New call for investigation into live music industry over fears of Live Nation dominance

A new report into the live music industry has called for an investigation into potential market dominance by ticketing company Live Nation.

In primary ticketing last year, Live Nation directly controlled 58% of the 23.1 million tickets on sale that year, the Business and Trade Committee said. It claims this increased to 66% if sales controlled by its affiliate companies are included. Other concerns raised included a lack of uptake on an industry led levy on arena and stadium tickets to support the grassroots sector.

Live Nation, which is the parent company of Ticketmaster, says the report "misrepresents the UK live music industry by relying on inaccurate data and unsupported conclusions".

The committee said many of those who provided evidence to the report had done so on the condition of anonymity, which had raised further concerns for the MPs. It is now calling on the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to launch a new probe. The report comes after a CMA investigation was launched into the way Ticketmaster sold Oasis tickets in 2024.

The probe found Ticketmaster did not tell fans waiting in lengthy queues that standing tickets were being sold at two different prices, and that prices would jump as soon as the cheap tickets sold out.

Committee chair Liam Byrne said: “What particularly alarmed the committee was not just the scale of Live Nation’s market position across promotion, venues and ticketing, but the climate of fear we encountered during this inquiry. A striking number of submissions requested anonymity because people were worried about the consequences of speaking openly. That alone raises profound questions about the health of competition in the market.”

The MP for Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North said the UK’s live music scene was “one of our great national success stories” but evidence submitted raised concerns about “whether competition in the industry is now working fairly for fans, artists, venues and independent promoters”.

Mr Byrne added: “The CMA should now launch a full market investigation, before the end of this year, so there can be proper scrutiny of whether consumers, artists and independent businesses are getting a fair deal.”

A Government spokesperson said: “Everyone deserves a fair chance to see their favourite artists live, which is why vendors are required by law to be transparent about their ticket prices. We have also strengthened the CMA’s powers to ensure it can investigate and take action against businesses that breach competition and consumer law.”

A CMA spokesperson said: “The CMA will respond to the committee’s report on its inquiry, once it is published, having taken careful account of its findings and other relevant developments, to set out our next steps. As set out in our submission, we are giving active and careful consideration to undertaking markets work in this area.”

A Live Nation UK spokesperson said: “This report misrepresents the UK live music industry by relying on inaccurate data and unsupported conclusions. Live Nation competes every day for tours, venues and artists in a highly competitive market.

“We will engage constructively with any process that benefits artists, fans and the wider industry, but debate about the sector must be based on evidence, not allegation and hearsay.”