TJ Chambers
This week’s post offers some additional comments on the Live Nation-Ticketmaster antitrust trial, discusses the ill-fated decision by Festival Republic to announce Ye (formerly Kanye West) as the headliner of the Pepsi Presents Wireless festival (which as you may already be aware didn’t go exactly to plan), and more positively looks forward to the Ticketing Business Forum (https://www.ticketingbusinessforum.com/), attending the various sessions, the networking opportunities and meeting as many as possible of the ‘Disruptor Award’ nominees.
But firstly …
Michael Rapino, president and chief executive officer of Live Nation Entertainment Inc., exits federal court in New York, US, on Thursday, March 19, 2026. Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images
The Verdict (Slight Return)
Following on from last week’s post (The Verdict … And in other news (17.04.26) – https://tjchambers.blog/2026/04/17/the-verdict-and-in-other-news-17-04-26/), despite the tentative settlement previously announced with Trump’s DOJ, and whatever ‘accommodation’ was reached in the White House (The Settlement … And in other news (27.03.26) – https://tjchambers.blog/2026/03/28/the-settlement-and-in-other-news-27-03-26/), the Live Nation-Ticketmaster antitrust trial continued (Live Nation’s Justice Department trial continues as U.S. senators call out a ‘broken ticket market’, Cerys Davies, 17th March 2026 – https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2026-03-17/live-nation-trial-resumes-as-32-states-proceed-with-trial) with the defendants seemingly adopting the proverb ‘the best defense is a good offense’ i.e. blaming anyone and everyone else for any perceived issues.
Live Nation-Ticketmaster has longed blamed bots, for circumventing their onsale technology and for inflaming the demand for tickets (Live Nation says a bot attack led to a ‘terrible consumer experience, which we deeply regret.’, Ben Sisario, 24th January 2023 – https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/24/arts/music/ticketmaster-taylor-swift-bot-attack.html).
They also blame ticket brokers and scalpers for circumventing event Terms & Conditions, whilst also being charged by the Federal Trade Commission and others of colluding with scalpers and inflating the resale market themselves (FTC Sues Live Nation and Ticketmaster for Engaging in Illegal Ticket Resale Tactics and Deceiving Artists and Consumers about Price and Ticket Limits, 18th September 2025 – https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2025/09/ftc-sues-live-nation-ticketmaster-engaging-illegal-ticket-resale-tactics-deceiving-artists-consumers).
During the trial Live Nation-Ticketmaster blamed the apparent inadequacy of competing ticketing solutions for their ‘enviable market position’ (Live Nation Rolls Out Novel Defense in Antitrust Case: AXS Really Sucks, Dave Books, 27th March 2026 – https://decibel.news/p/live-nation-rolls-out-novel-defense-in-antitrust-case-axs-really-sucks), whilst also privately admitting that their ‘Verified Fan’ initiative was less about fan-protection and more of a marketing tool used to reassure artists and agents that they were trying to stop brokers, as opposed to capturing data to drive platinum pricing (Live Nation Trial: States Say Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan More Sales Pitch Than Solution, OVG Admits Paid “Advocate” Role– Dave Clark, 26th March 2026 – https://www.ticketnews.com/2026/03/live-nation-trial-states-say-ticketmasters-verified-fan-more-sales-pitch-than-solution-ovg-admits-paid-advocate-role/).
Live Nation-Ticketmaster also blamed regulators for misunderstanding the definition of market monopoly (Monopoly? Not a Chance, Says Live Nation’s Chief at Antitrust Trial. Ben Sisario, 19th March 2026 – https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/19/arts/music/live-nation-ticketmaster-trial-rapino.html), and then attacked the credibility of the US State Attorneys expert witness, economist Rosa Abrantes-Metz and her work establishing price artificiality and damages, despite having over two decades of experience specializing in antitrust, securities, and financial regulation for private institutions and governmental agencies including the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Department of Justice, and the Federal Trade Commission.
Live Nation-Ticketmaster also claim to support state and federal pricing regulations outlawing drip-pricing whilst discretely raising their fees to offset any potential revenue loss from all-in pricing (Ticketmaster quietly raised other fees after US crackdown on hidden charges, Rosalind Adams, 26th March 2026 – https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/mar/26/ticketmaster-fees-hidden-charges).
