Despite Live Nation‘s repeated attempts to halt proceedings, a landmark consumer class action lawsuit against the entertainment giant and its Ticketmaster subsidiary will continue to move forward, following U.S. District Judge George Wu‘s decision to deny the company’s motion to pause litigation.
The consumer lawsuit, originally filed in January 2022, seeks monetary damages for millions of ticket buyers who allegedly paid inflated prices due to the company’s market dominance.
Judge Wu rejected Live Nation’s argument that simultaneous lawsuits would waste resources or lead to inconsistent rulings, allowing the case to progress alongside a separate antitrust action brought by the Department of Justice and 39 states scheduled for trial in March 2026.
The entertainment conglomerate had previously attempted to stall proceedings through arbitration motions, which were subsequently refused by a federal appeals court. Legal experts note that these delaying tactics have been part of Live Nation’s strategy to postpone consumer redress for as long as possible.
The legal challenges against Live Nation extend beyond consumer complaints. A shareholder class action filed in August 2023 accused the company of misleading investors about regulatory risks and anti-competitive practices, including allegations that Live Nation rigged the market by tying underpriced concert promotion to Ticketmaster services and retaliating against venues that didn’t use their platform.
This securities fraud claim is approaching settlement with a proposed $20 million payout, pending final court approval in August 2025. The settlement amount represents only 3% of maximum damages that shareholders could have potentially recovered, according to court filings.
In May 2024, the DOJ and a bipartisan coalition of state attorneys general launched their own lawsuit, claiming Live Nation’s conduct has resulted in opaque fees, fewer ticket choices, and higher prices for consumers.
The lawsuit contends that artists face limited promotion options while venues are effectively forced to use Ticketmaster, ultimately passing these costs onto concertgoers. The ongoing litigation highlights how Live Nation’s practices have impacted musicians’ ability to generate fair revenue from live performances, which represents one of their most essential income streams in today’s music industry.
Many artists are turning to alternative streaming platforms as secondary revenue sources to offset the financial impact of Live Nation’s control over the live music sector.
A separate proposed class action for 2025 specifically targets the companies’ pricing practices, alleging they deliberately hide full ticket prices until late in the checkout process—a tactic that violates multiple state consumer protection laws by luring customers with deceptively low advertised prices before revealing “exorbitant” fees.
