In March, one of the most important antitrust cases in recent memory went to trial. The Department of Justice and 39 states plus the District of Columbia had sued the ticketing-and-entertainment giant Live Nation, alleging that its 2010 merger with Ticketmaster had created an effective monopoly on live shows. According to the suit, Live Nation controls 70 percent of what the government defined as “major concert venues” in the United States, and Ticketmaster handles 86 percent of concert ticketing at those venues. The DOJ accused the company of exploiting this monopoly by compelling venues to use Ticketmaster as their exclusive seller, jacking up prices, and saddling concertgoers with unavoidable junk fees. This certainly looked like an archetypal case of a company’s size leaving consumers worse off—precisely what our antitrust laws are designed to prevent. This is what made it so disappointing when, a week after the trial began, DOJ announced that it had reached a settlement with Live Nation. Although the agreement mandated changes to some of the company’s practices, including granting access to other …