This is The Legal Beat, a weekly newsletter about music law from Billboard Pro, offering you a one-stop cheat sheet of big new cases, important rulings and all the fun stuff in between.
This week: The federal government files an antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation and Ticketmaster aimed at breaking up the concert giant; Beyoncé faces a copyright lawsuit over a sample featured in “Break My Soul”; Elvis Presley’s heirs win a bizarre battle over Graceland; and much more.
THE BIG STORY: “It Is Time To Break It Up”
Fourteen years after federal regulators allowed Live Nation and Ticketmaster to merge into a concert behemoth, the U.S. Department of Justice and dozens of states filed a long-awaited antitrust lawsuit last week that aims to effectively reverse that decision.
“Live Nation has illegally monopolized markets across the live concert industry in the United States for far too long,” said Attorney General Merrick Garland at a press conference announcing the case. “It is time to break it up.”
Ever since the merger was approved in 2010, Live Nation has faced criticism over its huge market share. But scrutiny increased dramatically following the disastrous 2022 rollout of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, which saw widespread service delays and website crashes. While the DOJ had already launched its probe prior to the Swift incident, the debacle sparked widespread public anger that led to Congressional hearings, private antitrust lawsuits, and repeated calls to break up the company.
In a lawsuit aimed at doing just that, the DOJ focused on what it called Live Nation’s “flywheel model” — an alleged cycle of reaping revenue from ticketbuyers, using it to sign artists into promotion deals, and then leveraging that repertoire to lock venues into exclusive ticketing contracts.
To bolster that model, the feds say Live Nation engaged in a wide range of anticompetitive conduct, including acquiring rivals and retaliating against venues that didn’t use Ticketmaster. In particular, the DOJ focused on emails between Live Nation chief executive Michael Rapino and venue management firm Oak View Group, a “potential competitor-turned-partner” that allegedly helped Live Nation stifle competition.
For all the details, go read our full coverage on the Live Nation lawsuit — including our news story on the filing of the case (featuring the actual complaint filed by the DOJ) as well as a deep dive from Dave Brooks into those emails from Rapino. And stay tuned for more coverage from Billboard as the big case moves forward…
Other top stories this week…
BEYONCÉ COPYRIGHT CASE – The superstar was hit with an infringement lawsuit over her chart-topping 2024 hit “Break My Soul,” filed by a little-known group that claims one of the song’s prominent samples — a clip taken from the New Orleans rapper Big Freedia — had itself illegally lifted lyrics from their earlier song.
GRACELAND SNAFU ENDS – A bizarre legal battle over “fraudulent” efforts to sell Elvis Presley’s Graceland mansion came to close after a Tennessee judge granted his granddaughter Riley Keough a court order blocking the looming foreclosure before the mysterious loan company that orchestrated the event reportedly withdrew its filings. But the story isn’t over, as Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti launched an investigation into potential “misconduct” by the shadowy creditors behind the incident: “My office has fought fraud against homeowners for decades and there is no home in Tennessee more beloved than Graceland.”
DIDDY SUED FACES 7TH ACCUSER – Sean “Diddy” Combs is facing yet another sexual abuse lawsuit, this time filed by a woman named April Lampros who claims that he drugged and sexually assaulted her 30 years ago while she was a college student in New York City. Lampros is the seventh alleged victim to file a lawsuit accusing Combs of sexual abuse over the past six months, including one filed just days prior. He’s also facing an apparent federal criminal investigation.
EARTH, WIND & DAMAGES – A tribute act that called itself “Earth, Wind & Fire Legacy Reunion” will pay the legendary R&B group $750,000 in damages for using its trademarked name in ways that a federal judge called “deceptive and misleading,” according to court documents filed last week.
ASTROWORLD LITIGATION UPDATE – Attorneys for Travis Scott, Live Nation and others reached a settlement to resolve the last remaining wrongful death lawsuit stemming from the deadly crowd crush at the 2021 Astroworld music festival, which left 10 fans dead. But thousands of claims from injured fans remain pending, with a potential first trial set for October.
APPLE APPEALS HUGE EU FINE – Apple launched a legal challenge in European Union court against the 1.8 billion euro ($1.95 billion) fine assessed by the European Commission earlier this year over allegations that the tech giant broke competition laws by unfairly favoring its own music streaming service over rivals like Spotify.
KELLY CLARKSON SETTLES WITH EX – The singer reached a settlement to end her sprawling legal battle with ex-husband Brandon Blackstock over management commissions. The divorce itself was finalized in 2022, but the pair had continued to battle in court over tricky business entanglements with Blackstock’s father’s firm Starstruck Entertainment, which managed her career for years.