Talent agencies CAA, WME, UTA and Wasserman have been roped into a Justice Department investigation into AEG and Live Nation’s handling of concert cancellations and refunds at the start of the COVID pandemic, TheWrap has learned.
Justice Department attorneys led by Trump-appointed deputy assistant attorney general Omeed Assefi interviewed CAA partner and music division head Rob Light and singer-songwriter Jon Bon Jovi in June, according to an individual with knowledge of the investigation. Several other talent agents have been interviewed, according to this individual.
Talent agencies CAA, WME, UTA and Wasserman all declined to comment. The Department of Justice did not respond to multiple attempts to get comment.
The criminal antitrust probe is investigating whether Live Nation, AEG and potentially the talent agenices colluded illegally on refund policies for canceled concerts. The prosecution has weighed bringing charges against Live Nation and its CEO Michael Rapino, according to Bloomberg, which first reported on the case in May.
The talent agencies appeared in emails related to an earlier investigation into alleged monopoly power in the concert ticketing space. That led to the federal inquiry, according to a knowledgeable individual. The agencies were part of a ticketing “task force” alongside AEG and Live Nation that coordinated cancellation and refund efforts as the live music business faced the COVID crisis.
Shutdowns during the pandemic were catastrophic for the live events industry. According to a 2020 end-of-year report from Pollstar, the live events industry should have hit a record-setting $12.2 billion that year but instead incurred $9.7 billion in losses. When factoring ancillary revenue such as sponsorships, concessions and more, Pollstar estimated the total loss surpassed $30 billion.
The talent agencies’ involvement signals a broadening of the investigation, which is just the latest example of the government’s increased scrutiny into the power that a few key players have over the entire live music industry. Live Nation acquired Ticketmaster in 2010 to form a powerhouse venture that controls a majority of concert and venue ticket sales; it is also the subject of a civil antitrust lawsuit that was filed by the Justice Department last year.
The suit also represents another example of President Donald Trump’s combative relationship with the music industry. While former Vice President Kamala Harris walked out to Beyoncé on the presidential campaign trail, Trump was met with several “cease and desist” letters from artists asking the president not to use their music at his events and could only rely on a handful of musicians for support. The president has shown a willingness to go after enemies for perceived slights.
Live Nation has denied any wrongdoing in the investigation and stated that they did not collude with AEG over refund policies.
“It is not illegal for artist agents, promoters and ticketing companies to work together to solve the unprecedented challenges of a global pandemic,” Dan Wall, Live Nation’s executive VP of corporate and regulatory affairs, said in a statement to TheWrap. “While Live Nation contributed to this industry effort in good faith, we set our own unique policies and refund terms to support fans and artists. We did not collude with AEG or anyone else.”
AEG has yet to make a public statement on the matter and a spokesman did not respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.
Inside the investigation
The Justice Department started investigating potential collusion under President Joe Biden, according to Bloomberg. Efforts to convict the live music giants and the attached agencies intensified under the Trump administration as the five-year statute of limitations on criminal charges is coming up.
When the DOJ sent subpoenas for documents in the Live Nation-Ticketmaster investigation in 2023, the department found email exchanges between agents and promoters over COVID refund and cancellation policies, leading to this second antitrust investigation to take hold during the Biden administration.
The investigation specifically analyzes whether the companies dealt with artists to limit losses on behalf of their clients or colluded on refund policies for canceled concerts, as live performances account for a significant portion of artists’ income.
Among those interviewed by the DOJ was rock legend Bon Jovi. The artist was one of the first to cancel his North American summer tour in April 2020 to give fans a full refund and help them cover other more pressing costs.
Bon Jovi slighted the ticketing industry when he announced his personal refund policy and outright tour cancellation. Live Nation and AEG were slower to make firm decisions on cancellation policies and delayed or denied refunds to fans, offering vouchers or “Concert Cash” instead.
“Given these difficult times, we have made the decision to cancel the tour entirely. This will enable ticketholders to get refunds to help pay their bills or buy groceries,” the singer tweeted after the cancellation in April 2020.