And then this week in Washington DC theyhad to pay $9.9M to resolve allegations it misled customers about ticket prices (Attorney General Schwalb Announces Live Nation Will Pay $9.9 Million for Deceptive Ticket Pricing Practices, 20th April 2026 – https://oag.dc.gov/release/attorney-general-schwalb-announces-live-nation).
Live Nation-Ticketmaster also routinely claims artists are responsible for the high price of tickets, or the routing of tours (Live Nation Tour Chief Says Artists, Not Company, Decide Venues, Leah Nylen and Mikella Schuettler, 26th March 2026 – https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-03-26/live-nation-tour-chief-says-artists-not-company-decide-venues), as though the world’s largest vertically-aligned concert and festival promoter, venue operator, and ticket retailer plays no contributory role.
Indeed Live Nation-Ticketmaster deliberately and routinely blames everyone else, to deflect, distract and deny that any of its own actions (Former Barclays Exec Gives Bombshell Testimony in USA v. Live Nation—Reveals Live Nation CEO Threatened to Pull Major Tours If Ticketmaster Deals Weren’t Renewed, Ashley King, 5th March 2026 –https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2026/03/05/usa-v-live-nation-testimony-barclays-center/), policies (Live Nation Employees Boast About “Gouging” Fans With Fees and Parking Costs in Private Exchanges: “Robbing Them Blind, Baby”, Ethan Millman, 12th March 2026 –https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/music/music-industry-news/live-nation-employees-gouging-fans-messages-court-docs-1236528633/) or business protocols (Live Nation trial shows company’s grip on US concert business, Leah Nylen, Chris Dolmetsch and Mikella Schuettler, 27th March 2026 – https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-03-27/live-nation-trial-shines-light-on-power-in-us-concert-business) are responsible for any of their own malpractices or industry ills.
Well, this refusal to accept liability for anything, didn’t impress the jury.
And the verdict validated the decision by the various US states to pursue the case despite the DOJ’s withdrawal.
So now we wait for the judge to identity the appropriate remedies, and for the various exhaustive (and no doubt endless) appeals by Live Nation-Ticketmaster to start.Indeed Live Nation-Ticketmaster deliberately and routinely blames everyone else, to deflect, distract and deny that any of its own actions (Former Barclays Exec Gives Bombshell Testimony in USA v. Live Nation—Reveals Live Nation CEO Threatened to Pull Major Tours If Ticketmaster Deals Weren’t Renewed, Ashley King, 5th March 2026 –https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2026/03/05/usa-v-live-nation-testimony-barclays-center/), policies (Live Nation Employees Boast About “Gouging” Fans With Fees and Parking Costs in Private Exchanges: “Robbing Them Blind, Baby”, Ethan Millman, 12th March 2026 –https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/music/music-industry-news/live-nation-employees-gouging-fans-messages-court-docs-1236528633/) or business protocols (Live Nation trial shows company’s grip on US concert business, Leah Nylen, Chris Dolmetsch and Mikella Schuettler, 27th March 2026 – https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-03-27/live-nation-trial-shines-light-on-power-in-us-concert-business) are responsible for any of their own malpractices or industry ills.
Well, this refusal to accept liability for anything, didn’t impress the jury.
And the verdict validated the decision by the various US states to pursue the case despite the DOJ’s withdrawal.
So now we wait for the judge to identity the appropriate remedies, and for the various exhaustive (and no doubt endless) appeals by Live Nation-Ticketmaster to start.
(As mentioned in passing to Robin Cantrill-Fenwick (https://www.linkedin.com/in/rfenwick/), arguably the final outcome of the antitrust trial will not be fully revealed until the various appeal processes have all been extinguished, and certainly not before the various defence lawyers have bought and paid for second homes in The Hamptons, Maui, or The Keys.)
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Inner City Press
One of the news sources that covered the trial was Inner City Press(https://www.innercitypress.com/), a site that covers the Southern District of New York (SDNY) Court, providing updates on trials, lawsuits, and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests etc. and it has just published three booklets (available in Audiobook, Kindle or Paperback formats) that cover off the Live Nation-Ticketmaster antitrust trial:
TicketMonster: US v Live Nation 1, Matthew Russell Lee – https://www.amazon.com/TicketMonster-Nation-Matthew-Russell-Lee/dp/B0GRN95HNT/
TicketMonster in Court: States v Live Nation Part 2, Matthew Russel Lee – https://www.amazon.com/TicketMonster-Court-States-Live-Nation/dp/B0GT9LGJW2/
Ticketmaster Loses the Jury: Live Nation Death Sentence? The Battle for Transparency, Matthew Russell Lee – https://www.amazon.com/Ticketmaster-Loses-Jury-Sentence-Transparency/dp/B0GXFSGYJ1/
These low-priced, slim publications offer a breathless, albeit incomplete insight, into (extracts of) witness statements and also has numerous tantalising references to redacted material not released by the court despite FOIA requests.
