Live Nation Employees Joked About 'Robbing' Ticket Buyers in Leaked Messages
Internal messages reveal Live Nation staff joking about exploiting ticket buyers, amidst an ongoing antitrust lawsuit and settlement negotiations with the DOJ.
Internal messages have surfaced revealing Live Nation staff boasting about exploiting ticket buyers, referring to them as "so stupid." The revelations come amidst a settlement deal between the US multinational entertainment company and the US Department Of Justice (DOJ) in its federal antitrust lawsuit, which includes implementing “structural changes.”
According to The New York Times, the online correspondence, dating from late 2021 to early 2023, shows two employees, Ben Baker and Jeff Weinhold, then regional ticketing directors for Live Nation venues in Florida and Virginia respectively, communicating via Slack.
“These people are so stupid,” Baker wrote in one message, referencing customers paying $199 for ‘VIP Club Admission’ to a Kid Rock show in 2022. “I almost feel bad taking advantage of them.” Weinhold responded: “I have VIP parking up to $250 lol.”
A separate conversation saw the colleagues discussing the annual growth of “premier parking” at an unspecified venue, where prices reached as high as $666,000 in 2021.
"Robbing them blind baby,” Baker said. “That’s how we do… I gouge them on ancil prices to make up for it.”
In response to the leaked messages, a Justice Department lawyer stated that the correspondence provides "a candid, contemporaneous look into how they view the prices that Live Nation charges fans for ancillary services at their respective venues.”
Live Nation has dismissed the messages as “irrelevant” to the trial, arguing they were merely “off-the-cuff banter” between friends, not representative of “policy, decision-making or facts of consequence.”
"Because this was a private Slack message, leadership learned of this when the public did, and will be looking into the matter promptly,” Live Nation stated.
The antitrust hearing began last week in Manhattan, New York, with the DOJ accusing both Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation, of abusing their power in the live events market to create an illegal monopoly.
Ticketmaster
Under the tentative settlement agreement, Live Nation will implement structural changes, avoiding a potential split from Ticketmaster.
According to Politico, the agreed-upon changes limit long-term exclusivity contracts and allow for a portion of tickets for events at these establishments to be allocated to competing companies.
Live Nation will now have to move to an open booking model for its operating amphitheatres, allowing other promoters to book shows at these venues. The company will also enforce a 15 per cent cap on service fees for tickets sold at the remaining amphitheatres.
The case, filed in 2024, alleges that the ticketing giant has used its monopoly to stifle competition, dominate the ticketing market, and extract excessive revenue from fans through high prices and surcharges.
The lawsuit claims Live Nation requires artists to use its concert promotion services if they want to perform at venues under its ownership and dominates ticketing services through exclusive, long-running contracts with major gig spaces.
Other reported changes include Ticketmaster opening parts of its platform to other ticketing companies, allowing third-party sellers like Eventbrite and SeatGeek to list tickets on Ticketmaster directly.
Live Nation is reportedly paying millions in damages to the states that joined the DOJ in the lawsuit, with the fee said to be in the range of $250 million.
Live Nation's lawyer argued that the company had never made threats, made minimal profits, and still had to fight for every deal due to the “marketplace [being] more competitive than ever it has been before”.
Elsewhere in the case, the DOJ highlighted issues that arose for fans wanting to buy tickets to Taylor Swift’s ‘Eras Tour’ in 2022, when huge numbers of customers were shut out from buying tickets.
Live Nation’s attorney dismissed claims that its “technology is held together by duct tape,” stating that the issues with the ‘Eras Tour’ sale were due to bots and that the problem was promptly resolved.
Ahead of the antitrust lawsuit going to court last week, US regulators sued Ticketmaster Live Nation over alleged “illegal” tactics when reselling tickets, claiming that the companies were profiting from large resale fees and violating consumer protection law.
Live Nation’s CEO has previously dismissed allegations of large profits, claiming that live music shows are “underpriced”.
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