Senior employees of Live Nation bragged about their ability other wring money out of ticket-buying customers, saying they were “robbing them blind.”
In Slack messages from 2022, the live entertainment conglomerate’s current head of ticketing for their amphitheater division said that customers they charged for “ancillary” options like parking were “so stupid.”
“I almost feel bad taking advantage of them,” Ben Barker wrote.
The venue owner and ticketing platform controls much of the United States’ major concert market. They settled an antitrust lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice earlier this week. The settlement avoided a potential forced sale of Ticketmaster, the ticket platform owned by Live Nation. That agreement caps Live Nation’s service fees at 15% and requires them to avoid anticompetitive practices like certain exclusivity agreements with venues.
In a court filing last week, Live Nation asked that the conversation between Barker and ticketing department director Jeff Weinhold be kept sealed. The company argued that the pair were speaking “off-the-cuff” and that their conversation amounted to “banter not… facts of consequence.” Media organizations successfully petitioned the court to unseal the documents. In a statement to Bloomberg, Live Nation said that the conversation did not reflect on company policy.
“The Slack exchange from one junior staffer to a friend absolutely doesn’t reflect our values or how we operate,” Live Nation said. “Because this was a private Slack message, leadership learned of this when the public did, and will be looking into the matter promptly.”
While the DOJ reached a settlement with Live Nation, attorneys general in several states are considering continuing the antitrust case against the company.
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