Live Nation Employee Brags Of ‘Gouging’ Customers In Unsealed Messages | EUROtoday

“robbing them blind baby… that’s how we do it.”

That’s what a Live Nation Entertainment worker needed to say about concertgoers forking over $50 or extra simply to park their vehicles, in accordance with inside firm messages unsealed in court docket Wednesday.

The messages, first reported by Bloomberggot here to gentle two days after the Trump Justice Department reached a baffling settlement to resolve its antitrust lawsuit towards the leisure colossus only one week into trial in New York.

Live Nation was accused of illegally monopolizing “nearly all live music” within the U.S., partly by threatening to punish venues in the event that they didn’t use its notorious ticketing subsidiary, Ticketmaster, completely.

The 2022 Slack messages between Ben Baker and Jeff Weinhold, each regional ticketing administrators for the corporate on the time, actually received’t dispel the general public notion that Live Nation is out to take advantage of concertgoers for all they’re price. Baker appeared to enjoy how a lot prospects have been keen to pay in “ancillary” charges for issues like parking and VIP entry.

“I charge $50 to park in the grass lmao,” Baker bragged in a single message. “I charge $60 to park in closer grass.”

“robbing them blind baby,” he wrote later. “that’s how we do it.”

“lol,” Weingold responded.

In one other message, Baker wrote, “I gouge them on ancil[lary] prices.”

Live Nation stated in a press release that it could be “looking into the matter promptly.” Both staff nonetheless work on the firm, in accordance with court docket filings.

“The Slack exchange from one junior staffer to a friend absolutely doesn’t reflect our values or how we operate,” the corporate stated. “Because this was a private Slack message, leadership learned of this when the public did.”

The firm had tried unsuccessfully to maintain the Slack messages out of public view, claiming in a submitting that they have been “irrelevant” and would result in “unfair prejudice and jury confusion.”

“The Exhibits are candid, informal Slack messages between two personal friends who do not work together and have no reporting relationship,” Live Nation argued. “They reflect off-the-cuff banter, not policy, decision-making, or facts of consequence.”

Baker was anticipated to testify this week earlier than his firm reached a cope with the Trump administration, in accordance with Bloomberg. More than two dozen states had joined the Justice Department within the antitrust lawsuit, and it’s potential they’ll proceed to litigate the case if they’ll’t attain their very own settlement.

The lawsuit towards Live Nation was initially introduced in 2024 below the Biden administration. The state attorneys basic have been reportedly blindsided by the mid-trial settlement with the Trump Justice Department this week.

As a part of the settlement, Live Nation has agreed to cap ticketing service charges at 15% and to divest itself of the 13 unique ticketing preparations it has with amphitheaters.