Entertainment
Live Nation Verdict: Jury Says Concert Giant Is An Illegal Monopoly in Total Defeat
A jury found Wednesday (April 15) that Live Nation and Ticketmaster violated federal and state antitrust laws by dominating the live music industry, capping off a blockbuster trial with a verdict that could ultimately see the two concert giants broken up.
After a five-week trial in Manhattan federal court, jurors sided with a coalition of state attorneys general who sued Live Nation. The states argued during closing statements that the concert giant was a “monopolistic bully” that had harmed competition and driven up ticket prices for fans.
In its verdict, the jury handed Live Nation a total defeat — finding that the company illegally monopolized the market for ticketing services, concert ticketing and the use of amphitheaters, and that it illegally tied the use of its venues to its concert promotion services. The jury said fans overpaid by $1.72 per ticket.
Following the verdict, all eyes will turn to Judge Arun Subramanian, who must now decide whether to order Live Nation to sell off Ticketmaster — something critics have long demanded and the states have said is the goal of their case. Such orders are drastic and rare, though, and the judge could instead merely ban certain anti-competitive conduct.
Live Nation is certain to challenge the outcome, first to Subramanian and then to a federal appeals court.
New York Attorney General Letitia James celebrated the verdict as a “landmark victory” in a statement Wednesday.
“For far too long, Live Nation and Ticketmaster have taken advantage of fans and artists by raising prices for tickets and stifling any competition that threatened their power,” said James. “A jury found what we have long known to be true: Live Nation and Ticketmaster are breaking the law and costing consumers millions of dollars in the process. I am proud to have led a bipartisan coalition of attorneys general in bringing this case and look forward to continuing our work to hold Live Nation and Ticketmaster accountable.”
Reps for Live Nation did not immediately return a request for comment.
The U.S. Department of Justice and dozens of states sued in 2024, 14 years after Live Nation and Ticketmaster merged with the blessing of federal antitrust regulators. The feds claimed the company had since grown into a monopoly that illegally dominated the live music industry: “It is time to break it up,” said then-attorney general Merrick Garland.
But a week after the trial started last month, DOJ agreed to a surprise settlement with Live Nation — a move that reportedly came after President Donald Trump personally pushed for it. The deal required key changes in business practices but, crucially, would not require the company to divest Ticketmaster. Following that, dozens of states said that settlement was insufficient, and instead pushed ahead with the trial.
Over five weeks of testimony, jurors heard from venue bosses like former Barclays Center CEO John Abbamondi, who claimed Live Nation threatened to divert concerts if he switched to rival ticketer SeatGeek. Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino later took the stand, where he denied such threats and said his company had simply outperformed its rivals to achieve its success: “I’m very proud.”
Jurors also heard from AEG Presents CEO Jay Marciano; current Barclays Center boss Laurie Jacoby; several other sports execs, promoters and venue operators; multiple Live Nation and Ticketmaster execs, like president of touring Omar Al-joulani; Drake’s manager Adel Nur, also known as Future The Prince; and numerous economists and other expert witnesses.
Live Nation, repped at trial by a team from the law firm Latham & Watkins, tried to persuade the jury that the company had secured its massive market share over the past 15 years not through anti-competitive behavior, but by simply being better than its rivals. During his closing statements, Live Nation attorney David Marriott called his client a “fierce competitor.”
But the states, led by veteran antitrust litigator Jeffrey Kessler, told the jury a very different story: that Live Nation and Ticketmaster had abused their position to enrich themselves at the expense of fans. They cited much-publicized Slack messages in which two Live Nation execs joked about “taking advantage” of “stupid” fans with prices and fees: “Robbing them blind baby. That’s how we do.”
“Who talks like this? What type of company uses this language?” Kessler asked the jury in closing statements on Thursday (April 9). “The answer, I think you will find, is a monopolist who views itself to be above the law.”
