
Everyone hates Ticketmaster. Why'd Trump go easy on them?
From Decoder with Nilay Patel by The Verge
March 26, 2026 · 38 min
About this episode
The episode discusses the antitrust lawsuit against Ticketmaster's parent company Live Nation and the implications of the Trump DOJ's decision to settle its part of the case.
Today, we’re talking about the major antitrust lawsuit against Ticketmaster parent company Live Nation, and what it might mean for antitrust and competition law in general now that the Trump DOJ has decided to settle its part of the case — even as several states including California, New York, and Texas carry on. To break it all down, I’m joined by Verge senior policy reporter Lauren Feiner. Lauren’s our resident court expert, and she’s been chronicling this trial from the beginning. Links: States’ anti-monopoly case against Live Nation continues | The Verge The Live Nation trial restarts with a ‘velvet hammer’ | The Verge Live Nation settles government antitrust suit | The Verge The Live Nation settlement has industry insiders baffled | The Verge Listen to Live Nation CEO’s alleged threats to a concert venue | The Verge The threats and bare-knuckle tactics of MAGA’s top antitrust fixer | WSJ The Trump admin just gave Live Nation the gift of a lifetime | NYT How Live Nation allegedly terrorized the concert industry | The Verge The US government is trying to break up Ticketmaster | The Verge (2024) Taylor Swift vs. Ronald Reagan: the Ticketmaster story | Decoder (2023) Subscribe…
People in this episode
Guest: Lauren Feiner
Topics covered
- Ticketmaster
- antitrust
- Live Nation
- competition law
- Trump DOJ
Keywords
- lawsuit
- competition
- court
- policy
Mentioned in this episode
Products: Decoder, Ticketmaster, Live Nation
Books & works: Decoder
Places: California, New York, Texas, US
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