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Message: [QUOTE="Queen, post: 87893, member: 27"] A six-week trial just kicked off in Manhattan to determine whether the world's biggest live-entertainment company illegally strangled competition across ticketing and concert promotion. DOJ says Live Nation broke the concert industry [LIST] [*]Federal prosecutors opened the antitrust case on March 3. [*]Live Nation Entertainment faces monopolization allegations in court. [*]The 2010 merger with Ticketmaster could potentially get unwound. [*]State attorneys general piled onto the DOJ's original lawsuit. [/LIST] The judge already trimmed the government's case [LIST] [*]Claims about monopolizing national concert promotion got tossed. [*]Allegations of inflated fan ticket prices were also dismissed. [*]Three core claims survived for the jury to evaluate. [*]Ticketmaster's coercive venue contracts anchor the remaining case. [/LIST] Market share numbers are heavily contested [LIST] [*]DOJ pegs Ticketmaster's major-venue share at roughly 80%. [*]AEG's AXS reportedly holds a distant 9% for comparison. [*]Live Nation counters with 40% across all venue types. [*]Ticketmaster allegedly nets under $2 per ticket after expenses. [/LIST] Taylor Swift's Eras Tour presale made an appearance [LIST] [*]Prosecutors cited the botched 2022 Eras Tour presale as evidence. [*]Internal messages allegedly called the tech duct-tape engineering. [*]Live Nation blamed a massive bot attack for the meltdown. [*]Defense argued nobody else could have handled that demand. [/LIST] Barclays Center and Songkick disputes loom large [LIST] [*]Brooklyn's Barclays Center ditched Ticketmaster for SeatGeek temporarily. [*]DOJ alleges retaliatory tour losses punished that venue switch. [*]Live Nation tried blocking evidence about its Songkick acquisition. [*]Prosecutors frame that deal as neutralizing a competitive threat. [/LIST] Political undercurrents swirl around the whole trial [LIST] [*]The Biden administration originally filed this case in 2024. [*]DOJ antitrust chief Gail Slater resigned after a White House push. [*]Live Nation added Trump ally Ric Grenell to its board. [*]Settlement talks reportedly happened outside the Antitrust Division. [/LIST] [/QUOTE]

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