of the year.
At Ticketmaster, Live Nation’s ticketing division, revenue climbed 15% to $798 million while its AOI jumped 21% to $286 million. The improvement came from a combination of more ticket sales and higher average ticket prices: In the quarter, fee-bearing tickets rose 4% to 89 million, while fee-bearing gross transaction value (GTV) rose 12%.
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Through the first nine months of 2025, Ticketmaster’s total fee-bearing GTV rose 7% due to a 16% increase in international markets. Primary fee-bearing GTV improved 8% while secondary GTV declined 1% on lower sports activity.
Live Nation’s sponsorships division had record revenue of $443 million, up 13% from the prior-year quarter. With a gross margin percentage of 71%, the highest of the company’s three divisions, sponsorship’s AOI of $313 million, up 14% year over year, bested Ticketmaster on 44% less revenue.
The number of the sponsorships division’s strategic partners rose 14%. New agreements include consumer brands Hollister, Kraft Heinz and Patrón. The division added a multi-year deal with Trips.com in Asia and expanded its partnership with Mastercard to additional markets, including Hong Kong, South Africa and the Middle East.
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Live Nation is on pace for a record-setting 2025. Through the first nine months of the year, revenue is up 8% to $18.89 billion and AOI is up 9% to $2.17 billion. The record-setting third quarter is expected to flow into a strong fourth quarter. Arena, theater and club shows will bring the company to full-year attendance of approximately 160 million, which would be a 6% increase from the 151 million fans it saw in 2024. Live Nation expects to deliver double-digit AOI growth for the full year.
Looking ahead to 2026, the company expects continued growth. In addition to growth in deferred revenue — money received for future events — Live Nation expects a double-digit increase in large venue shows in 2026. Average grosses for 2026 concerts are up double-digits on strong sell-through levels.
LONDON — Following the controversial ticket sale for Oasis’ reunion dates in the U.K. and Ireland this coming summer, the CMA (Competition and Markets Authority) has said that Ticketmaster may have “misled” fans over pricing for the shows.
In August 2024, the Gallagher brothers announced their reformation for 19 stadium shows, their first since their split in 2009. The tour will begin on July 4 at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium, before heading to North America, Asia, Latin America and Australia in the ensuing months
The ticket sale process drew huge demand, but some fans complained of unclear pricing for tickets after long waits for the opportunity to purchase passes. An update to the CMA’s ongoing investigation highlights that Ticketmaster UK may have breached consumer protection law, by “Labelling certain seated tickets as ‘platinum’ and selling them for near 2.5 times the price of equivalent standard tickets, without sufficiently explaining that they did not offer additional benefits and were often located in the same area of the stadium.”
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The update adds that demand meant that cheaper tickets sold out first, but that the release of more expensive tickets for similar places in the stadiums meant that “many fans waited in a lengthy queue without understanding what they would be paying and then having to decide whether to pay a higher price than they expected.”
More than 900,000 tickets were sold for Oasis’ long-awaited reunion tour, but the pricing strategy proved controversial when standard standing tickets advertised at £135 plus fees ($174) were re-labelled “in demand” and changed on Ticketmaster to £355 plus fees ($458).
Following the furore, Oasis issued a statement saying they had no “awareness that dynamic pricing was going to be used” in the sale of tickets for the initial dates. The CMA launched an investigation in September to examine whether Ticketmaster had used “unfair commercial practices” to pressure fans into paying higher prices for tickets.
Ticketmaster denied the use of the so-called ‘dynamic pricing’ method, with the company’s U.K. director Andrew Parsons telling MPs in February, “We don’t change prices in any automated or algorithmic way.” He added that all prices are determined by artist teams and promoters SJM Concerts, MCD Promotions and DF Concerts, all of which have links to Live Nation, Ticketmaster’s owners.
The report acknowledges that since the opening of the investigation, “Ticketmaster has made changes to some aspects of its ticket sales process,” but that the CMA “does not currently consider these changes are sufficient to address its concerns.” The report does not directly comment on the alleged ‘dynamic pricing’ model, but cites other concerns around clearer sale practises.
The CMA says that, “Following a formal investigation, the CMA is now consulting with the ticketing platform on changes to ensure fans receive the right information, at the right time.”
In a statement to Billboard U.K., Ticketmaster U.K. said, “We strive to provide the best ticketing platform through a simple, transparent and consumer-friendly experience. We welcome the CMA’s input in helping make the industry even better for fans.”
Downing Street responded to the report (via the BBC) by repeating a quote given by culture, media and sport secretary Lisa Nandy following the news that the government announced plans to cap the value of resold tickets for live events like music. “The chance to see your favourite musicians or sports teams live is something that all of us enjoy… But for too long fans have had to endure the misery of touts hoovering up tickets for resale at vastly inflated prices.
“We’ve also seen cases where a lack of transparency has meant customers have been caught unawares by last minute price rises for high demand events.”
On Friday (March 21), secondary ticketing marketplace StubHub filed for an initial public offering (IPO) with the SEC that the company hopes will value it at $16.5 billion.
A pioneer in online ticket re-selling, StubHub had “gross merchandise sales” (GMS) — or the total price customers paid for the transaction and fulfillment — of $8.7 billion in 2024, a 27% increase from 2023. For the year, it sold more than 40 million tickets from more than 1 million unique sellers across 200 countries and territories.
Revenue reached $1.77 billion in 2024, up 29.4% from 2023, while net loss was $2.8 million. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), which strips out non-cash expenses, was $298.7 million, down nearly 16% from $353.9 million in 2023. Long-term debt stands at $2.33 billion — nearly eight times last year’s adjusted EBITDA.
