Home / Business and Economy / Ticketmaster Execs Caught Bragging About Price Gouging
Ticketmaster Execs Caught Bragging About Price Gouging
14 Mar
Summary
- Employees joked about exorbitant parking fees, calling fans "stupid."
- One executive currently leads ticketing for 150 Live Nation amphitheaters.
- Live Nation settled with the Justice Department but the trial continues.
Newly unsealed court documents from Live Nation's federal antitrust trial reveal internal Slack messages where employees openly mocked fans and bragged about inflating fees. In one exchange, then-regional ticketing directors Ben Baker and Jeff Weinhold joked about charging excessive prices for parking, with one suggesting fees of "$50 to park in the grass."
One of the implicated employees, Ben Baker, referred to fans as "stupid" and expressed satisfaction with "robbing them blind." Baker currently holds a more executive role, serving as the head of ticketing for Live Nation's 150 amphitheaters.
Live Nation has issued a statement asserting that the private messages "don't reflect our values or how we operate" and are merely exchanges between colleagues. The company indicated it is investigating the matter internally.
The ticketing giant reached a settlement with the Justice Department earlier this week. However, this resolution is not universally accepted, as more than 30 states have rejected the deal. Consequently, a judge has ruled that the antitrust trial will recommence on Monday.
