Live Nation Entertainment on Thursday said it has reached an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice, avoiding a potential legal battle over concerns about its ticketing practices.
The Beverly Hills-based company, which is the world's largest concert promoter, said the agreement extends and clarifies a 2010 consent decree related to a settlement that allowed Live Nation to merge with Ticketmaster for $889 million.
The goal of that settlement was to ensure fair competition in the ticketing marketplace and prohibit Live Nation from retaliating against venue owners that decided to defect to competitors.
The department was preparing to file legal action against Live Nation over allegations that it coerced concert venues into using Ticketmaster.
The combination of the two companies made Live Nation a colossus with tentacles in multiple areas of the music industry, including concert promotion, ticketing and artist management.
Despite the settlement provisions, critics of the deal feared that the merger would give the firm a monopoly on ticket sales and other parts of the music business. Consumer groups worried that the agreement would do little to prevent anticompetitive behavior and price gouging.
"We believe this is the best outcome for our business, clients and shareholders as we turn our focus to 2020 initiatives," Live Nation said in a statement.
Ticketmaster has long faced criticism for the fees it charges consumers, and there has been political pressure for antitrust officials to act.
Earlier this year, Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, who are both Democrats, sent a letter to the Justice Department's top antitrust official, Makan Delrahim.
The lawmakers described a "broken" ticket industry plagued by "exorbitant fees and inadequate disclosures," and called on the agency to investigate the situation.
(Times staff writer Ryan Faughnder contributed to this report.)
