Live Nation Wins Lawsuit For All-Female Country Music Festival Concept

A federal appeals court rejected a $25 million lawsuit claiming Live Nation was “stringing along” but ultimately rejected an artist’s proposal for an all-female country music festival. 

Rae Solomon claimed the live entertainment mammoth led her to believe the company would invest in her female-only concert series. Back in 2018, the singer approached Live Nation with a proposal for Zenitheve Music Festival, a country spin off of Little Fair.

According to Solomon, the music event giant called her idea a “modern riff” just to unfairly back out later and reportedly steal the concept. 

But in a ruling Thursday, the court said Live Nation has not made “any misrepresentations in its dealings with Solomon” and offered only “sales talk, future intention, and opinion.”

“An expression of interest in participating in a project is not a promise to do so. The statement represents nothing more than Live Nation’s interest in the project.”

East Hallows, Solomon’s event production company, sought a $4 million investment from Live Nation while projecting $14.26 million in revenue for the proposed festival. 

Despite the company’s initial interest, negotiations fell apart in October when Live Nation company said the music event posed too much risk. Live Nation’s senior vice president for mergers and acquisitions Michael Wichser said Solomon’s business plan was “lackluster,” while chief communications officer Carrie David thought her idea “wasn’t compelling or unique.” 

But just a month after, LN announced an all-female day at its Lake Shake, a country music festival in Chicago with a “nearly identical” lineup. 

Investors pulled out of Zenitheve and the country artist halted the music festival. Solomon quickly sued the company, claiming Live Nation intentionally acted the way it did to copy her concept. 

However, the court disagreed, stating that Lake Shake Festival’s organizer, Brian O’Connell, had no knowledge of the country singer’s Zenitheve proposal.