Overview
- Michael Rapino took the stand in Manhattan, defending Live Nation and Ticketmaster’s integrated model and rejecting claims the company shuts out rivals.
- He called 2022 Slack remarks by ticketing executives about “robbing” customers “disgusting,” said he only learned of them last week, and confirmed the employee remains on staff pending review.
- More than 30 states continue the case after the federal government settled separately, with reports describing penalties of roughly $200–$280 million and concessions such as tech access for rivals and amphitheater divestitures.
- Pressed on rising fees, Rapino was confronted with a 2016 message saying “Our fees are too high. We can’t defend them,” which he said he did not recall, while defending ancillary charges and a lawn chair ban as safety policy.
- Rapino testified the 2022 Taylor Swift ticketing meltdown was not due to system overload, asserting a cyberattack caused the failure.