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Proceeds from the IPO will primarily go toward StubHub’s debt, with the remainder going toward general corporate purposes such as working capital, operating expenses and capital expenses. StubHub said it may use a portion of the proceeds for acquisitions or investments in products or technologies.
StubHub believes it is the leader in secondary ticketing, according to its S-1 filing on Friday. The company has also made a foray into primary ticketing, which generated more than $100 million in GMS in 2024. “We believe our value proposition, providing broadened distribution and superior pricing intelligence through an open distribution model, is well-positioned to attract more content rights holders to use our direct issuance solution,” the company stated in the filing.
StubHub does more business than most of its competitors. Vivid Seats had gross transaction value (GTV) of $3.9 billion in 2024 while Eventbrite, a primary ticketing platform, had GTV of $3.2 billion last year. Ticketmaster, which does not break out its primary and secondary ticketing, had GTV of $34.7 billion.
Launched in 2000 by Erik Baker, StubHub was acquired by eBay in 2007. Baker then launched a competing secondary ticketing platform in Europe, Viagogo, which purchased StubHub in 2020. Ahead of the IPO, Baker owns approximately 5% of Class A shares and 100% of Class B shares, leaving him with more than 90% of the voting rights. Other major holders of Class A shares include Madrone Partners (27.1%), WestCap Management (11.0%), Bessemer Venture Partners (9.6%), PointState Capital (5.6%) and Declaration Partners (5.3%).
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Ticketmaster is celebrating St. Patrick’s Day with a rare discount offer to some of the biggest concerts of the year.
For a limited time, music fans can take advantage of Ticketmaster’s 2-for-1 deal to get two tickets for the price of one at participating shows. The promotion includes tickets to artists like Kim Gordon, Halsey, AWOLNATION, Tobe Nwigwe, Lucius, Tennis (with special guest Alice Phoebe Lou) and more. We spotted tickets starting from just $20 with the discount.
It’s not just concerts either — the Ticketmaster St. Patrick’s Day deal includes a buy one, get one free offer for Ricky Gervais’ “Mortality” comedy tour, the “Club Chris Tour” with Chris Olsen and Ryan Trainor, and RuPaul’s Drag Race winner Alyssa Edwards’ “Crowned Tour.”
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The best deal is for the upcoming “Outlaw Festival,” featuring Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Billy Strings and others. Taking place May 16 at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, this is the 10th annual Outlaw Music Festival Tour, which showcases a rotating lineup of artists spanning country, alt-country, Americana, bluegrass, folk and rock. The 2025 Outlaw Festival tickets start from just $59 with the 2-for-1 sale.
There’s no promo code needed to claim the discount but you will need to use this link. The new Ticketmaster offer runs until Wednesday, March 19 at 10 p.m.
Ticketmaster rarely holds sales so this is a promotion you’ll want to take advantage off while it’s still live. Tickets are moving quickly so we recommend adding your preferred seats to your cart before the shows sell out. Live Nation has held a summer concert offer the last two years for $25 all-in tickets, but the company has yet to announce if it’s bringing the promotion back for 2025.
For more ticket deals, check out ShopBillboard’s roundup of best cheap ticketing sites online.
Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher is as sick of the ongoing fiasco relating to tickets to the band’s reunion shows as anyone else.
Since Oasis announced their long-awaited return back in August, high demand has translated into ticket trouble, with a dynamic pricing model and long delays resulting in a litany of frustrated fans attempting to obtain tickets to the band’s shows in the U.K. and Ireland.
In October, it was announced that Ticketmaster would be investigating the matter further, going so far as to cancel roughly 50,000 resale tickets that were deemed to have been purchased using techniques that have been forbidden for the Oasis tour. These included methods often used by scalpers and bots, including purchasing more than four tickets per household, per show, and using multiple identities to buy up tickets.
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On Monday (Feb. 10), Billboard reported that fans had indeed begun to see their tickets being cancelled, with Ticketmaster getting in touch with some ticket holders to inform them that their tickets have been refunded. Ticketmaster’s message to these ticket holders claimed that “it has been identified that bots were used to make this purchase,” meaning they “violate the tour’s terms and conditions.”
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“These terms were specifically established to limit resale of tickets on unauthorised ticketing platforms for profit,” Ticketmaster’s message said. “Fans have been strongly advised by all parties not to purchase tickets from unauthorised resale sites, to protect them from fraud or refunding.”
At least one fan has now attempted to bring the matter to the attention of the band’s outspoken vocalist, Liam Gallagher. With some fans venting their anger on social media, one X user named Karen Kelly reached out to Gallagher, asking “Liam what do you think of the ticket situation? Thinking fans are bots and getting their money returned?”
A punctuation-averse Gallagher responded only six minutes later, writing “I don’t make the rules were trying to do the right thing it is what it is I’m the singer get of my case”.
Kelly soon clarified the question by claiming that no one was getting on Gallagher’s case, but that she was instead wanting to know “if [he’d] seen it”. Gallagher responded by noting, “I see everything I work out”.
In December, Liam’s brother Noel touched on the upcoming gigs, assuring fans that their reunion shows will be less volatile than their history might suggest, while indicating the ticketing hassles may be worth it in the long run.
“No, it won’t be as raucous as back in the day, because we’re on the wrong side of 50 now, so we’re too old,” he claimed. “We’re too old to give a s**t now, so there won’t be any fallouts, there won’t be any fighting. It’s a lap of honour for the band.”
