Here’s How the Midterm Elections Blue Wave Could Impact Music Policy in D.C.

Democrats won a historic victory in the midterm elections on Tuesday (Nov. 3), flipping Congress and securing comfortable majorities in both the Senate and House of Representatives. The power shift is sure to affect policy across issues and industries, and music is no exception.

The chief area to watch come January will be congressional investigations and hearings — specifically, probes that dig into the live music sector. Democratic lawmakers are not happy with the eleventh-hour antitrust settlement reached between Live Nation and President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice (DOJ), and they’ll likely use their new gavels and subpoena powers to spotlight the president’s involvement in what they’ve called a “sweetheart deal.”

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The DOJ settlement, inked one week into Live Nation’s antitrust trial, would require the company to cut back on some exclusivity practices but allow it to keep Ticketmaster. State attorneys general went forward with the trial and won a complete verdict on their monopoly claims. A judge is now weighing whether to adopt the settlement or grant the states’ much more drastic request for a forced Ticketmaster sale.

Democrats criticized Live Nation’s DOJ deal during a so-called “shadow hearing” in May, and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), ranking member of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, vowed to one day hold a proper hearing on the matter. “We will at some point, I guarantee, enter [your statements] into the record in full when we control committee hearings,” Blumenthal told witnesses, including California Attorney General Rob Bonta and indie promoter Jerry Mickelson.

Live Nation said in a Wednesday (Nov. 4) statement to Billboard, “The settlement provides meaningful, enforceable solutions, and we welcome the opportunity to answer questions about how it was reached as we focus on delivering on those commitments. The facts about what drives ticket prices haven’t changed, and we’ll continue working with policymakers on both sides of the aisle to address the issues that matter most to fans and artists.”

We can also expect a more robust congressional probe into ties between StubHub and Andro Capital, a ticket broker fund run by the company’s CEO Eric Baker. House Oversight Committee ranking member Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) opened an investigation in July after StubHub disclosed that Baker’s own fund had made more than $5 million in profits by reselling bulk ticket inventory on the platform since 2022.

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Garcia has sought financial records detailing the relationship between StubHub and Andro, but up until now he has lacked the subpoena power to enforce those demands. That will now change in January. StubHub, for its part, has maintained that the Andro relationship is entirely aboveboard and “makes up only a small fraction of StubHub’s total revenue.”

“Eric’s investment in Andro Capital has been disclosed publicly,” said a StubHub spokesperson this summer. “Andro Capital is a separate company and is one of many vendors we use.”

One thing that likely won’t change after Tuesday’s Democratic victory is the music industry’s legislative agenda. That’s because music is a rare bipartisan issue in Congress. The two bills currently being most closely watched by the business, the American Music Fairness Act and NO FAKES Act, have support from both Democrats and Republicans.

Mitch Glazier, chairman/CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), explained in an appearance on the Billboard On the Record podcast last month that the outcome of the midterms wouldn’t affect his current optimism about passing the NO FAKES Act, which aims to ban AI-powered voice cloning and deepfakes. “This is where we are so fortunate that our issues are completely bipartisan,” said Glazier. “It doesn’t matter if the House changes or the Senate changes, or they both stay the same, or they both change; this bill will be on a trajectory for quick introduction and quick movement.”

Glazier did, however, point out to Billboard On the Record that the music industry would lose one of its greatest advocates in Congress if Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) succeeded in winning her state’s governor’s race. Blackburn indeed triumphed in Tennessee on Tuesday night, meaning she’ll no longer be around as a reliable sponsor of Senate bills that affect Nashville’s music scene. But Glazier highlighted some “rising champions” of music still in Congress, including Reps. Nathaniel Moran (R-Tex.), Becca Balint (D-Vt.) and Laura Friedman (D-Calif.).