LIN23085001
Task 1 – News Article
Jury finds Live Nation and Ticketmaster Illegally operating as a monopoly, overcharging fans
In April 2026, a US federal jury found that Live Nation Entertainment and its subsidiary, Ticketmaster, had been running an illegal monopoly, leading to higher ticket prices and reduced competition.
The decision comes as a victory for 33 states, which claimed that Live Nation controlled too many aspects of live entertainment.
The case centred around the company’s dominance of the market after its 2010 merger with Ticketmaster. Their combined business control over marketing, venues, and promotions allowed them to exert higher ticket prices to consumers.
The verdict came after a seven-week trial in New York City, where the findings may force the organisation to diverge from Ticketmaster.
Regulators have alleged that Ticketmaster used opaque pricing methods, including hidden fees added late in the purchasing stage. A separate lawsuit in Washington DC required the company to refund customers over claims of deceptive pricing systems.
Live Nation Entertainment was formed in 2010 following their merger with Ticketmaster, who had been in operation since 1976. In 2025, the live event giant had organised over 50,000 concerts worldwide.
The jury’s findings could lead to the separation of Live Nation and Ticketmaster, leading to smaller ticker-sellers to compete. The increase in market competition may see a decrease in global ticket prices. Live Nations conduct was found to have violated multiple antitrust laws.
Live Nation has yet to respond to NPR’s request to comment on the verdict. The DOJ concluded that Ticketmaster held control of roughly 80% of the ticket marketplace, and a large majority of resale. In past comments to the NRP, Live Nation have denied claims of illegal monopoly over ticket sales.
When brought to the stand, Live Nation’s CEO Micheal Rapino was questioned about various matters including the company’s issue regarding Taylor Swift tickets in 2022. Rapino rested blame on a cyber-attack.
After the verdict’s announcement, Live Nation’s shares dropped by 6%.
The Jury found Ticketmaster had overcharged by $1.72 for each ticket sold. This figure will be used as a basis for any compensation.
Task 2 – Opinion Piece
The system was broken: why the Live Nation verdict matters for gig goers
By Josh Lincoln
For fans who have tried to buy concert tickets in the last decade, the verdict on Live Nation Entertainment and Ticketmaster will feel like less of a shock and more of an inevitable reckoning.
For years, we have dealt with the same frustrating routine: tickets go on sale, demand surges, prices skyrocket, and to rub salt in that wound, a myriad of fees are added at the checkout. This was the result of one company having too much control over the market and subsequently what this case has been about.
Since 2010, Live Nation and Ticketmaster have effectively held power over huge parts of the live music pipeline. Whether that be owning venues or selling tickets, that kind of control makes competition difficult. Smaller ticketing companies exist, but when the biggest shows and tours are connected to one system there is only so much they can do in the way of competing. Since their merger, dynamic pricing and hidden fees at checkout have gained the distrust of concert-goers.
Now that regulators have called them on their actions, customers may see compensation of $1.72 on each ticket. This may sound like a drop in the ocean, but just last year Live Nation organised over 55,000 concerts worldwide. That small number is going to add up fast.
Moments like Taylor Swifts 2022 chaos saw fans struggling with queues and resale prices that were spiralling out of control. Live Nations CEO Micheal Rapino blamed a cyber-attack when on the stand, but it begs a bigger question: why was one company in the position where a single failure could cause so many problems?
Thankfully, there’s a chance Ticketmaster may be forced to split from Live Nation, opening the doors for fairer prices and hopefully more transparency. Although not a quick fix verdict, it feels like a step in the right direction for the live music industry.
A bigger question to be asked is how much are fans willing to tolerate? People complain, but still buy tickets, mainly because the alternative was missing out (kind of like buying food from the airport, where else are you going to go?). That’s what let companies like Live Nation continue to push the limits. If more options do emerge after the ruling, perhaps we see a shift in fans choosing platforms based on trust on transparency.
Ultimately, many of our collective frustrations have been validated by the verdict, myself included. It won’t suddenly make tickets cheaper, but it may allow for more options in terms of where the tickets come from. Whether this leads to a meaningful reform or a different version of the same problem lies in what’s to come, but for the mean time there seems to be a balance in the force.
Task 3 – Feature Piece (Rolling Stone)
BODYEXITMIND: ‘PRETTY MUCH ALL OUR SONGS START AS BAD IDEAS’
The local group from Sunderland are here to introduce
themselves and their charming dynamic
By Josh Lincoln
On a recent Sunday evening, BODYEXITMIND sat in their band room crowded up into their laptop camera like a tin of sardines. It took ten minutes after the video call started until they were able to settle their playful antics. An amalgamation of low quality bickering and sniggers projected from my laptop speakers, painting a picture of what was to follow. The only way to tame the storm was to begin.
“If someone has never heard your music before, how would you describe it?”
Liam replied, “we don’t really have a sound, we just kind of play whatever we find fun,” with an agreeing nod from the rest of the circus. “Whatever comes out, that’s our sound.”
It has been 2 years since the group was formed, and at the heart of the project is Kennedy Anna, Joe Worthy, as well as lifelong friends Liam Miller and Adam Alcorn. All growing up in Sunderland, each of them has been acclimated with the North East’s music scene in differing ways. Standing out in a sea of young musicians and small bands is a task I wouldn’t wish on anyone, but the rag-tag foursome has been hitting the ground running with their unique style and charismatic live performances. They’re set to release their first single on streaming platforms in July of this year, beginning their careers with what I was to find out is 12 minuets of their entire ethos wrapped up into a shoe gaze extravaganza:
Have you ever had any bad ideas that have ended up becoming something good?
