TJ Chambers
It’s been a month since the last post with the excuse being work (the curse of the leisurely class) has been fairly full-on. And typically, the ‘what, whys and wherefores’ aren’t discussable until the project ends, and dependent upon the outcome, often not even then.
But elsewhere there has been plenty going on of note, not least the forthcoming FIFA World Cup and its ticket pricing policies (https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7143790/2026/03/24/world-cup-ticket-prices-complaint/), the enforced closure of the Kennedy Center (https://edition.cnn.com/2026/03/16/politics/kennedy-center-board-vote-closure), the Ontario Government’s plans to cap ticket resale (https://news.ontario.ca/en/release/1007203/ontario-protecting-fans-by-capping-ticket-resale-prices), and viagogo’s continued push into capturing primary inventory with their ‘Open Distribution’ initiative (https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260318058056/en/viagogo-Launches-AI-Powered-Tool-for-Artists-Teams-Venues) which now includes a partnership with vivenu (https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260326154700/en/StubHub-Opens-Direct-Path-from-Primary-Ticketing-to-125-Million-Fans-Expanding-with-vivenu ).
And in other news …
© istockphoto.com
‘What’s The Holdup?’
During the Biden administration (23.05.24), the US Justice Department sued to break up Live Nation Entertainment and Ticketmaster alleging that the company drove prices higher for fans and suppressed competition (U.S. and Plaintiff States v. Live Nation Entertainment, Inc and Ticketmaster L.L.C. – https://www.justice.gov/atr/case/us-and-plaintiff-states-v-live-nation-entertainment-inc-and-ticketmaster-llc).
On 2nd March 2026 jury selection for the antitrust case started, with opening statements initiated the following day.
Sources told the Wall Street Journal (The Threats and Bare-Knuckle Tactics of MAGA’s Top Antitrust Fixer, Dana Mattioli, Rebecca Ballhus, and Josh Dawsey, 20th March 2026 – https://www.wsj.com/us-news/law/lobbyists-antitrust-trump-davis-f6a02e04) that almost immediately, and following prompting from friends such as Ari Emanuel (talent agent, entertainment, promotions, and media impresario and former Live Nation board member*), led President Trump to ask for an update, and also to apparently impact the court case: ‘Trump himself intervened in the department’s antitrust investigation into the concert promoter Live Nation, urging aides to reach a settlement’ – and then allegedly started calling around to ask why it hadn’t been settled, querying ‘What’s the holdup?’
Commentators noted ‘It was an extraordinary role for a president to play in a routine antitrust investigation.’
[*In 2021, Ari Emanuel and fellow Endeavor executive Mark Shapiro resigned from Live Nation’s board after the Department of Justice had raised concerns that their roles reportedly ‘created an illegal interlocking directorate between competing companies’ – https://www.ticketnews.com/2026/03/wsj-trump-personally-pressed-for-live-nation-settlement-met-with-rapino-march-5/. But this author is obviously not suggesting any improper behaviour or wrongdoing. More recently they co-founded MARI (https://marigrp.com/) with RedBird Capital Partners a global live events and experiences company which includes the Miami and Madrid Open tennis tournaments; IMG Tennis; Frieze, a leading global art fair; and TodayTix, a leading primary ticketing marketplace for Broadway and the West End.]
Playing For Keeps
Perhaps one reason for the President’s personal interest was the recently developed Live Nation network of Trump-friendly lobbyists, and aides including Richard Grenell the ‘presidential envoy for special missions’ (Kennedy Center head Richard Grenell joins Live Nation Board of Directors, Katherine Bassett, 21st May 2025 – https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/kennedy-center-head-richard-grenell-joins-live-nation-board-of-directors/), Kellyanne Conway the 2016 Trump campaign manager, former senior counsellor in the White House, and frequent Fox News contributor, and Mike Davis a conservative lawyer / political fixer/ gun-for-hire, who self-describes: ‘I’m the best fixer in Washington, period. Full stop. I know the people. I know the process. I know their pressure points. I know how to win.’, whilst reputedly charging $300,000 a month, plus seven-figure fees for deals that successfully close.
