Live Nation worker admitted ignoring predatory ticket broker practices: court docs | Latest Tech News
A Live Nation worker admitted to turning a blind eye when brokers have been shopping for up big blocks of tickets, saying “normally I’d look other way,” according to newly launched court paperwork.
The chat logs, which surfaced as half of a federal antitrust lawsuit against Ticketmaster and its mum or dad Live Nation, appeared to undermine Live Nation’s declare forward of the trial that the company’s stance was that “artists should have the final say in how tickets reach their fans across all platforms in the live event ecosystem.”
In a collection of Slack messages that befell in January 2022, Live Nation worker Ben Baker grumbled to Jeff Weinhold that an outdoors ticket broker had bought all obtainable wheelchair-accessible seats for an upcoming Kid Rock live performance. Both have been regional ticketing administrators at the time.
A Live Nation worker said they might usually “look [the] other way” when a broker purchased up a block of seats. REUTERS
“That’s weird. F–king some scum broker out of NY gobbled my ADA for Kid Rock,” Baker wrote, referring to seats that are compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
“Normally I’d look other way but the dumba-s listed them on TM+,” Baker added. TM+ is Ticketmaster’s in-house resale platform.
Weinhold replied, “Yeah if they listed right away .. cancel them.”
Live Nation representatives didn’t immediately reply to a request for remark.
Live Nation and Ticketmaster are accused of charging exorbitant ticket costs and stacking the deck against potential rivals. Live Nation struck a controversial settlement with the Justice Department earlier this week, though a coalition of states are still pursuing the case.
In separate Slack messages from 2021 to 2023 that have since gone viral, Baker and Weinhold gloated about charging large charges on ticket purchases at Live Nation venues, saying “these people are so stupid” that “I almost feel bad taking advantage of them,” according to court information.
Michael Rapino was requested to stay in New York this week for settlement talks. REUTERS
The chat logs confirmed Weinhold bragging about charging $250 for VIP parking at a Virginia venue and Baker describing charging “$50 to park in the grass” and “$60 for closer grass” at another venue.
In one dialog from 2022, the pair mentioned proceeds from “premier parking” charges at an unspecified venue, which hit $660,000 in 2021, the information confirmed.
“Robbing them blind, baby,” Baker wrote. “That’s how we do.”
A Live Nation consultant said those Slack messages “absolutely doesn’t reflect our values or how we operate.”
“Because this was a private Slack message, leadership learned of this when the public did, and will be looking into the matter promptly,” the rep added.
Live Nation dodged a potential breakup in the proposed DOJ settlement. The time period sheet called for Ticketmaster to cap its service charges at its amphitheaters at 15%, open up reserving at 13 amphitheaters to opponents and place a four-year restrict on exclusivity offers between Ticketmaster and particular venues. The ticket giant will also create a $280 million fund to settle state claims.
The Justice Department struck a settlement with Live Nation this week. Getty Images
Earlier this week, the federal decide overseeing the case said the remaining plaintiffs ought to put together to continue the case on Monday if they couldn’t strike a settlement with Live Nation. The decide requested Live Nation boss Michael Rapino to keep in New York and help.
The exchanges between Baker and Weinhold also appeared to contradict Live Nation’s frequent claims that it does all it may possibly to crack down on predatory broker practices that drive up costs for Americans – a core argument in a separate federal lawsuit filed by the Federal Trade Commission that is still pending.
The FTC sued Live Nation and Ticketmaster last September, alleging in half that the company “deceptively claimed to impose strict limits on the number of tickets that consumers could purchase for an event, even though ticket brokers routinely and substantially exceeded those limits.”
The FTC’s case cites an inside e-mail in which a senior Ticketmaster govt admitted that Live Nation’s management “turn a blind eye as a matter of policy” when brokers violate ticket buy limits.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) beforehand blasted Ticketmaster for its “very insufficient” response to the e-mail after Live Nation exec Dan Wall claimed it was “taken very much out of context.”
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