Unmasking the Shallow State: How Pop Culture Shields Corporate Power
A Unified Front: Feds and States Take on Live Nation-Ticketmaster
Introduction: Setting the Stage
This week, it was announced that 10 more states have joined the Department of Justice’s antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation-Ticketmaster. This brings the total to 40 states’ Attorney Generals, including D.C., uniting with the DOJ against one of the most hated monopolies in the United States.
In an era marked by partisanship and tension between states’ rights and a robust federal government, there is perhaps no goal more practical and symbolic than the public unifying to gather in person, singing songs and dancing in unison. The fight against Ticketmaster is more than just a legal battle; it's a powerful statement about the importance of coming together to protect the experiences that bring us joy and connection.
No Re-Entry: Live Events as a Unifying Force
In a post-lockdown world, one of our key goals should be encouraging people to gather based on shared interests and interact in person. Live events, especially concerts, have always had a unique way of bringing people together. Campaign events, for example, present both the lowest and highest barriers to entry—rallies often have free tickets, while fundraisers can cost as much as $500,000 a person to attend. The obsession with crowd sizes at these events underscores the belief that physical presence is the ultimate barometer of loyalty to a cause or figurehead. Just as campaign events rally people around a cause, concerts can unify diverse audiences through shared cultural experiences.
Kerfuffles around the use of songs by campaigns are often humorous, especially when you consider that regulations around song licensing for campaigns don’t necessarily require artists’ approval. Foo Fighters’ annoyance at RFK Jr. using “My Hero” yesterday brought me some schadenfreude, given my friendship with Courtney Love.
Just look at how Taylor Swift's Eras Tour took the nation by storm. When the tour kicked off in Arizona, Glendale even renamed itself ‘Swift City.’ As the tour progressed, other places followed suit, like Minnesota’s Governor Tim Walz declaring ‘Taylor Swift Days’ during her Minneapolis concerts, and Santa Clara, California, naming her the honorary mayor and renaming the city ‘Swiftie Clara.’ Swift's tour wasn’t just an astronomical boost to local economies, it was a cultural phenomenon unlike anything I’ve seen in my lifetime.
In my role working with the Swifties' law firm, I sent press releases to local media, successfully gaining coverage of Swiftie-plaintiffs. Despite not having any public relations experience, it was incredibly refreshing to see everyday people speak out to their communities about how the national issue of corporate power consolidation was impacting their daily lives.
While there are concerns about the consolidation of local media, these outlets have, on the whole, far exceeded national media in covering Ticketmaster’s monopoly. As the tour continued, it became clear that scammers were out in full force, preying on Swifties desperate to attend this massive cultural event. States' Attorney Generals began issuing warnings to their constituents about the growing variety of scams targeting Swifties.
Ironically, these same AGs had to advise people that the safest way to get Eras tickets was to stick to reputable ticketing companies like Ticketmaster, StubHub, Vivid Seats, or SeatGeek. Now, these AGs have overwhelmingly joined the DOJ in challenging the legality of Ticketmaster’s business practices. At the same time, legislators have been introducing bills to tackle the scalper bots that exploit the primary ticketing market for high profits in the secondary market.
Master of Puppets: Industry Collusion
There are much bigger players behind Ticketmaster's dominance than just their monopoly. We're talking about major entities like the Saudi sovereign wealth fund and James Dolan’s various companies. When the amended DOJ complaint came out this week,
pointed out on Twitter that the feds have obtained evidence showing that the Oak View Group (OVG), a venue management company, has been colluding to reinforce Ticketmaster's monopoly.OVG was founded in 2015, shortly after Irving Azoff and Tim Leiweke left their positions at Live Nation and AEG Live, respectively. If you follow OVG's trajectory, it's pretty clear they were up to something, but proving it is another story. I've been telling people on Twitter that Azoff is like the mafia don of the music industry. When the first DOJ antitrust lawsuit dropped, it was incredible to read Moe’s article on Azoff—especially after I’d already reached out to at least 100 journalists, trying to get them to see that this master criminal should be on their radar.
New tidbit from DOJ's amended complaint against Live Nation/Ticketmaster on ubiquitous mogul Irving "Poison Dwarf" Azoff's ongoing collusion w/ the monopoly: LN paid Azoff's Oak View "significant annual payments" & also "incentive payments" for agreeing to act as its "pimp". - Moe’s Tweet
This latest revelation only confirms the deep-rooted, shady dealings that have long plagued the industry.
The Saudis, Ticketmaster and the Oak View Group
But the web of influence doesn’t stop there. Beyond domestic collusion, international players have also become deeply embedded in the live events industry, further complicating the fight for transparency and fairness. Beyond OVG’s collusion with Live Nation-Ticketmaster, there’s another major player involved: Saudi Arabia, which also happens to be a significant investor in Twitter. The Saudi sovereign wealth fund, known as the Public Investment Fund (PIF), bailed out Live Nation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the course of a few years, the PIF became one of Live Nation’s largest shareholders, doubling the value of its stock from $500 million to $1 billion.
The Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (SPSI) has raised concerns about the Saudis merger of LIV Golf merging with the PGA. This raises a critical question: should a foreign power have such outsized control over American sports and entertainment industries? Perhaps related, the SPSI also subpoenaed Live Nation in November 2023 because the company refused to comply with the Senate's request for documents related to their business practices, including the pricing and fees for tickets sold by Live Nation/Ticketmaster.
A significant aspect of the DOJ’s antitrust case involves emails that reveal the private equity firm Silver Lake’s entanglement with Live Nation-Ticketmaster and OVG. In 2018, Silver Lake invested $100 million to the OVG to expand their business. Live Nation then sought OVG’s assistance in pressuring Silver Lake to divest from a Live Nation competitor in Australia, TEG. Michael Rapino, the CEO of Live Nation and Ticketmaster, contacted Azoff of the OVG, who assured him that he would get Silver Lake to sell TEG—and they complied.
The extent of this foreign-influenced live event cartel remains largely unacknowledged in mainstream media. This either highlights a lack of investigative depth in the media or, more likely, a reluctance for the mainstream media to connect the dots for an eager public that is sick of being lied to. We have to trust that the American public can understand complex networks—after all, how else could shows like Game of Thrones or Succession become so overwhelmingly popular?
Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post reporter, was brutally dismembered in a foreign embassy because he dared to dissent against Saudi Arabia. In response, the U.S. government demanded that the Saudis disclose their investments in U.S. venture capital, revealing that their portfolio included Silver Lake. For years, the Saudis have operated as the hidden hand choking the life out of the live event industry by being a key investor in Live Nation-Ticketmaster and, indirectly, OVG. This influence isn’t confined to the live event industry alone. It extends into the digital realm, where the same players wield significant power over social media platforms like Twitter.
Twitter Shareholders: The Intersection of Big Money and Online Communities
A noteworthy story this week was the revelation of Elon Musk’s Twitter shareholders, spearheaded by Jacob Silverman, including the Saudis and Sean “Diddy” Combs. Twitter has long been my platform for advocacy, yet despite this, I rarely saw anyone in traditional media faithfully cover the Ticketmaster story. I am eternally grateful for Moe’s willingness to take my amateur gumshoe work seriously and giving me a level of credibility that’s almost impossible to achieve without institutional backing.
I had been researching Diddy long before the March 2024 Homeland Security raids, and it’s been frustrating to watch my work get co-opted by well-funded influencers who seem intent on narrowing the scope of the story. Diddy has deep connections with Live Nation and other major industry players. Beyond my frustration over the financial sacrifices I’ve made to conduct this research, there’s a clear effort to obscure the mechanisms of power in the industry, including interference in online fan communities.
This week, news broke that the FBI had arrested a hacker who targeted the Ye (Kanye West) fan account Kanye Posts, and others.
, the person behind the account, was targeted because she voiced concerns about the people surrounding Ye. She shared concerns for her safety and the internet accused her of being a clout chaser and fabricating threats to gain attention. I look forward to hearing her side of the story in her own words.This situation highlights the broader issue of transparency—how big business infiltrates online communities to protect their investments while stirring up toxicity within and between fandoms. I constantly caution people about the red flags of those who seek to inflame what I call the "Stan Wars."
Another major win this week was the Federal Trade Commission, under Lina Khan’s relentless leadership, issuing a final rule banning fake reviews and testimonials. I hope this rule will curb the spread of bad actors in online communities, similar to how FARA works for foreign influence, but for "Stan Twitter." The FTC has made it clear that companies can no longer create "fake indicators of social media influence."
So, while the DNC convention and the new RFK Jr. and Trump alliance may dominate the headlines, we should also celebrate the significant progress in the fight against Ticketmaster and the push for transparency in how big money operates on social media platforms, like Twitter, and in the case of the FTC, protecting consumers' rights. Democracy and transparency go hand in hand, and perhaps this marks the beginning of a new chapter in civil discourse online.
A Different Genre of Hacking
Across industries, private equity and other large institutional investors often conceal how consolidated our corporate environment truly is. Recently, Ticketmaster suffered a significant hack where 500 million accounts' data was leaked. Ticketmaster tried to blame the breach on Snowflake’s security failure, but Snowflake was adamant that they were not at fault. Live Nation claimed that they discovered the unlawful access on May 20, just days before the DOJ's antitrust lawsuit was filed. Interestingly, around the same time, the Saudis sold $15 billion worth of stock they held in the United States, possibly hinting at foreknowledge of the impending antitrust lawsuit against Ticketmaster.