These confederates and others were all part of a coordinated campaign by Live Nation Entertainment, part of a traditionally democrat-leaning – liberal in terms of artistic expression, performance, and conspicuous consumption but typically conservative in its entrepreneurial mindset – live entertainment sector, to embrace and win support from the MAGA regime, where the enforced separation of (global #1 profitable ticket retail agency) Ticketmaster away from the (break-even+ artist-managing, promoting, venue and festival operating) Live Nation which would potentially fatally damage the $35Bn market cap conglom.
Taking nothing to chance, Live Nation ensured that they made their case both within the courts and to the President.
The Settlement
On 5th March, both sides met at the White House, and a tentative settlement with the Department of Justice was then announced (Live Nation Entertainment Reaches Settlement With U.S. Department of Justice, 9th March 2026 – https://newsroom.livenation.com/statements/live-nation-entertainment-reaches-settlement-with-u-s-department-of-justice/), with Live Nation confirming that it’s US amphitheatres, would now be open to all promoters, allowing those promoters to decide how best to distribute up to 50% of amphitheatre ticket inventory, and the capping of those venues ticket service fees at 15%. Further, Live Nation announced it would be divesting its thirteen exclusive amphitheatre booking agreements.
Lastly, Live Nation noted that whilst there was no financial component to the settlement with the DOJ, this did not settle the claims of all plaintiffs in the lawsuit, and that the company had therefore created a $280M settlement fund to address the various U.S. states’ claims for damages.
Live Nation shares rose 6% on the day’s trading.
Live Nation Stock 09.03.26 © Google
In the term sheet issued by the Justice Department (Notice of Settlement. Document filed by United States of America, 9th March 2026 – https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.621993/gov.uscourts.nysd.621993.1171.1_5.pdf), additional details emerged including:
Ticketmaster was to develop and implement a standardized API ‘for the listing, verification, authentication and delivery of primary tickets using any third-party primary marketplaces chosen by the venue, which will be made available to any venue, at the election of the venue, that utilizes Ticketmaster’s back-office system of record technology ’TM Back-End’).
Ticketmaster was to ‘loosen exclusivity provisions in existing primary ticketing contracts that have more than four years remaining’ for up to 20% of primary tickets.
Ticketmaster going forward ‘may not include auto-renewal provisions in any new ticketing contracts and must waive any auto-renewal terms in existing ticketing contracts’.
Live Nation ‘shall terminate its ticketing services agreement with Oak View Group, dated 1st July, 2022, within 30 days’, and ‘for any Oak View Group-managed venue that entered into a Ticketmaster contract’ and Oak View Group had to disclose the $20M Live Nation payment it had previously received and allow that venue to issue a new ticketing RFP, without penalty.
Further, Live Nation ‘shall not enter into a similar agreement with Oak View Group or any agreement with a venue’s agent that rewards the agent for converting any ticketing contracts to Ticketmaster’.
And lastly, ‘At an artist’s request,Live Nation will provide the artist with all information (subject to standard privacy protection) on ticket purchasers for shows performed by that artist. Artists must be informed that this option exists’.
The Trial Continues
This settlement came as a complete surprise to District Judge Arun Subramanian as well as one of the government’s own lead prosectors attorney David Dahlquist, with the judge stating: ‘Parties were acting as if we were going into trial on Monday when the leadership of the United States and the leadership of Live Nation were fully aware they had a signed term sheet. … this is hard to understand’ (Judge scolds Live Nation and Justice Department for secret settlement talks, Kara Scannell, 10th March 2026 – https://edition.cnn.com/2026/03/10/politics/live-nation-ticketmaster-justice-department-settlement-controversy).
