Live Nation Execs Laugh At 'Stupid' Customers & Brag About 'Robbing Them Blind' In Exposed DMs
The rising prices of tickets to live events has been a topic of conversation for years now. Even artists have pointed out the change, pleading with Ticketmaster to find a more affordable alternative for their fans.
While Ticketmaster and their parent company, Live Nation, have stayed mostly silent on this issue, they're being forced to speak on it now, due to a lawsuit.
The Lawsuit
The U.S. Department of Justice and Live Nation reached a settlement in the DOJ’s antitrust lawsuit earlier this week. During the week-long trial, representatives for Live Nation moved to exclude a collection of Slack direct messages between two of the company’s regional directors from the evidence presented to the jury.
As of March 12, a number of publications successfully petitioned New York federal judge Arun Subramanian to release the chats from 2022, putting the concert giant in some hot water.
Exposed Slack Messages
The conversations are between Ben Baker, head of ticketing for Venue Nation, and Jeff Weinhold, a senior director in the ticketing department, per Pitchfork. In the direct messages, Baker and Weinhold joke about price-gouging fans, even admitting to “robbing them blind."
“Robbing them blind, baby,” Baker wrote. “That’s how we do.”
In one exchange, Baker brags about the customers attending a Kid Rock show in Tampa Bay, enjoying being able to raise prices on ancillary services like venue parking seemingly at will.
Ticketmaster directors have been caught bragging about "robbing" music fans blind
— Dexerto (@Dexerto) March 12, 2026
"Jesus, these people are so stupid ... I have VIP parking up to $250. I almost feel bad taking advantage of them" pic.twitter.com/j7DvB3omVH
“These people are so stupid,” Baker writes in another chat. “I almost feel bad taking advantage of them BAHAHAHAHAHA.”
In that same Slack channel, the pair went on to discus base prices for seats at shows, to which Baker assured his coworker, “I gouge them on ancil prices to make up for it.”
Live Nation's Response
Unsurprisingly, Live Nation wants to distance itself from the remarks, referring to the remarks in the original court documents as “off-the-cuff banter, not policy, decision-making, or facts of consequence.”
The company also issued a statement following the messages going public, telling The Post: “The Slack exchange 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.”
With the trial coming to an end, the DOJ’s deal will require Live Nation to cap its exclusivity contracts with venues at four years and its ticketing service fees at 15%. The company will also be forced to divest from exclusive booking agreements at 13 venues, allow rivals like SeatGeek and Eventbrite to list tickets on its online marketplace, and pay out nearly $300 million to states that take the settlement offer.
However, this suit might not be over for good. Multiple state attorneys general, who originally signed on to the lawsuit, are planning to move forward with the case, potentially calling for a mistrial.