Music biz: layoffs and AI

Eventbrite cut staff weeks after Bending Spoons agreed to buy the ticketing company, adding another cost-cutting move to a music business already debating how much software can replace labor. (iqmagazine.com) Eventbrite said Bending Spoons will take over product development as part of a five-part modernization plan after the deal announced on December 2, 2025. Eventbrite’s board backed that sale at roughly $500 million, according to the company’s investor materials. (investor.eventbrite.com) The layoff news landed as Pollstar Live opened in Los Angeles on April 14 and put artificial intelligence squarely on the agenda. Pollstar’s conference hub listed sessions including “From Big Tech To Box Office – AI’s Next Chapter In Live” and “Putting AI To (Good) Use In A Live Environment.” (news.pollstar.com) Pollstar said about 2,000 live-entertainment executives gathered at the Loews Hollywood Hotel for the April 14-16 conference. The program mixed artificial-intelligence panels with sessions on independent promoters, marketing, sustainability and 2027 booking plans. (news.pollstar.com) At the same time, a federal antitrust case against Live Nation reached the jury after a monthlong trial in Manhattan. Pollstar reported the suit began nearly two years after the case was announced, and a 10-member jury received instructions from Judge Arun Subramanian on April 10. (news.pollstar.com) The states’ case says Live Nation and Ticketmaster used control over promotion, ticketing and amphitheaters to shut out rivals. Live Nation says the market is competitive and that it “plays fair,” according to court coverage from Spectrum News and the Associated Press. (spectrumlocalnews.com) (everythinglubbock.com) The Justice Department filed the case in May 2024 with a coalition of states, then later settled its own claims while the states continued to trial. The department’s case page lists the complaint date as May 23, 2024, and court coverage says 34 states stayed in the case through closings this month. (justice.gov) (fox5ny.com) Those three strands — layoffs at a ticketing platform, monopoly claims against the biggest concert company, and conference panels on artificial intelligence — point to the same pressure point: live music companies are trying to lower costs while keeping control of discovery, pricing and fan data. Ticketmaster’s new app inside ChatGPT, announced April 9 and reported April 14, shows how quickly that contest is moving into conversational search. (musicbusinessworldwide.com) Live events have become one of the music business’s main growth bets as streaming matures, which is why changes in ticketing tools now ripple far beyond promoters and venues. Eventbrite still pitched itself in January as a platform for the “reset to real” among younger consumers even as its ownership and staffing changed three months later. (investor.eventbrite.com) What happens next is split between court, conference rooms and payroll systems: the Live Nation jury is deliberating, Pollstar Live runs through April 16, and Eventbrite’s new owner is already reshaping the company it just bought. (news.pollstar.com) (pollstar.live) (iqmagazine.com)