Our best track is a bad idea turned into a good one! We tried to fit three songs into one. Before Kennedy joined, it was when we were just pissing about writing shit and we tried to make these three separate songs into one twelve minute one, realised we couldn’t do that, but then [Joe] jokingly played the chorus, and we went from there. Pretty much all our songs start as bad ideas.
What do you all individually bring to the table?
Worthy is the creative. He comes up with some of the most absurd ideas, sometimes they work and sometimes they don’t. Visually it’s [Kennedy], even with the song writing and how that’s all came together, it falls under that aesthetic that we thought about. Adam’s the level head, when three of us are arguing he’s the one that tells us to shut up.
After asking if that had meant they’d ever came close to breaking up, their answer told me much of what is needed to know about their dynamic. “Not really, me and Kennedy have had one spaff,” Joe replied looking toward her seemingly for agreement. “Yeah, and you were shaking like a bairn,” was her instinctively quick response, followed by a huffy, “piss off, no I wasn’t!” This seemed like a daily occurrence from the lack of reaction from the other two members, just Mam and Dad arguing again.
How do you deal with your disagreements?
January was rough. We weren’t coming to rehearsal, we’d just had a busy December and we came back and rehearsing terribly. I think the change we made is we have band therapy now, once a month we’ll go to the pub and just talk. It’s to stop us from just being band mates.
What about performances? Do you all feel different on stage rather than in this rehearsal room?
It depends on the audience. [Kennedy] sees the audience, we refuse to look. We’ve noticed the difference is we’re all comfortable with each other in the band room, everyone’s jumping and moving around, on stage you forget that it’s in front of people. It’s a different dynamic in the band room, we’re all in a circle, all facing each other, whereas on stage we’re all looking at the audience. Suddenly it’s a lot less comfortable.
Being a woman in the industry, do you feel like your sometimes seen before your heard Kennedy?
Sometimes it feels like you’re seen and then not heard at all. With other women I know in the industry, I know people who’ve started talking to produces and that has led on to stuff deeper than that. You do get taken advantage of. There’s so many men and women who have had that happen, and it’s a scary thing sometimes, because I do want you to hear my work and my art. You’ll always know who actually is genuine from a mile away. Being a woman is a hard thing in music, because your pinned against other women. Being in such a small pond, word travels quick. If one person says something about you it affects the whole band and can put you on a blacklist. It’s unfair.
On a lighter note, is there any risks you’re thinking of taking in the future?
More instruments and a bigger sound really. We’re looking for a keyboard player to change our sound. I think that’s one of the biggest risks we’ll take, hopefully soon. We feel like there’s so much more room to fill in our songs we currently have. Adding someone new to that mix could make or break our dynamic. The live shows aren’t even half as extravagant as we’d like them to be
“I just want some fucking strobe lights!” Joe finishes with something I think we can all sympathise with.
Task 4 – Album Review (Pitchfork)
Against the Fall of Night
Sungazer
2024
8.9
By Josh Lincoln
Sungazer’s Against the Fall of Night trades a lot of their earlier hyper-fusion maximalism for a much moodier and introspective take at the genre. The usual progressive jazz and math-rock buffet that Adam Neely and Shawn Crowder have to offer has had its seat at the table taken by a more sophisticated avenue. Yet, the album doesn’t forget its core instincts: pushing complexity to the edge of collapse and seeing what is left at the end. Against the Fall of Night swaps a previous “look what we can do!” attitude for a sense of real direction and intent.
The initial stretch of the album sets the tone for what’s to come further. The title track “Against the Fall of Night” already differs from previous openers in the duo’s repertoire. Everything is intentional, building up the foundations before introducing anything too obscure. Thematically, it familiarises the listener to the glitch-rock-jazz extravaganza that follows by dipping your toes in the proverbial water of Crowder’s drum grooves and Neely’s harmony-dictating bass riffs.
Alas, Against the Fall of Night doesn’t keep the fusion nerds waiting too long, as once the main meat of the album is reached, the harmonic weight starts to accumulate, and glimpses of past Sungazer shine through. This portion is where their real growth is most apparent, prioritizing groove and texture over sheer complexity. “Hot Saturn” (featuring Button Masher) is properly paced rather than compulsively dense, a common theme throughout the album seemingly signifying a shift in perspective from the duo. The run time lingers long enough to be bedazzled, but not enough to indulge. The virtuosity is there, it’s just not the entire focus of the album. “Cool 7” and “Oeteldonk” still offer some rhythmic trickery a la Jeff Beck’s “Scatterbrain”, but the build up makes its presence feel hard earned.
“Clock of the Long Now” wraps everything to this point up with a quiet and understated bow, ending not with a climax, but a moment of contemplation. It’s a finish that reinforces the album’s central achievement: Discipline. It’s the sound of a talented pair who have finished stroking their own egos, and let a digestible and impactful body of work flourish.
The duo’s new direction with Against the Fall of Night doesn’t dilute their technical ability, it reframes it. Sungazer aren’t just showing you what they can do, they’re deciding what’s worth keeping and building masterpieces around that.
