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CFO expects Live Nation ‘to prevail’ in DOJ suit

Joe Berchtold addressed the lawsuit, as well as ticketing, venues and the globalisation of live music in a new interview

By James Hanley on 05 Sep 2024

Joe Berchtold

Live Nation’s Joe Berchtold has said he expects the company “to prevail” in the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) antitrust suit.

The LN president/CFO addressed the issue as part of an interview at the Bank of America Securities Media, Communications & Entertainment Conference yesterday (4 September).

“I expect we’re going to prevail,” said Berchtold. “I don’t expect we’re going to have major changes to how we operate through the process we have to go through with the DOJ. But I can’t ultimately control some of the politics, so we’ll just continue to build each of the businesses to best we can.”

The lawsuit accuses LN-Ticketmaster of monopolisation and other unlawful conduct. Last month, the DOJ and a group of co-plaintiffs, including 10 additional states, filed an amended complaint in the Southern District of New York, further alleging “additional details about Live Nation-Ticketmaster’s anticompetitive course of conduct in markets across the live entertainment industry”.

“We’re in process now,” explained Berchtold. “We’re going through motions back and forth with the DOJ. I think next year is a period of discovery and depositions, and then the trial would begin in early ’26 if nothing between now and then happens that would let us come to an agreed resolution.”

“I get that, at times, Ticketmaster will inherently bear the criticism when 10 million people want to buy a million tickets”

Earlier, Berchtold responded to a question about how important it was that Ticketmaster remained part of Live Nation following the firms’ 2010 merger.

“It’s a nice complement,” he said. “We believe that it gives us the ability to earn more money on the risk that we take in putting on the concert, which we think is reasonable. We run the businesses very separately… But I think they’re both great businesses.”

Berchtold praised Ticketmaster as a “great platform to sell concert tickets” and trumpeted its innovations and advocacy work on topics such as all-in pricing, bots and spec-selling. But without directly referencing past controversies or the current dynamic pricing row in the UK, he suggested there was room for improvement on the consumer side.

“We’re very strong supporters of giving artists more control over how their tickets are distributed and ultimately resold, but underlying all of that is better communication, better transparency,” he said. “How do we let the fan know what to expect? I’d love to make the front row a mile wide and cost $39, but that’s not reality. So I get that – at times – Ticketmaster will inherently bear the criticism when 10 million people want to buy a million tickets, and so 90% of the people are going to be inherently unhappy.

“That is the nature of the industry that we’re in. But we can absolutely do a better job around some of the pieces to set up the expectations in terms of what fans should be seeing.”

“In 2015, we had about 90 artists that we sold over 100,000 tickets for… This year, we expect that number to be about 250”

The wide-ranging 40-minute interview also explored topics such as innovative LN venue projects such as GNP Seguros Stadium in Mexico and Adele’s pop-up stadium in Germany.

“We’re seeing great opportunities for a GNP-type model that we have in Mexico City, where it’s a bit of an amphitheatre meets a stadium,” he said. “I think we’ve learned a lot from the ‘Adele World’ experience that was a raging success: can you take some of those temporary, semi-permanent, open venues and do more with that?”

Berchtold stressed that globalisation was driving the next phase of the live entertainment industry, crediting streaming and latterly social media with accelerating that growth.

“Artists that have been touring are continuing to tour, but every year – because of the distribution, because of the social media platforms – you’re adding more artists into the mix,” he observed. “In 2015, we had about 90 artists that we sold over 100,000 tickets for. That number had grown to about 150 to 155 by 2019. This year, we expect that number to be about 250.

“You’ve got a top number that are selling over 500,000 and that’s continuing to grow – particularly as you see continued growth in stadium volume. But it’s that 100,000-plus that’s really telling you the robustness of the supply that’s continuing to grow on a global basis.”

“It’ll be a great year on every front we expect next year, because of that supply coming back on the stadium side in particular”

In a further evolution of the business, Berchtold said top acts were typically touring for longer, taking on “20-50%” more dates, with international shows accounting for the lion’s share.

“Ten years ago, the conversation was, ‘Let’s talk about the US tour and maybe some European dates.’ Now it’s, ‘Let’s talk the three-year plan. What’s the role of the US, Europe, Latin America? Do we do Asia? Where do we do festivals in there, versus tours? How do we think about that cycle?’ So the conversations are much more extended and the international legs are a lot longer.”

Echoing LN CEO Michael Rapino’s forecast of a strong resurgence for stadium shows in 2025 after this year’s schedule was reduced due to the Paris Olympics, Berchtold said next year was shaping up to be “the best of both worlds”.

“We see very strong growth in our stadium volume, but also continued growth in our arena volume,” he said. “That growth right now is probably a little more international than North America, but North America is growing as well.

“It’ll be a great year on every front we expect next year, because of that supply coming back on the stadium side in particular.”

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