Live Nation antitrust case, Beyoncé lawsuit and more music legal news

This is The Legal Beat, Billboard Pro’s weekly music law newsletter with a cheat sheet to breaking new cases, important rulings and all the fun in between.

This week: Federal government files antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation and Ticketmaster, aimed at breaking up concert giant; Beyoncé faces copyright lawsuit over ‘Break My Soul’ snippet; Elvis Presley’s Heirs Win Bizarre Battle of Graceland; and a lot more.

BIG STORY: “It’s time to break it up”

Fourteen years after federal regulators allowed Live Nation and Ticketmaster to merge into a concert giant, the U.S. Department of Justice and dozens of states last week filed a long-awaited antitrust lawsuit seeking to effectively overturn the decision.

“Live Nation has illegally monopolized the concert industry markets in the United States for too long,” the attorney general said Merrick Garland at a press conference announcing the case. “It’s time to break it up.”

Since the merger was approved in 2010, Live Nation has faced criticism for its huge market share. But scrutiny has increased dramatically following the disastrous launch of Taylor Swift’s 2022 Eras Tour, which saw widespread service delays and website crashes. Although the Justice Department had already opened an investigation before the Swift incident, the failure sparked widespread public anger that led to congressional hearings, private antitrust lawsuits and repeated calls for the company to be disbanded.

In a lawsuit aimed at doing just that, the Justice Department focused on Live Nation’s so-called “flywheel model” – an alleged cycle of taking revenue from ticket buyers, using it to sign artists to promotional deals, and then using that repertoire to lock up exclusive deals ticket sales.

To reinforce this model, the feds allege that Live Nation engaged in a series of anticompetitive behaviors, including acquiring competitors and retaliating against venues that did not use Ticketmaster. The Justice Department focused specifically on emails between Live Nation’s chief executive Michael Rapino and venue management company Oak View Group, a “potential competitor-turned-partner” that allegedly helped Live Nation suppress competition.

For all the details, read our full coverage of the Live Nation lawsuit – including our news on the filing of the case (including the actual complaint filed by the Department of Justice), as well as a detailed discussion of Rapino’s emails from Dave Brooks. And stay tuned for more coverage from Billboard when the big deal moves forward…

Other top stories this week…

BEYONCÉ COPYRIGHT CASE – The superstar was hit with copyright infringement charges over her 2024 chart-topping hit “Break My Soul,” filed by a little-known group who claimed one of the most important samples song – a clip taken from New Orleans rapper Big Freedia – was himself illegally deleted the lyrics of his earlier song.

END OF GRACELAND SNAFU – The strange legal battle over Elvis Presley’s “fraudulent” attempts to sell Elvis Presley’s Graceland mansion has come to an end after a Tennessee judge granted his granddaughter Riley Keough an injunction blocking the threatened foreclosure before the mysterious lending company that organized the event reportedly withdrew its filings. But the story isn’t over, according to Tennessee’s attorney general Jonathan Skrmetti launched an investigation into potential “misconduct” by the mystery creditors behind the incident: “My office has been fighting homeowner fraud for decades, and there is no home in Tennessee more beloved than Graceland.”

DIDDY SUE THE STATE WITH THE 7TH ACCUSER – Sean “Diddy” Combs faces another sexual harassment lawsuit, this time from a woman named April Lampros, who claims he drugged and sexually assaulted her 30 years ago when she was a college student in New York . Lampros is the seventh alleged victim to file a lawsuit accusing Combs of sexual abuse in the past six months, including one filed just days earlier. He also apparently faces federal criminal investigation.

EARTH, WIND AND DAMAGE – The tribute act dubbed “Earth, Wind & Fire Legacy Reunion” will pay the legendary R&B group $750,000 in damages for using its trademarked name in a way that a federal judge called “deceptive and misleading,” according to court documents filed last week.

ASTROWORLD DISPUTES UPDATE – Lawyers for Travis Scott, Live Nation and others have reached a settlement to resolve the last remaining wrongful death lawsuit stemming from the fatal crowd crush at the 2021 Astroworld music festival that left 10 fans dead. However, thousands of claims from injured fans remain pending, with a potential first trial set for October.

APPLE APPEALS HUGE EU PENALTIES – Apple has filed a legal challenge to a European Union court against a 1.8 billion euro ($1.95 billion) fine imposed by the European Commission earlier this year over allegations that the tech giant broke competition rules by unfairly favoring its own service streaming music over rivals like Spotify.

KELLY CLARKSON IS TALKING TO HER EX – The singer has concluded a settlement that will end the fierce legal battle with her ex-husband Brandon Blackstock over managerial commissions. The divorce itself was finalized in 2022, but the couple continued to battle it out in court over their rocky business ties to Blackstock’s father’s Starstruck Entertainment, which managed her career for years.