Whilst some of the U.S. states then withdrew their support to the suit, twenty-seven attorney generals have continued with the antitrust trial as many remain sceptical of the settlement terms, which still requires judicial approval, and with many of Live Nation and Ticketmaster’s fiercest critics maintaining that the settlement falls far short of what they say is truly necessary i.e. ‘a break-up of the behemoth that dominates the worlds of ticketing, venues, and promotions.’ (Everything You Need to Know About the Live Nation Settlement and What Comes Next,Jon Blistein, 10th March 2026 – https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/live-nation-settlement-need-to-know-next-1235528047/)
For many the main issue is the inadequacy of the remedies, especially given the original stated aim was to split Live Nation from Ticketmaster, and then secondly can the industry, regulators or the public trust how the tentative settlement terms were reached.
The case continues.
***
In other news.
Too Good To Be …?
Tickts (https://tickts.co.uk/), a new UK-built ticketing platform, launched on the 23rd March, 2026 offers both zero booking fees for fans and zero commission on ticket sales for event organisers, with a focus on supporting the grassroots sector: UK ticketing platform Tickts launches with zero booking fees and commission for organisers, Andre Paine, 23rd March 2026 – https://www.musicweek.com/live/read/uk-ticketing-platform-tickts-launches-with-zero-booking-fees-and-commission-for-organisers/093808.
With a full set of freemium features including interactive seating plans, QR scanner app for entry, and real-time analytics dashboard the company founder David O’Keefe stated: ‘Fans shouldn’t have to pay more than the price on the ticket. Tickts was built on a simple principle — zero booking fees, zero service charges, zero surprises at checkout’.
What could possibly be wrong with such a compelling offer?
Or is this zero-cost strategy for event organizers too good to be true – not least because seasoned ticketing industry observers might ask, without fees to ticket buyers or event organisers, how does Tickts propose to sustain its ticketing services, maintain or develop its technology, pay its staff, rent, rates, and other costs of business?
Others might have noted that Mr O’Keefe also launched Tickets9 (https://tickets9.co.uk/) in January 2026, a new ethical ticket resale platform, that proudly partners with the Music Venue Trust, and announced it would ‘donate £1 from every qualifying resale ticket’.
Denzil Thomas from MVT said: ‘Tickets9 have built direct support for our network into their platform from day one, ensuring that every qualifying resale contributes to keeping these vital spaces open. This partnership gives fans an ethical option that makes a real difference to the places where new artists learn their craft.’
See: New ethical resale platform Tickets9 launches in partnership with Music Venue Trust to automatically pay into grassroots levy, Damian Jones, 28th January 2026 – https://www.nme.com/news/music/new-ethical-resale-platform-tickets9-launches-in-partnership-with-music-venue-trust-to-automatically-pay-into-grassroots-levy-3925925.
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Leaving aside for the moment how the word ‘ethical’ can be associated with ‘ticketing’, where there is little in terms of duplicity, falsehoods, lies, or obfuscation, that isn’t approved or recklessly adopted so that fiscal rebates, commissions, kickbacks or marketing contributions and opaque inventory distribution networks, are the mainstays of commercial ticketing industry practices.
More cynically, the renaming ‘ethical-ticketing / ethical-secondary’ serves only to add a ‘halo-effect’ to the anti-consumer gouging that is all too routinely the case.
Much like the renaming of the attendee, patron, spectator, or supporter to ‘fan’, which is actually reflective of a reduction in consumer rights, with the live entertainment / ticketing industry expectation that audiences will continue to purchase ever-more expensive tickets, ever-further in advance of those events actually occurring, and with ever more restrictive rights with regards to ticket exchange, transfer, resale and/or refund.
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Anyway, who is this energetic founder of these new ticketing platforms?
A quick search via Companies House reveals that David Patrick O’Keefe is currently the sole director of Tickts Ltd (No. 17029682), a director of Tickets9 Limited (No. 16285956), was previously a director at Top Tickets Ltd (No. 09744314), a company dissolved in April 2018, and a director of DOK Enterprises Limited (No. 10170183) also trading as Dark Of Knight Enterprises, where the nature of business is described as ‘reservation service activities not elsewhere classified’. Which is a polite euphemism for ticket touting. DOK Enterprises have for a long time been a lister-of-tickets sold via viagogo and other sites.