, an intelligence analyst, tweeted that the Ticketmaster hack felt like someone was throwing a temper tantrum. A commenter responded, "Right. Is it really hacking when you're given the keys to the castle?"
The Senate's investigation committee expressed outrage that companies like McKinsey, with their ties to the Saudis, would refuse to comply with a U.S. congressional subpoena, choosing instead to defer to Saudi courts. While these battles play out in the halls of power, there’s another fight happening on a different front: the struggle for artists and consumers to reclaim their rights within the live event industry.
The Fight for Consumer and Workers Rights in the Live Event Industry
Songs In The Key of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness
The final piece in the fight for a free and fair live event industry will fall into place when artists finally feel bold enough to speak out against the abusive industry that made them stars. Moe rightly points out that the biggest shortcoming of the DOJ’s antitrust lawsuit is the absence of artists’ perspectives on how Live Nation’s monopoly has adversely impacted their lives and careers.
The antitrust complaint is compelling, but the primary victims of the abuses it unmasks are stadiums and arenas that get shut out of Live Nation’s vital supply of concert tours and music festivals. Musicians are mentioned more theoretically, as necessary evils Azoff and Rapino repeatedly vow never to offer more than the absolute minimum, but with few details, most likely because, as Bebe Rexha pointed out to an exasperated Twitter fan who wondered why she wouldn’t just spill the tea already: “THEY PUNISH YOU.”
#ArtistsUnite
The internet creates strange alliances, and I’m convinced that when the time is right, artists will break the contracts that have silenced them and reveal the backstage reality of their careers. It didn’t take me long to figure out why Neal Schon, the founder of Journey, and his wife would follow someone like me on Instagram. Irving Azoff had allegedly been stealing from Journey while managing them, and the Schons sued Live Nation after his wife was assaulted by security at a Journey concert.
Unfortunately, musicians have historically been unable to effectively unionize, despite the industry’s vertically and horizontally integrated monopoly.
While Live Nation manages around 2,000 artists, Irving Azoff also owns his own artist management company, Full Stop Management. When The Black Keys abruptly canceled their tour, supposedly due to low ticket sales and a preference for more intimate venues, their drummer, Patrick Carney, tweeted, “We got fucked. I’ll let you all know how so it doesn’t happen to you. Stay tuned.”
Obviously, I immediately turned on Twitter notifications for Patrick Carney! Shortly after, it was reported that The Black Keys had “amicably parted ways” with Irving Azoff as their manager. I was dying for the details and even tweeted my excitement to Sam Lutfi, of all people. Within the hour, Patrick Carney sarcastically retweeted Irving, giving us a glimpse into the story.
We don’t know everything yet, but it’s interesting that many of the venues The Black Keys had booked were Oak View Group properties—venues run by their own manager, Irving Azoff. This situation highlights the broader issue of how the industry’s consolidation limits not just artists’ freedom, but also the options available to fans. I can’t wait to buy a ticket when The Black Keys finally rebook their tour, even though I will most likely have to buy them through Ticketmaster.
The few corporate giants that control the music industry seem to act like an unofficial censorship board. It’s telling that the only protest songs I can think of from this year are Macklemore’s “Hind’s Hall” and Kendrick Lamar’s “They Not Like Us.” To address this stifling environment, it may be time for a bold move, similar to the congressional hearings that once rocked the music industry in the 1980s.
A Congressional Lineup
If artists are ever going to speak out against the industry, we need a congressional hearing as punk rock as the 1985 Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) Senate hearing. Back then, the PMRC wanted to censor popular music, but a diverse array of artists showed up to eloquently address Congress.
It’s no surprise that Irving Azoff played a key role in those efforts, given his longstanding influence in the industry. Now is the perfect time to find an antidote for the poison that has tainted the music industry since its inception!
I would be remiss not to mention the passing of Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-NJ) this week at the age of 87. When I first started my effort to fight Ticketmaster, I searched high and low for anyone already tackling this issue and found Rep. Pascrell, a 14-term member of the House of Representatives. This was well before Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour ticket sale disaster that galvanized widespread support for the cause.
CBS News tagged along with us when we went to the U.S. Capitol to meet with congressional offices about the ticketing industry this past January. Rep. Pascrell was the only congressman willing to meet with us in person, much less on camera. After years of toiling in obscurity, there’s nothing as satisfying as hearing a sitting congressman call Ticketmaster the mafia ON CAMERA!!!
#FansUnite!!!
There’s still much to be done to safeguard our democracy so that elected officials truly represent the will of the people, including instituting term limits and banning members of Congress from trading stocks. While harmony may still feel out of reach, there’s no denying that a simple melody can cut through our political divides more effectively than anything else.