New York– A lawyer for 34 states suing Live Nation Entertainment tried to convince the jury on Thursday an antitrust trial The closing argument is that the company and its ticketing arm, Ticketmaster, are monopolize industry And concert prices are rising.
But a lawyer for Live Nation insisted in Manhattan federal court that there is more competition than ever and that the company plays a fair role amid the booming concert business across America.
Lawyer David Marriott said the state failed to prove that Live Nation had acted as a monopolist.
“They can’t, and they didn’t,” he said.
The federal government led the civil claims case until it settled the case It brought the move to 2024 several weeks ago, saying it had won significant concessions from Live Nation, particularly in ticket sales at the company’s dozens of amphitheatres. The agreement delayed the trial by a week while the states conducted mostly unsuccessful negotiations with Live Nation.
After closing arguments ended, the jurors were given instructions on the law by Judge Arun Subramanian. They were expected to begin deliberations late Thursday night or Friday.
In his closing, attorney Jeffrey Kessler argued on behalf of the states that the evidence showed that the companies “violated antitrust laws and now is the time to hold them accountable.”
He reminded jurors that since this was a civil trial, they only had to find that the states had proven by a preponderance of the evidence – more than 50% – that Live Nation and Ticketmaster unlawfully exercised monopoly power.
Kessler labeled the company a “monopolistic bully” and said it employed practices that “keep digging moats around the monopoly castle to protect its market position.”
Live Nation’s control of 86% of the market for concerts and 73% of the total market including sporting events shows that it has monopoly power, he said.
Marriott countered that Live Nation and Ticketmaster were merely reaping the fruits of decades of hard work that created the best products in the industry.
“We are the largest entertainment company and ticket producer in the country. We are not hiding from that fact,” he said. “We are big. It is not against the laws of the United States. Success is not against antitrust laws in the United States.”
Marriott also said the company tries to “outmaneuver and outmaneuver” its competitors and that the jury should not punish the company because the states showed some communications in which employees who are “fierce competitors” talk about crushing the competition.
He defended the company’s decision not to fire an employee immediately who accepted According to the witness, he wrote a series of messages from late 2021 to early 2023 in which he mocked customers by calling them “so stupid” and saying the company was “robbing them blind, baby.”
“People say, sometimes, stupid things,” Marriott said, noting that the comments were made about lawn chairs and the price of parking. “We don’t condone it. But we don’t fire someone just because they made a mistake years ago.”
Meanwhile, he said, venues and artists are performing better than ever and fans are benefiting from a strong and thriving entertainment industry.
Marriott said, “Our job is to help venues and artists make money. We make no excuses for it.”
