Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino, defending his company, takes star role
at antitrust trial
[March 20, 2026]
By LARRY NEUMEISTER
NEW YORK (AP) — Live Nation Entertainment’s longtime chief executive was
the star witness at a New York antitrust trial Thursday, defending the
dominant position his company has taken over the last two decades as a
lawyer for nearly three dozen states tried to portray the concert giant
as greedy and abusive to customers.
Michael Rapino, who has led the company since it was formed 21 years
ago, testified at the trial resulting from the lawsuit the U.S. Justice
Department brought two years ago against Live Nation and its ticketing
subsidiary, Ticketmaster.
“I'm very proud,” Rapino said, speaking of the way he believed his
company had taken a fragmented industry over 20 years ago and organized
it to better serve artists and fans in a manner that other companies now
try to emulate. In 2010, Live Nation merged with Ticketmaster.
The federal government settled its role in the case last week, winning
concessions from Live Nation that are meant to increase competition and
ideally lower ticket prices for concertgoers. Six states have joined the
federal government in settling. But 33 states and the District of
Columbia are continuing the court fight.
Attorney Jeffrey Kessler, representing the states, questioned Rapino
throughout the day as he tried to show the company was shutting out
competitors and driving up prices for fans.
Live Nation CEO says profits hard to find in concert industry
Rapino portrayed the concert promotion and ticketing industry as so
competitive with such narrow profit margins that Wall Street was
skeptical that the public company could produce steady growth and
profits. He said 40 amphitheaters it owns or controls would lose $150
million annually if Live Nation couldn't profit from the sale of food
and beverages, parking and other amenity products such as lawn chairs.
At one point, Kessler brought up 2022 messages in which one of Live
Nation's key ticketing employees wrote to another employee on the
company's private messaging system that some customers were “so stupid”
and boasted of “robbing them blind, baby” on the sale of the amenities,
including access to VIP areas.
Rapino called the language “disgusting” and “not the way we operate” and
said he just learned about it last week and planned “to deal with it
this week.”
As Kessler pressed as to whether the employee would be disciplined,
Rapino said his company tends “to give employees a break” and added that
“I heard he's apologized.”
Live Nation has said that the company only learned of the employee's
private messages last week when they were made public in the litigation.
Its lawyers have described the conversation as “off-the-cuff banter, not
policy” between two employees who are personal friends.
The chastened employee, Benjamin Baker, now head of ticketing for Venue
Nation, which includes the company's amphitheaters, described the
messages as “very immature and unacceptable” when he testified this
week.
Relaxed Rapino calmly rejected claims by the states
Throughout his testimony Thursday, Rapino remained composed and relaxed
as he explained why he believed many of Kessler's assertions were
misleading or wrong.
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Michael Rapino, left, chief executive officer and president of Live
Nation Entertainment Inc., arrives at Manhattan Federal court,
Thursday, March 19, 2026 in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
 For instance, Kessler confronted him
with a Ticketmaster executive's explanation on the day of the
company’s infamously problem-plagued effort to sell Taylor Swift
tickets in 2022 that outdated Ticketmaster systems were to blame.
“We thought demand overloaded the system,” Rapino said. “It turned
out not to be true.”
Instead, he said, a cyberattack was to blame.
Kessler confronted Rapino with email evidence that he said shows
that Live Nation threatens to reduce the number of concerts a venue
can get if it doesn't use Ticketmaster. Rapino brushed it off.
“In 15 years, there have been a few of those wild emails,” he said,
adding that the threat never “actually materialized.”
He said most exclusive ticketing deals Live Nation signs with big
venues such as stadiums and arenas originate because wealthy sports
team owners insist upon it so they have more control and don't have
to deal with multiple players.
“I don't tell the billionaire what to do with his venue. He tells
me,” Rapino said.
Lawyer for states tried to show Live Nation was greedy as Rapino
pushed back
When Kessler suggested that Live Nation banned customers from
bringing their own lawn chairs to its 40 amphitheaters across the
country so it could force them to pay extra for the company's lawn
chairs, Rapino pushed back.
“It was a safety issue, for sure,” Rapino said, explaining that
event spectators were getting upset with one another because fans
were bringing various sized chairs, sometimes obstructing the views
of others.
At another point, Kessler brought up a 2024 controversy in which
some fans of the singer Adele complained about Ticketmaster's
handling of presale tickets.
Rapino, though, explained that the controversy reflected an instance
in which rival ticketing companies pretend they are fan clubs to
“get tickets for free we had to acquire.”
Kessler asked Rapino if Live Nation rejected Adele's offer to pay
ticketing fees to satisfy her fans.
“We would never say no to Adele,” Rapino said. “We said no to the
ticketing company.”
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