{"id":241268,"date":"2026-03-12T18:15:42","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T22:15:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/2026\/03\/12\/these-people-are-so-stupid-live-nation-ticketing-directors-bragged-about-charging-high-fees-in-slack-messages-2\/"},"modified":"2026-03-12T18:15:42","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T22:15:42","slug":"these-people-are-so-stupid-live-nation-ticketing-directors-bragged-about-charging-high-fees-in-slack-messages-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/2026\/03\/12\/these-people-are-so-stupid-live-nation-ticketing-directors-bragged-about-charging-high-fees-in-slack-messages-2\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018These People Are So Stupid\u2019: Live Nation Ticketing Directors Bragged About Charging High Fees in Slack\u00a0Messages"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\tLive Nation has settled with the Department of Justice to end federal antitrust claims \u2014 but the company is still under the microscope of public court proceedings.<\/p>\n

\n\tThis scrutiny was on full display after a trove of embarrassing Slack messages was unsealed on the court docket on Thursday (March 11). These internal messages were sent in 2022 between Ben Baker <\/strong>and Jeff Weinhold<\/strong>, who at the time were both regional ticketing directors at Live Nation, responsible for the MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre and Jiffy Lube Live amphitheater, respectively.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tLive Nation Reaches Settlement With DOJ In Antitrust Case, But Some States Will \u2018Keep\u00a0Fighting\u2019\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3><\/div>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tNew\u00a0Levels Strike Global Partnership With\u00a0Virgin Music Group, Signs Hooligan Hefs\u00a0& More\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3><\/div>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tBad Bunny’s Australia Debut Sets Attendance Benchmark in Sydney\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3><\/div>\n

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\n\tIn the messages, the men boasted about charging high parking fees. At one point, Baker sent a screenshot showing that Live Nation had grossed more than $666,000 on premier parking in 2021 and then wrote, \u201cRobbing them blind baby. That\u2019s how we do.\u201d Weinhold replied, \u201clol.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAt another point, Baker wrote, \u201cthese people are so stupid,\u201d and Weinhold replied, \u201cI have VIP parking up to $250 lol.\u201d Baker then said, \u201cI almost feel bad taking advantage of them. BAHAHAHAHA.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a statement shared with Billboard <\/em>on Wednesday (March 12), Live Nation said, \u201cThe Slack exchange from one junior staffer to a friend absolutely doesn\u2019t reflect our values or how we operate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cBecause this was a private Slack message, leadership learned of this when the public did, and will be looking into the matter promptly,\u201d the statement continued. \u201cOur business only works when fans have great experiences, which is why we\u2019ve capped amphitheater venue fees at 15% and have invested $1 billion in the last 18 months into U.S. venues and fan amenities.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tLive Nation DOJ Trial Week 1 Recap: Taylor Swift, Opening Statements & Barclays Center \u2018Threat\u2019 Call\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3><\/div>\n

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\n\tBaker is currently head of ticketing for Live Nation\u2019s amphitheaters, and Weinhold is senior director of ticketing for Live Nation\u2019s D.C. region. Baker was on the witness list for Live Nation\u2019s antitrust trial<\/a>, in which the DOJ and dozens of states alleged the company exercised monopoly power in the live music industry by controlling Ticketmaster in addition to venues and promotion services.<\/p>\n

\n\tLive Nation announced a settlement<\/a> with the DOJ on Monday (March 9), just as the second week of trial was beginning. The deal would require Live Nation to cap ticketing fees, open Ticketmaster\u2019s back-end technology to rival ticketers, restrict how it leverages exclusive deals with venues and allow rival promoters to book its amphitheaters. Crucially, though, it does not require Live Nation to divest Ticketmaster \u2014 the DOJ\u2019s original goal in filing the case<\/a> two years ago.<\/p>\n

\n\tDespite the deal, the court fight remains live because many of the state attorneys general who sued alongside the federal government have not signed on to the settlements. These states have brought on pro-antitrust lawyer Jeffrey Kessler<\/strong> and are in active settlement negotiations with Live Nation. If they can\u2019t agree to a resolution, the trial could resume as soon as next week.<\/p>\n


\n \"Billboard
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Aller \u00e0 la source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Live Nation has settled with the Department of Justice to end federal antitrust claims \u2014 but the company is still under the microscope of public court proceedings. This scrutiny was on full display after a trove of embarrassing Slack messages was unsealed on the court docket on Thursday (March 11). These internal messages were sent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-241268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-musique","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=241268"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241268\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=241268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=241268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=241268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}