NEW YORK CITY — Michael Rapino took the stand for several hours in Manhattan federal court in an antitrust trial involving Live Nation Entertainment Inc. The Department of Justice and dozens of state attorneys general originally brought the antitrust case against Live Nation and Ticketmaster in federal court.

The federal government struck a settlement with Live Nation in early March following a face-to-face meeting between Rapino and Omeed Assefi, the acting assistant attorney general for the Antitrust Division. A majority of the state attorneys general opposed the settlement and committed to pursuing their claims against Live Nation and Ticketmaster.

Attorney Jeffrey Kessler represented the state attorneys general and questioned Rapino about Live Nation's concert pricing tactics, exclusive long-term contracts, and allegations that the company fostered an anticompetitive environment. Rapino said the live entertainment industry was once "fragmented" and described it as the "wild, wild west." He said Live Nation has brought "business professionalism" to the live events space.

"You want to build a better mousetrap than the other guys. We were ahead of the curve in owning ticketing, owning venues, and concert promotion," Rapino said. Kessler questioned him about rising ticketing fees and complaints from artists, including Adele, who was not allowed to sell tickets directly to fans through a third party after she offered to cover the ticketing fees herself.

"We would never say no to Adele. We said no to the ticketing company trying to get free tickets," he said. Kessler confronted Rapino with a 2016 email in which he wrote, "Our fees are too high. We can't defend them." He told Kessler that he could not recall the email or its contents and noted that it was from 10 years ago.

Kessler questioned Rapino about his knowledge of an employee boasting about "robbing" concertgoers "blind" through an increase in concert parking fees. In 2022, Ben Baker, a Live Nation regional ticketing director, messaged a colleague on Slack referencing a data set showing that annual gross revenue for "premier parking" increased from $470,000 in 2018 to $666,000 in 2021. He said he was not aware of the messages until recently.

"It's disgusting, and it's not how we operate," he said. "I have it under review, and he has apologized. We like to give our employees a break, and we don't fire easily." Baker is now head of ticketing for Venue Nation, a division of Live Nation responsible for operating the company's amphitheaters.

Live Nation lawyer Andrew Gass asked whether James Dolan, the owner of Madison Square Garden, was someone Live Nation could push around. "Certainly not," Rapino replied. "I don't tell a billionaire what to do with his venue. He tells me."

He denied that he threatened to withhold concerts at Barclays Center after it chose a competitor over Ticketmaster. "It's going to be a tough time to deliver tickets or concerts with a new competitor in town, regardless of ticketing," he said on a recorded call with former Barclays Center CEO John Abbamondi. Abbamondi testified that he viewed the statement as a threat to reroute concerts to the UBS Arena and said "Barclays Center experienced a 'dramatic decline' in shows after dropping Ticketmaster." "I had zero intent to threaten the venue," Rapino said.