UK MPs press CMA to investigate Live Nation before year’s end

Live Nation directly controlled 58% of the 23.1 million primary tickets on sale for arena, stadium and other large-scale UK concerts in 2025. Counting sales by affiliated companies, that share rose to 66%, according to Association of Independent Festivals data cited by MPs who are now pushing the Competition and Markets Authority to open a full market investigation into live music before 2026 ends.

The House of Commons Business, Innovation, Science and Trade Committee repeated its call on Sunday, October 18. It first made the request in a May report, when it was still the Business and Trade Committee. The CMA has not announced an investigation.

“Britain’s live music industry should reward talent, not simply market power,” said committee chair Liam Byrne. “We found a climate of fear, barriers for artists and grassroots venues missing out.” He added that fans and performers “deserve a fair deal – and they deserve it now.”

What the May report found

MPs concluded that Live Nation’s position raised concerns against all three factors the CMA uses to assess market dominance.

The report also took aim at long-term exclusivity agreements that make access to Live Nation venues “contingent on participation in its festivals (or vice versa).” Evidence given to the inquiry alleged that third-party ticket agents must integrate their systems with Ticketmaster’s, which lets Live Nation keep customer data even from competitors and use it across promotion, marketing and event operations.

A voluntary levy on arena and stadium tickets, meant to fund grassroots music, came up too. Its limited uptake was “widely attributed” to Live Nation’s failure to implement it, the report said. As of March 2026, 30% of tickets sold for that year’s shows had supported the levy. The report noted that Live Nation had recently worked with artists who paid in, including Coldplay, Biffy Clyro and Harry Styles.

Live Nation rejected the conclusions when the report came out. A UK spokesperson said it “misrepresents the UK live music industry by relying on inaccurate data and unsupported conclusions.” In written evidence submitted in January, the company said it owns or operates, in full or in part, 26 UK festivals, which it put at less than 5% of the country’s total.

The regulator and the government

In July, The Times reported that the CMA had begun contacting industry figures, some of them Live Nation critics, to arrange meetings ahead of a possible investigation. Back in June 2025, Emma Cochrane, then the CMA’s Acting Executive Director of Consumer Protection, told the committee the regulator was weighing a market study or market investigation “which would be on a timeframe of 18 to 24 months.” Such an investigation, she said, would “open up the possibility of making orders, including breaking up a business.”

Kate Dearden, a minister at the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, also wrote to the committee. “We do not consider it appropriate for government to pre-empt or direct the use of the CMA’s statutory powers,” she said.

Live Nation is also contesting an antitrust defeat in the US. In April, a federal jury in Manhattan found that Live Nation and Ticketmaster had illegally monopolized primary ticketing at major US concert venues, and that consumers were overcharged by $1.72 per ticket. The coalition of more than 30 states and the District of Columbia that won the case has asked the court to order Live Nation to divest Ticketmaster. Live Nation and Ticketmaster have asked for the verdict to be thrown out or a new trial ordered.

In its response to the May report, the CMA said it would “engage with stakeholders across the supply chain” on its own initial assessment of potential harms. Its Board will consider “whether to undertake formal markets work in this area in the autumn,” and the regulator will update the committee afterward, Music Week reported. The committee is writing back to the CMA to ask for details and a timeline of its next steps.