Taylor Swift Promoter Says Live Nation Excluded Him as AEG Pushes Ticketmaster Breakup
The war over competition rages on, with AEG and veteran promoter Louis Messina asking the U.S. Department of Justice to reject proposed Live Nation-Ticketmaster deal.
The latest filings argue that the deal would not go far enough to break up Live Nation's dominance over the live entertainment space. At the heart of the argument is a long standing question over Ticketmaster's position inside Live Nation.
Messina, who has promoted Taylor Swift among others, is separately alleging that Live Nation simply shut him out of the company's amphitheaters in 2024.
Louisiana Promoter Complained of Live Nation Blocking Calls
Messina, founder of Messina Touring Group, argues his ability to compete for big name tours was severely impacted as the company's amphitheaters became increasingly elusive.
According to the filing, he and Live Nation had successfully worked together for over two decades, working the company's arena venues across the U.S. But the situation changed, in his telling, in 2024, when he was trying to route several tours through the company's amphitheater network.
"I was trying to route several tours through Live Nation amphitheaters, but Live Nation stopped returning my calls," Messina wrote in his submission to the court.
Messina alleges that the situation affected Old Dominion, The Lumineers, Shawn Mendes and Mumford & Sons among others. In particular, he argues The Lumineers could only use Live Nation's amphitheaters when he was not involved, and other tours were similarly impeded by the company's control over venue access.
Messina argues that the situation exemplifies the difficulties independent promoters face when a larger company has significant control over both concert venues and other aspects of the live venue business.
The allegations reflect Messina's own claims, not ones proved in court.
AEG Seeks to Break Ticketmaster Off From Live Nation
AEG, the company which is one of Live Nation's biggest competitors and owns Ticketmaster rival AXS, is arguing the deal would barely touch Ticketmaster's existing dominance.
The company is arguing the settlement should not take place, and that measures should be taken to separate Ticketmaster from Live Nation and prevent the long-term, exclusive ticket deals with venues. AEG is arguing past behavioral restrictions have failed to alter the competitive landscape enough.
According to AEG's filing, venue owners may well have a strong incentive to remain tied to Ticketmaster due to Live Nation's influence over the content shown at its venues.
AEG is arguing that venues may feel threatened by shifting to other ticketing systems, or fear having access to Live Nation concerts will be impacted.
Why the Ticketmaster Issue Has Been So Important
The issue at the heart of the dispute is the 2010 merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster.
The merger brought together a major competitor to other concert promoters and one of the world's biggest ticketing companies and drew years of scrutiny over competition in the live entertainment space. Taylor Swift's 2022 Eras Tour ticket sale became one of the flashpoints in the debate after demand overwhelmed Ticketmaster's systems and the company had to cancel the planned public launch of her tickets.
Swift's Eras Tour was promoted by AEG Presents rather than Live Nation. But AEG used Ticketmaster to handle ticketing due to the company's vast connections with big concert venues.
The episode drew renewed scrutiny from legislators, fans and venue owners about the connection between promoter, venues and ticketing.
AEG Challenges Proposed Settlement
The latest disagreement focuses on the proposed settlement the Department of Justice has proposed with Live Nation and Ticketmaster.
AEG is arguing that the deal would not fundamentally change the way Ticketmaster has operated.
Among its objections, AEG has focused on the idea that other companies could legally sell tickets in certain circumstances, while Ticketmaster provides the much needed underlying infrastructure.
AEG has said this would create a situation where other ticketing companies could remain reliant upon Ticketmaster's presence in the market. AEG is instead advocating a structural remedy to deal with Live Nation's dominance over ticket sales.
Messina Warns of Independent Promoter Competition Concerns
Messina's filing comes from the perspective of an independent promoter trying to compete for big name tours.
The filing argues that Live Nation's scale across promotion, venues and ticketing gives it advantages that can be hard to replicate.
Messina also critiques the economics of the system, arguing Ticketmaster's system can give the company additional revenues when pushing against other promoters for artist tours.
He sees these revenues as a potential source of "monopoly money", allowing Live Nation to put together guarantees that other promoters might be unable to achieve.
The filing from Messina is a warning that this is not just about individual concerts.
He argues that being able to use major amphitheaters is necessary to successfully put together national tours, particularly at the concert arena and stadium levels.
"If Live Nation prohibits artists from using me to promote their amphitheater shows, I cannot compete," Messina wrote.
Live Nation Pushes Back Against Criticism of Proposed Settlement
Live Nation has pushed back against the criticisms of the proposed settlement.
The company has argued that competitor AEG and ticketing company SeatGeek would face commercial challenges and that their portrayal of the settlement was misleading.
Live Nation is confident that U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian will approve the proposed judgment. The company has not offered direct rebuttals to each of Messina's accusations in the filing.
What Happens Next?
The dispute is about to enter an important phase.
The Tunney Act comment period has ended, with the Justice Department expected to take in the comments before deciding whether the proposed settlement serves the public interest.
The outcome could have important implications for the future of the live music business.
If the settlement holds largely as proposed, Live Nation and Ticketmaster would remain together but with additional restrictions. If the court calls for far more significant remedies to address competition concerns, it could completely reshape the ways concert promotion, venues and ticket sales are tied up in the United States.
The dispute goes well beyond just Ticketmaster, at the heart of which is a question over how much a single company should control the infrastructure used to bring big concerts to fans.
By looking at AEG's push to break up Ticketmaster while drawing upon Louis Messina's description of what he experienced when trying to compete for Live Nation amphitheater dates, the long-standing war over competition is poised to enter a crucial new phase.
