The third week of Live Nation’s antitrust trial featured testimony from the new CEO of Oak View Group (OVG) about the company’s controversial client-steering arrangement with Ticketmaster, while Live Nation’s first defense witness said there are “lots of promoter options” for top touring acts.
You’re reading Billboard’s weekly Live Nation trial recap, a weekly one-sheet of everything that happened in the monopoly case against the concert giant. Stay tuned here each Friday for all the testimony and big events you might have missed.
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WHAT HAPPENED: State attorneys general largely concluded their case-in-chief against Live Nation — though technically they have not rested and plan to call a few more witnesses later on due to scheduling issues — while Live Nation began putting on its own witnesses. The defense case is expected to run for another week and include testimony from Drake’s manager, Adel Nur, aka Future the Prince.
Recall that the monopoly case is now being led by states because the Department of Justice (DOJ) struck a settlement with Live Nation a week into trial. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that President Donald Trump personally pushed for the deal on the recommendation of Endeavor CEO and former Live Nation board member Ari Emanuel.
Though the DOJ settlement calls on Live Nation to curb some allegedly anticompetitive practices, it would not require the divestment of Ticketmaster. Meanwhile, states including New York and California are pushing forward with the continued goal of breaking up the two live events giants.
WHO TESTIFIED: Chris Granger, who took over as CEO of OVG following the indictment of founder Tim Leiweke on federal bid-rigging charges last year, was called as a government witness on Wednesday (March 25) to talk about the venue management company’s $20 million client-steering arrangement with Ticketmaster. As was required by the terms of a non-prosecution agreement in the Leiweke case, Granger confirmed that OVG was paid to encourage venues to choose Ticketmaster as their exclusive primary ticketing vendor — and that it did not disclose this incentive arrangement to clients.
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While not illegal, the states allege that the secret fees between OVG and Ticketmaster bolstered Live Nation’s anticompetitive edge. Law360 reports that Granger, being grilled about why this arrangement wasn’t disclosed to clients, testified, “I don’t know why, we should have.”
Granger did testify, however, that he would recommend Ticketmaster to venues regardless of any incentive because it’s a superior platform to AXS or SeatGeek. “It still has the biggest database [and] it has the best name recognition, so when you’re trying to sell tickets, it has a bit of a marketing halo,” explained Granger.
Live Nation began its defense case on Thursday (March 26) with a key witness who countered that the company is not a monopolist: Omar Al-joulani, Live Nation’s president of touring. According to Courthouse News Service, Al-joulani testified that he works with top touring acts like Coldplay, Kendrick Lamar, Drake and Imagine Dragons — but that Live Nation doesn’t have long-term contracts with these stars and has to constantly prove it’s the best choice among promoters.
“There are lots of promoter options,” said Al-joulani, noting that the company has lost out on business with top artists like Morgan Wallen and Bruce Springsteen. “I can’t stress [enough] how competitive the business is.”
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The jury also heard this week from Nicholas Hill and Rosa M. Abrantes-Metz, two PhD economists who are serving as the states’ expert witnesses, as well as Ticketmaster’s global president Mark Yovich and former AEG Presents president Rick Mueller.
WHY IT MATTERS: Granger’s testimony was a big deal because OVG has been a big part of the Live Nation antitrust case since the beginning. In its initial 2024 complaint, the DOJ alleged that OVG operated as a “pimp” and “hammer” to protect Ticketmaster exclusivity arrangements, which are central to the monopoly claims.
OVG stipulated to some of these facts as part of its non-prosecution deal in the Leiweke case — a separate criminal antitrust proceeding related to the construction of the Moody Center in Austin. That prosecution is now dead, however, because Trump pardoned Leiweke in December. The DOJ had been hoping to get Leiweke to testify at the Live Nation trial, too, but his pardon seems to have scuttled that effort.
As for the defense case so far, Al-joulani’s testimony bolsters Live Nation’s consistent argument that there is robust competition in all areas of the live entertainment business, including touring, venue ownership and ticketing. The company says any attempts to prove otherwise are based on misleading metrics.
