Business & Finance
AEG and Longtime Promoter Louis Messina Ask Judge to Reject DOJ's Live Nation Settlement
By Dave Clark
AEG, the concert-promotion giant that owns Ticketmaster rival AXS, and veteran tour promoter Louis Messina have separately urged a federal judge to reject the Justice Department's proposed settlement with Live Nation and Ticketmaster, arguing the deal would leave the company's dominance over ticketing, promotion and amphitheaters largely untouched.
In a 15-page filing under the Tunney Act, AEG contends that the settlement repeats behavioral restrictions that already failed to rein in Live Nation after consent decrees followed the company's 2010 merger and a 2020 strengthening of those terms. AEG argues that concert venues still have strong incentive to stick with Ticketmaster because Live Nation controls the shows those venues need. "The threat need not be spoken to be effective," the filing states, citing trial testimony about venues that considered switching to AXS or SeatGeek but feared losing Live Nation's concert content.
AEG cites SeatGeek's testimony that it had offered venues "retaliation insurance" to cover losses if they lost Live Nation shows after changing ticketing providers. According to AEG's estimates, Ticketmaster would retain control over roughly 6,500 of about 7,500 annual events at major venues — around 85% of the market — while the settlement's "open distribution" system would open only about 170 additional events per year to competitors.
AEG argues that requiring rivals to connect to Ticketmaster's backend technology would not create true competition, but instead risks turning Ticketmaster into critical infrastructure that competitors depend on — which AEG calls "court-sanctioned platform dependency." The company is asking the court to separate Ticketmaster from Live Nation entirely and bar Ticketmaster from signing long-term exclusive deals with major venues.
In a related filing incorporated into AEG's submission, Louis Messina — founder of Messina Touring Group, which operates in partnership with AEG Presents — alleges that Live Nation cut him out of its amphitheaters in 2024 and blocked several artists from working with him as their promoter. Messina has promoted major acts including Taylor Swift, George Strait, Kenny Chesney, Ed Sheeran, Shawn Mendes, The Lumineers and Old Dominion over a career spanning more than 50 years. His company promoted Swift's Eras Tour, whose troubled Ticketmaster presale in November 2022 intensified scrutiny of Live Nation and helped prompt a Senate Judiciary hearing on ticketing competition in January 2023.
Messina says that after two decades of routing tours through Live Nation-owned amphitheaters, the company stopped returning his calls in 2024. He claims Old Dominion had to use other venues and their tour underperformed as a result; that Live Nation would only allow The Lumineers into its amphitheaters if Messina wasn't involved; that Shawn Mendes' agent had to deal directly with Live Nation because it wouldn't respond to Messina; and that Mumford & Sons ultimately had to go through Live Nation to secure amphitheater access. He says a conversation with Parker McCollum's team boiled down to one question: "What about the amphitheaters?"
"If Live Nation prohibits artists from using me to promote their amphitheater shows, I cannot compete," Messina wrote. These allegations have not been independently verified by the court, but they echo arguments made during the government's antitrust trial regarding Live Nation's use of amphitheater access to influence promoter selection. In April, states that declined to join the federal settlement won a jury verdict finding Live Nation and Ticketmaster liable on remaining antitrust claims, including those involving amphitheaters and primary ticketing, and are now pursuing tougher remedies.
Messina says Live Nation began returning his calls again in 2026 after the settlement was submitted to the court, though he remains uncertain whether he'll get the dates and terms needed to compete. He criticizes Ticketmaster's profits as "monopoly money" that lets Live Nation offer artist guarantees rivals can't match, since losses on a given tour can be offset elsewhere in its integrated business — a dynamic he says has pushed independent promoters out of the industry.
Messina also says the settlement's amphitheater concessions are insufficient. He notes Live Nation would give up certain rights at only 13 venues, which hosted fewer than 200 shows in 2025 and don't include enough amphitheaters to build a viable national summer tour. He argues provisions meant to grant rival promoters amphitheater access contain loopholes around booking requests, venue holds and deal terms that would be hard for a court-appointed monitor to enforce.
"I am concerned that the music industry is broken," Messina wrote. "If it is not fixed, I could go out of business just like other independent promoters who have fallen victim to Live Nation... Most artists, agents, and managers are afraid of speaking out against Live Nation because they could lose everything if Live Nation turns against them. Live Nation already has turned against me."
Live Nation executive vice president Dan Wall dismissed the criticism in a statement to Music Business Worldwide, saying AEG and SeatGeek's filings serve their own commercial interests and mischaracterize the settlement. Wall said Live Nation remains confident that U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian will approve the deal. The statement did not directly address Messina's specific claims about Old Dominion, The Lumineers, Shawn Mendes or Mumford & Sons.
The public comment period under the Tunney Act closed on September 4. The Justice Department must review the submissions and respond before Judge Subramanian decides whether the settlement serves the public interest.