Nevertheless, despite the brevity, and what’s not included, it’s still catnip for the ticketing nerd.
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An Extraordinary Chapter
Elsewhere, the decision to appoint Ye (formerly Kanye West) the disgraced rapper and fashion mogul as headliner of this year’s Wireless Festival in London wasn’t just a questionable booking choice by the Live Nation Entertainment subsidiary, Festival Republic (https://www.festivalrepublic.com/), it revealed a cynical calculation that outrage sells.
And to hell with any other consideration.
Not ethical, or moral, simply commercial.
Ye (formerly Kanye West) is an artist who has sold $20 swastika t-shirts (on a website powered by Shopify who then shut it down due to non-adherence of company terms). Repeatedly denied the holocaust whilst amplifying antisemitic tropes on podcasts and social media outlets and was dropped in 2023 by his lawyers Greenberg Traurig for his antisemitic statements. Suggested that ‘when we hear slavery for 400 years … that sounds like a choice’ whilst proclaiming that ‘White Lives Matter’. Was dropped by Adidas in 2023 following ‘antisemitic statements and improper behaviour’ with the company donating proceeds from their Yeezy merchandise collaboration to charitable organisations. Was dropped in February 2025 by his booking agent Daniel McCartney / 33 & West ‘due to his harmful and hateful remarks’, and then in May 2025 released a song entitled ‘Nigga Heil Hitler’ which included a sample taken from a 1935 Adolf Hitler speech.
All behaviour apparently excused by a diagnosed bipolar disorder and revealed within a full-age advert / apology in the Wall Street Journal (26.01.26) as he prepared to release new music (’Bully’ – YZY / Gamma, 2026) and live dates.
© Ye / Wall Street Journal
This splashy mea culpa was arguably an attempt to avoid accountability for his hateful language and behaviour, whilst his new attorneys (Andrew & Katie Cherkasky, Golden Law Inc.) argued in a Ye workplace sexual harassment lawsuit that his antisemitism was part of a creative process with his actions and pronouncements all part of some ‘performance art’ challenging societal taboos around race, religion, gender and politics.
Again, lawyers. Sigh.
Festival Republic announced Ye as headliner for all three nights of Wireless, the first time he would play the UK since 2015, claiming ‘Ye’s UK comeback will be an extraordinary chapter in Wireless’s story’.
The Response
The U.K.’s Jewish Leadership Council, and the Campaign Against Antisemitism quickly condemned the booking (U.K.’s Jewish Leadership Council Calls Three-Night Kanye West Booking at Wireless Festival ‘Deeply Irresponsible’, Kil Kaufman, 1st April 2026 – https://www.billboard.com/music/rb-hip-hop/jewish-group-condmens-kanye-west-booking-wireless-festival-1236212520/), and then London’s Mayor Sadiq Khan censured Festival Republic for an ‘offensive and wrong’ decision to have Ye headline the three-nights of Wireless (Sadiq Khan condemns Wireless Festival for booking “offensive and wrong” Kanye West, Joe Taysom, 1st April 2026 – https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/sadiq-khan-condemns-wireless-booking-offensive-wrong-kanye-west/).
This is the music industry at its most venal, cynical and depressing – Dan Hancox (Wireless festival’s backing for Kanye West is all about money. Don’t pretend it’s about the art, Dan Hancox, 2nd April 2026 – https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/apr/02/kanye-west-comeback-wireless-festival).
By the weekend the debate over Ye headlining Wireless had involved the UK’s Prime Minister, Keir Starmer who announced: ‘It is deeply concerning that Kanye West has been booked to perform at Wireless despite his previous antisemitic remarks and celebration of Nazism.’ (Kanye West headlining Wireless festival is ‘deeply concerning’, says Keir Starmer, Ben Quinn, 5th April 2026 – https://www.theguardian.com/music/2026/apr/05/kanye-west-wireless-festival-deeply-concerning-keir-starmer).
On the 5th April Pepsi withdrew their naming rights sponsorship – ‘Pepsi has decided to withdraw its sponsorship of Wireless Festival.’
