Hey there—Ryan here in sunny LA ☀️. The thread running through today’s news is power hiding in plain sight, from ticketing and media platforms to brand deals and audience reach.
Live Nation’s antitrust fight is starting to look like more than a Ticketmaster story. What is really being tested now is whether regulators still believe platform power can be managed through rules, or whether some companies have become so structurally embedded that separation is the only real fix.
You can see that same question surfacing elsewhere. Disney’s leadership handoff will reveal a lot about what kind of company it wants to be next. Roku’s scale is making it newly interesting in the M&A conversation. And YouTube is pushing a bigger vision of AI as a tool for artist staying power, not just content volume.
On the brand side, Alex Cooper is turning audience loyalty into a broader media business, while Sprite’s NBA deal is a reminder that traditional sponsorship still works when the cultural fit is obvious. Even the Oscars are raising strategy questions, from A24’s limits in turning buzz into wins to Kalshi’s effort to turn entertainment into a trading market.
More below. 👇
Getty Images
Driving the news: Live Nation’s antitrust trial resumed in New York this week after the Department of Justice reached a mid trial settlement that lets the company keep Ticketmaster. But 36 states and the District of Columbia are still pressing forward, arguing the settlement does not go far enough to restore competition in ticketing, promotion, and venue access. Bloomberg’s framing is that states are increasingly unwilling to accept incremental fixes after years of conflict, while Billboard and the AP focus on the renewed push for a more structural remedy, including pressure to separate Ticketmaster from Live Nation.
What’s interesting: The real issue is no longer whether Live Nation has scale. It is whether regulators believe scale has hardened into system control. The DOJ settlement relies on behavioral remedies, including opening parts of Ticketmaster’s platform, limiting certain exclusivity arrangements, capping some fees, and creating a $280 million fund for participating states. The states that stayed in the case are signaling that they no longer believe conduct remedies alone can unwind a company that sits across ticketing, promotion, and venues at the same time.
The friction: Live Nation’s defense is that it operates in a competitive, low margin, high risk business and does not coerce artists or venues. But the states are building a different argument. Their case is that market power becomes self reinforcing when one company can influence who promotes the show, who owns the venue relationship, and who controls the ticketing layer. Testimony this week from AEG’s Jay Marciano and Live Nation executive Robert Roux, along with evidence about exclusive practices and internal language like the “velvet hammer,” pushes the trial toward that broader theory of control rather than a narrow debate over ticket fees alone.
What this unlocks: If the states win meaningful structural concessions, the implications extend beyond concerts. It would strengthen the case that vertically integrated platform businesses cannot always be fixed through access commitments and operating rules. In other words, this trial is becoming a referendum on whether antitrust enforcement is prepared to challenge the architecture of the market, not just the behavior inside it.
The bigger picture: For years, Ticketmaster outrage has been framed as a consumer pricing story. The states are trying to turn it into a market design story. That is a much bigger threat to Live Nation, because it shifts the question from whether fans paid too much for certain tickets to whether the company’s structure itself prevents meaningful competition from emerging.
Bottom line: The most important thing happening in this case is not the headline fight over concert fees. It is the growing belief among states that platform power in live entertainment may require separation, not supervision.
For everything else, see below 👇:
🎬 Bob Iger is leaving Disney’s CEO role on March 18, 2026, with parks chief Josh D’Amaro set to take over and Dana Walden becoming president and chief creative officer — Link.
✍️ More than half of U.S. states now require or strongly encourage cursive because research suggests handwriting activates broader brain networks than typing and may aid learning and memory — Link.
🎙️ Alex Cooper is turning Unwell into a broader media-and-ad business by using her roughly 10 million weekly “Call Her Daddy” listeners to help brands reach young women through Unwell Creative Agency — Link.
🍿 A24’s pricey Oscar play on Marty Supreme delivered a box-office record for the studio but ended awards season with nine nominations and no wins, underscoring the limits of prestige buzz alone — Link.
🚖 A new MoffettNathanson report argues Waymo’s rapid expansion is breaking into ride-hailing so forcefully that Uber, Lyft, and Tesla may struggle to keep pace — Link.
🥤 Sprite has won back the NBA’s official soft-drink sponsorship from PepsiCo’s Starry in a multiyear deal that starts now and fully rolls out in the 2026–27 season — Link.
📈 Kalshi says its Oscar markets correctly called 19 of 24 winners, or nearly 80%, with more than $100 million in trading volume — Link.
🏆 Bloomberg says Neon’s three-straight Best Picture wins have raised its stature, but the indie distributor still makes more of its money from horror films and streaming than from Oscar campaigns — Link.
📺 Puck argues Roku’s reach, with its OS on nearly a third of smart TVs and more than 90 million households, makes it an appealing but possibly mistimed acquisition target for David Ellison or another media giant — Link.
🎵 YouTube’s Lyor Cohen says the company is leaning into AI and visual storytelling to help artists build deeper fan loyalty and longer careers amid overwhelming listener choice — Link.
Thanks for reading! Enjoyed this edition? Share it with a friend or colleague!
Was this forwarded to you? Sign up here to receive future editions directly in your inbox.
Support the Newsletter: If you’d like to support my work, consider contributing via Buy Me a Coffee.
Work with Me: Interested in partnering with me on sponsored content, consulting/advising, or speaking and workshops? Get in touch here.
