The U.S. Justice Department approved Ticketmaster's merger with Live Nation in 2010 after the companies agreed to meet certain conditions, including for Ticketmaster to license its ticketing software to competitors. At the time, the merger was criticized by some artists and activists, who said it would give Ticketmaster the ability to increase fees endlessly. But the Justice Department argued that the terms of the merger would "protect competition for primary ticketing, which will in turn maintain incentives for innovation and discounting."