The Fair Ticketing Alliance (FTA) (https://fairticketing.co.uk/) which is a trade association of secondary ticketing marketplaces that are lobbying for ‘responsible, licensed operators to have the right to buy and re-sell tickets’, also has amongst its membership (https://fairticketing.co.uk/about/) Dark Of Knight Enterprises, and the FTA have similarly developed a mechanism to donate ’£1 from every transaction from member websites back to grassroots venues via the Music Venue Trust’.
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Whilst scribbling this nonsense, I note that promoters such as SJM Concerts, Kilimanjaro Live, and AEG, artists from Sam Fender, Harry Styles, Radiohead, Lily Allen, or Enter Shikari, alongside the Royal Albert Hall, and even the FTA are supporting MVT, but not Live Nation: ‘These companies are delivering… Live Nation, you know, and the whole industry knows, you are not. If the voluntary levy fails, it will not be the fault of the companies who have already embraced it, or of Music Venue Trust, or of the government, or of any will to do it on behalf of individuals, artists, managers, agents, audiences or anyone else. It will be a direct consequence of the overwhelmingly dominant force in the arena and stadium market deciding not to deliver a voluntary levy. That’s your choice, Live Nation, and everyone in the industry hopes you make the right one’ – Mark Davyd at the launch of the MVT Annual Report: https://www.musicvenuetrust.com/2026/01/music-venue-trust-annual-report-2025/.
See: Government urges industry and Live Nation to “step up to help the next generation of talent” and pay into ticket levy, Andrew Trendell, 16th March 2026 – https://www.nme.com/news/music/government-ian-murray-live-nation-need-to-pay-trust-arena-stadium-levy-3934900.
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So, is this rash of new ticketing companies (Tickets9 + Tickts) indicative of a strategic change by Mr O’Keefe, or merely a technical pivot appreciating the likely market reality in the UK post any new legislation capping the resale of tickets above face value.
See: Government bans ticket touting to protect fans from rip-offs, 19th November 2025 – https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-bans-ticket-touting-to-protect-fans-from-rip-offs
And: Ticket Resales – House of Commons Library Research Briefings), 13th January 2026 – https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN04715/SN04715.pdf
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And lastly, on 24th March 2026 at the Ticketing Professionals Conference in Manchester, I was delighted to moderate the panel ‘Martyn’s Law: How ticketing leaders are transforming the duty to protect’ which featured: Matt Walters, Trustee, Eilidh’s Trust (https://eilidhstrust.org.uk/); Ronnie Megaughin, Deputy Director of Inspections and Enforcement for Martyn’s Law, Security Industry Authority (https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/security-industry-authority); Jonathan Hornby, Security and Facilities Director, Co-op Live (https://www.cooplive.com/); David Mangan, Senior Security Consultant, FGH Security (https://fghsecurity.co.uk/); Shelley Langan-Newton, Co-Founder & CEO, SQR (https://sqr.id/); and Martin Austin MBE, Managing Director, Nimbus Disability (https://www.nimbusdisability.com/).
© Pat Smith @ SQR
For those of you who may not be aware, at approx. 22:31 on 22nd May 2017, 22 people were killed and 1,017 were injured in a terrorist suicide bombing at the Manchester Arena.
An estimated 14,200 people were attending the Ariana Grande concert, including children, families and young people.
Martyn Hett was one of the 22 who died in the outrage, and his mother Figen Murray and others campaigned for this new law.
The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025 (Factsheets: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/terrorism-protection-of-premises-act-2025-factsheets), also known as Martyn’s Law, is a piece of legislation designed to improve how publicly accessible venues and events prepare for and respond to the threat of terrorism.
This is global-first legislation, already impacting how other nations are developing their own security measures, with the hope that by bringing together all stakeholders we can build a safer experience for everyone attending events.
Until the next time.
TJ_Chambers 