Exposed Court Documents Reveal Ticketmaster Employees Bragging About Ripping Off “Stupid” Customers And “Robbing Them Blind”
This article was originally published on Total Pro Sports.
Live Nation and its subsidiary Ticketmaster are under scrutiny following the exposure of messages from one of their employees.
The employee in question referred to Ticketmaster customers as “so stupid,” bragging that the company was “robbing them blind, baby.”
The companies are defendants in an antitrust trial. And the employee sent the messages via Slack between late 2021 and early 2023.
Government lawyers released them as part of a filing this week, per the Associated Press. The government is arguing that they should be used as evidence in the trial. Of course, lawyers for the companies have opposed the notion.
Live Nation is accused of driving up ticket prices through threats, retaliation and other tactics. This is said to be in a bid to “suffocate the competition” and maintain a monopoly on the industry.
The company, however, claims that artists, sports teams, and venues set prices and decide how tickets are sold.
Government attorneys have called for the Slack messages to be included in their evidence. They claim that the employee, Ben Baker, calls fans“so stupid” and admits that he “gouges” them while claiming that Live Nation is “robbing them blind, baby.”
Ticketmaster Says Conversation Between Friends Should Not Be Used As Evidence
The lawyers noted that Baker was a regional director of ticketing, responsible for a large amphitheater in Florida. They added that he has since been promoted to head of ticketing for Venue Nation and is now responsible for all of Live Nation’s venues.
According to the filing, the company was discussing prices for access to the VIP area of a show at the MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre in Tampa, Florida.
Baker claimed during the conversation that the admission was “outrageous” and that “these people are so stupid.”
“I almost feel bad taking advantage of them BAHAHAHAHAHA,” he wrote in the chat.
Love Nation is asking for the messages to be left out of evidence because they were “off-the-cuff banter, not policy.”
They claim they were between two friends who do not work together.
Live Nation said in a statement on Thursday that the messages “from one junior staffer to a friend 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,” they added.
Lawyers for the pertinent states claim that “excessive prices for ancillary services are directly relevant” to their claims, stating that “ancillaries are a significant way that Live Nation monetizes its monopoly position in the amphitheater market.”
