We went to federal court. Here's what happened.
When we launched this petition in March, the DOJ had just filed a consent decree with Live Nation and Ticketmaster that 27 state attorneys general refused to sign. We said the settlement wasn't enough. We built a five-pillar fairness standard and asked you to stand behind it.
152 of you did.
On April 30, 2026, we filed a formal public-interest submission with the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York -- Judge Arun Subramanian -- in Case No. 1:24-cv-03973. The jury returned a verdict on April 15th finding Live Nation and Ticketmaster liable for illegal monopolization. The case is now in the remedies phase, which is where the real terms of any fix get decided.
Our submission laid out five conduct standards we believe must be included in any enforceable remedy:
All-in pricing from the first click. No more fees that only appear at checkout. Trial evidence showed these fees reached 44% above face value.
Independent third-party bot audits. Not self-reported data. Not internal compliance reviews. A real stress test run by outside technical auditors.
Artist autonomy over ticket inventory, presale lists, and pricing -- regardless of what platform they use or what financial leverage that platform holds.
Non-exclusive interoperability, so independent venues can use competing ticketing platforms without facing financial retaliation. This happened. Trial testimony confirmed it.
Face-value resale limits, to eliminate the platform-enabled scalping tools that redirect money away from fans and artists.
We submitted this under the UL/NSF model: the same way a product has to pass an independent safety audit before it goes on shelves, a ticketing platform should have to pass an independent fairness audit. We called it the Independence Lock.
Your names are part of the record we brought to court. The judge can see that 152 verified stakeholders formally demanded a standardized accountability framework. That is not nothing. In a remedies proceeding, documented public demand matters.
We are not done. The remedies phase is still unfolding. We are continuing to push, and we need your help to keep growing the record.
If you have not already signed: please share this petition. change.org/live-events
If you want to do more than sign, we built an intake form for volunteers and contributors at liveeventscouncil.org/support/ -- whether you have an hour a week or a lot more, we want to hear from you.
Thank you for being on the right side of this.
Victoria Cortez Founder,
Live Events Standards Council