The antitrust probe will not necessarily lead to criminal charges being leveraged against Live Nation, AEG or Rapino. So far, the parties have yet to be accused of wrongdoing.
An individual with knowledge of the investigation told TheWrap that the general sentiment around the investigation and specifically in the music industry is confusion as to why the government would fault the companies for having similar refund policies.
“People are a bit in disbelief,” the person said. “The government is investigating live music and the best they can come up with is they discussed how to return money for tickets?”
Joint response to COVID
The task force came together after the world came to grips with the impact of COVID and the need for social distancing.
On March 12, 2020, Live Nation, AEG, CAA, WME, Paradigm (whose North American music arm was acquired by Wasserman) and UTA released a joint statement, noting that they had joined forces to form a global task force to determine the cancellation protocol in the “best interest of artists, fans, staff and the global community.” The group’s first recommendation was to cancel all large-scale events through the end of March.
“At this time, we collectively recommend that large scale events through the end of March be postponed. This recommendation is specific to the U.S. and countries deemed Level 3 by the CDC,” the statement read. “We continue to support that small-scale events in these regions follow guidance set by their local government officials. We feel fortunate to have the flexibility to reschedule concerts, festivals and live events as needed, and look forward to connecting fans with all their favorite artists and live entertainment soon.”
The task force included Live Nation CEO Rapino, Dan Beckerman (president and CEO, AEG and board member, ASM Global), Jay Marciano (chairman and CEO, AEG Presents), CAA’s Light, Marc Geiger (partner and head of music, WME), Sam Gores (chairman, Paradigm), Marty Diamond (head of global music, Paradigm) and David Zedeck (partner and global head of music, UTA).
As the pandemic persisted and gathering for live events proved impossible, Live Nation and AEG offered similar refund policies on tickets for postponed concerts.
For AEG, fans had a 30-day window to apply for refunds for AEG-produced concerts that had already confirmed their rescheduled dates starting May 1, 2020.
Live Nation and Ticketmaster’s plan was similar, giving ticketholders 30 days to apply for a refund for rescheduled shows. Additionally, Live Nation offered a so-called Concert Cash policy which allowed fans to receive up to 150% of their ticket value that they would receive once they attended the new date. Both AEG and Live Nation also gave ticketholders the option to donate their tickets to charity.
Other ticket resale companies like StubHub, SeatGeek and Vivid Seats did not give fans cash back, instead giving them a credit.
AEG, who partnered with promoter Golden Voice, postponed Coachella 2020 to October of that year. The festival did not return until April 2022.
Live Nation’s legal troubles
This pandemic-era investigation is an outgrowth of the Justice Department’s broader civil antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation and its subsidiary Ticketmaster, part of the larger legal issues the company still faces.
Live Nation has been accused of monopolistic behavior for its vast ownership of the venues – it handles 60% of the promotions for major U.S. concert venues and directly owns 265 venues in North America – as well as their control of ticketing through Ticketmaster, allowing the company to hike prices and add junk fees with impunity. Through the popular ticket platform, Live Nation controls 80% of venues’ primary ticketing for concerts.
The broader antitrust lawsuit is seeking to force Live Nation to divest itself of Ticketmaster, the dominant ticketing platform it acquired in a $2.5 billion merger in 2010. Under American law, companies can face up to $100 million fines for criminal antitrust violations and individuals, such as Rapino in the Live Nation suit, could face up to 10 years in prison — although no one has been sentenced to more than five.
“Rather than investing in better products and services, we allege that Live Nation has illegally monopolized markets across the live concert industry in the United States for far too long,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said at a 2024 news conference. “It is time to break it up.”
Beyond the Justice Department, Live Nation in March agreed to pay $20 million to settle a shareholder lawsuit alleging that it had made misleading comments about industry competition and its compliance with federal regulations.
The pandemic-related case just adds another wrinkle to a company embroiled in one legal battle after another.