With Wednesday’s verdict, the jury showed that argument worked. It took them four days to deliberate, sifting through weeks of testimony and mountains of evidence submitted by both sides. As is typical with verdicts, there was no stated explanation for why the jurors sided with the states.
Entertainment
LE SSERAFIM’s Sophomore Album ‘PUREFLOW’ Is on Its Way: Here’s When It Arrives
They are fearless, they are powerful and they are back with new music. K-pop girl group LE SSERAFIM announced via Weverse on Sunday (April 12) the release date for their second studio album, PUREFLOW pt. 1 and the lead single “CELEBRATION.” PUREFLOW pt. 1 will drop on May 22 with the single coming out April 24.
The girl group began teasing its comeback on April 7 with a cryptic Instagram post with the hashtag “#TimeToCelebrate.” Fans were quick to react in the posts’ comments asking, “What are we celebrating,” while others responded simply with “Finally.”
Alongside the news of the upcoming album and single, the K-pop girl group also shared a video for the PUREFLOW on its social media channels and record label HYBE’s YouTube channel. In the video, the phrase “For we are not fearless, and therefore powerful” materializes before “powerful” transforms into the word PUREFLOW. The same message appears in the caption.
PUREFLOW is the follow-up record to LE SSERAFIM’s 2023 debut studio album, UNFORGIVEN, and the first release since its 2025 single “SPAGHETTI” featuring j-hope of BTS. Since the group’s debut in 2022 with EP FEARLESS, LE SSERAFIM has taken the stage at both the MTV VMAs and EMAs, achieved major chart success on the Billboard 200 and performed at Coachella in 2024. LE SSERAFIM’s second EP, ANTIFRAGILE, debuted and peaked at No. 14 on the Billboard 200, marking the band’s first time on the chart. UNFORGIVEN earned the group its first top 10 placement on the Billboard 200 when it rose to a peak of No. 6 in May 2023.
Entertainment
Young Thug Looks Out for North West in Crowd During Coachella Set: ‘Protect North’
Young Thug was very communicative with the desert audience during his Coachella set on Sunday night (April 12). Among the VIPs in the crowd to pull up with a front-row view to his performance were North West and Teyana Taylor.
“What’s up, North? How you doing? Where your parents?” Thug said while asking about Kim Kardashian and Ye (formerly Kanye West).
He gave another shout-out to Ye and Kim’s eldest daughter later in the show. “I want y’all to make some noise for North,” Thugger continued. “She in this motherf—ker. You just casually having fun.”
Ahead of performing the top 15 Billboard Hot 100 hit “Hot” sans Gunna, Thugger instructed the crowd to open up some mosh pits, as captured in a fan video. “Give me a mosh pit over here. North, get out of the way. Teyana, get out the way. I don’t see one yet. What is this, not English? Where North at, man, protect North,” he said while looking out for the 12-year-old.
Thug also took a playful jab at Teyana Taylor in the audience, as he was looking to have the Harlem native style him for the performance. Thugger opted for colorful braids and a bedazzled black SP5DER football jersey to go with a pair of diamond-encrusted leather pants.
“Teyana Taylor in here, what’s up. I’ve been tryna get in touch with her for, like, the last month. I wanted her to style me, man. She just too big. [She] wasn’t calling back, talking about, ‘We promise she gonna call back later, we promise she’s rehearsing.’ I’m like, ‘What she rehearsing for?'”
Thugger’s set was a roller-coaster ride throughout all the eras of his unique career. He even brought a few special guests to the stage, as Camila Cabello, Ty Dolla $ign and NAV all joined him.
Watch a clip of Camila Cabello’s “Havana” performance with Thug below.
Entertainment
Katy Perry Denies Ruby Rose’s Sexual Assault Allegations, Calls Them ‘Dangerous, Reckless Lies’
After Batwoman actress Ruby Rose accused Katy Perry of sexual assault in a series of Threads posts on Sunday (April 12), the singer’s team responded on Monday morning (April 13) with a denial of the claims they called “categorically false.”