Later the same day, a Diageo (alcohol beverage company whose brands include Guinness, Johnnie Walker and Smirnoff) spokesperson said: ‘We have informed the organisers of our concerns and as it stands, Diageo will not sponsor the 2026 Wireless festival.’
PayPal, a payments partner for the festival, then announced it would withdraw sponsorship and branding in any future promotional materials.
Finally, Melvin Benn MD Festival Republic responded with a statement outlining his long-standing anti-fascist commitment and pleaded for ‘forgiveness’ with regards to Ye’s previous behaviour and utterances.
© Festival Republic
On the 7th April 2026, the UK Home Office declined Ye’s application to travel to the UK via an Electronic Travel Authorisation, on the grounds that his presence in the UK would not be conducive to the public good.
Festival Republic promptly cancelled Wireless.
© Festival Republic
The Arrogance of Promoters
London prides itself on being one of the most multicultural, inclusive cities in the world.
So, at what point did those involved – Festival Republic / Live Nation – in the decision-making process booking Ye to headline Wireless believe that their decision to condone, support and provide a platform to his antisemitic, racist and homophobic behaviour would be acceptable?
Indeed, was this anything more than a cynical commercial calculation to profit from Ye’s infamy, whilst also exhibiting a willingness to tolerate and excuse an individual who has a long history of antisemitic hate.
The cancellation of the Wireless festival is a stark example of how some promoters are removed from the aspirations, wishes and dreams of their audiences, or have little meaningful connection with the communities where their touring concerts or annual festivals temporarily appear, disrupt, and then move on whilst claiming localised economic impact as some panacea for their naked commercial self-interest.
Arguably the timeline of Artist Announcement > Backlash > Sponsor Withdrawal > UK Government Reaction > Festival Cancellation, was entirely foreseeable with the risks of promoting Ye known from the outset.
But the festival organisers lost control of the situation and then appeared out of their depth because they didn’t perceive anything wrong with their original intention to promote Ye and make money.
This blindness to the wider impact of culture and politics reflects the narrow KPI-driven focus of international conglom festival operators and their ‘feed-the-flywheel’ economic model – Ticketing / F&B / Merchandise / Parking / ‘Glamping’ / Premium & VIP / Sponsorship etc. – i.e. the extraction of incremental revenues at every touchpoint.
The organisers also didn’t respond quickly enough to acknowledge any mistake with the original booking or appreciate the wider political ramifications of promoting a known antisemite.
The initial silence from the festival organisers reflected their inability to think beyond the parameters of their usual show P+L, where the senior executives are richly rewarded and incentivised to think of franchised experiences and little else.
By comparison, the various festival sponsors – Pepsi, Diageo, PayPal etc. – reacted quickly and publicly distanced themselves from the event, as they understood that culture is not just an activity but also defines personal identity and politic.
Typically, live entertainment organisations are relatively unsophisticated bureaucracies with little willingness to embrace Collective Bargaining, Health & Safety, Taxation, Trade Union Representation or the other niceties of a modern, mature and responsible corporation as they are typically led by free-market entrepreneurs, schooled in lying, stealing, cheating and cash-payments.
But obviously that will change.
And lessons will be learned.
Or maybe not.
Postscript: Since the collapse of Wireless, Ye’s concerts in Marseilles at the 55,000-capacity Orange Vélodrome, at the 85,000-capacity Stadion Śląski in Chorzów, Poland and at the 42,500-capacity St-Jakob Park stadium in Basel have all now been cancelled.
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And lastly, in other news, next week (26th-28th April 2026) will see the Ticketing Business Forum (https://www.ticketingbusinessforum.com/) take place in Manchester
I thoroughly enjoy this conference as it’s truly international in its makeup and is attempting to connect eCommerce and entertainment and not just provide a platform for the ticketing systems of old.
A personal highlight is always the Disruptor Award given to a business whose products and services are viewed by their peers as ‘less expensive and more creative, useful and impactful, and scalable’ and this year’s finalists are: DynamO Pricing (https://www.dynamopricing.com/), GoodCRM (https://goodcrm.co.uk/), INTIX (https://www.intix.com), menta tech (https://www.mentatech.io/), OpenStage (https://openstage.live/), and Stager (https://stager.co/en/).
The very best of luck to those organisations and to all the other nominees in the other TB Awards categories (https://www.ticketingbusinessforum.com/tba26-this-years-finalists/).
Until the next time.
TJ_Chambers 