In a statement to Billboard, a representative for Perry said, “The allegations being circulated on social media by Ruby Rose about Katy Perry are not only categorically false, they are dangerous, reckless lies.” The statement went on to refer to what Perry’s team described as Rose’s “well-documented history of making serious public allegations on social media against various individuals,” saying those claims have “repeatedly been denied by those named.”
Former Orange Is the New Black star Rose made the allegations in a response to a news story about Perry’s reaction to Justin Bieber’s Saturday Coachella, in which Perry appeared to make a lighthearted jab about the portion of the show in which Bieber sang along to his old YouTube videos.
Australian native Rose commented in response to Complex’s Threads post, “Katy Perry sexual assaulted me at spice market nightclub in Melbourne. Who gives a s–t what she thinks.” After a Threads user asked for additional details, Rose, 40, claimed the alleged assault took place when she was in her 20s, writing, that “as a woman, for a myriad of reasons, opening up about W on W violence and sexual abuse, seems to be 100 times harder than speaking about the male predators, at least for me.”
When another commenter attempted to make a joke by referring to one of Perry’s early hits with the quip, “She kissed a girl and you didn’t like it?,” Rose provided what she claimed were the details of the alleged incident.
Rose then added, “I told the story publicly but changed it to be a ‘funny little drunk story’ because I didn’t know how else to handle it. Later she agreed to help me get my US visa. So I kept it a secret. But I DID tell yall she wasn’t a good person. Instead I got attacked by.. everyone.”
In her series of posts, Rose wrote, “I was only in my early 20s. I’m now 40. It has taken almost 2 decades to say this publicly. Though I am so grateful to have made it long enough to find my voice, it just shows how much of an impact trauma and sexual assault takes. Thank you for seeing me.”
Initially, Rose said she was not interested in filing a report over the incident, “not when I haven’t even filed a report for the numerous rapes at the hands of grown men.” She also said she invited Perry to sue her over the allegations, claiming, “she won’t, because it happened,” claiming she has photos from the night and that it was “witnessed by multiple people.”
She ended the posts by reiterating her claims that Perry wrote and signed letters of recommendation for her U.S. visa application in the 2010s.
The two stars have a history dating back to 2017, when Rose took aim at Perry over her song “Swish Swish,” widely believed to be a diss aimed at Rose’s friend Taylor Swift. At the time, Rose tweeted, “Purposeful poop’ to ‘bomb a petit’ to a sloppy mess of writing over the top of Funkagenda..stop trying to make ‘Wit..I mean ‘fetch’ happen,” later retracting her comment and tweeting, “being mean doesn’t suit me and leaves me feeling dirty … I get so triggered when I think bullies don’t get held accountable and it makes me think I should say something.”
At press time, it appeared as if Rose might have had a change of heart about taking her allegation to the authorities, writing late Sunday, “Today I will be walking into a police station to see if any of my experiences can be investigated. I imagine they are past their statute of limitations, but all the more reason to try. I have a long list, it will probably take more out of me than I’m prepared for, but I will come back here to update others on the process, as soon as I am ready.” It was unclear at press time if Rose discussed the alleged Perry incident or another one during her reported visit the police.
She also thanked all the “brave women” who came forward with their own stories of sexual abuse. “Especially the ones who went through the painful process of going through the police and court system. For years I have been too wounded and afraid to take the appropriate steps because I know the system seldom works.”
When another user questioned why she hadn’t filed a police report, Ruby responded Monday, “Just left the police station.” A spokesperson for Rose has not yet returned Billboard‘s request for comment.
If you or anyone you know has experienced sexual assault and needs support, reach out to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network. The organization provides free, confidential support to sexual assault victims 24/7. Call RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Hotline (800.656.HOPE) or visit the anti-sexual violence organization’s website for more information.
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