Of course, most of these potential customers don’t really have much of a choice if they want to see their favorite musicians—that’s why Live Nation is the subject of an antitrust lawsuit. The lawsuit is currently on pause after Live Nation and the DOJ came to an agreement on Monday. However, there are still several individual states pursuing legal action against the company, and Judge Arun Subramanian ordered the release of all the documents in the case. These Slack messages had previously not been included as evidence in the trial as Live Nation had argued they were “irrelevant” to the case and merely reflected “off-the-cuff banter, not policy, decision-making or facts of consequence,” according to The New York Times.
It’s not hard to imagine why Live Nation would prefer to have these messages kept private (though a spokesperson from the company claimed that “leadership learned of this when the public did”). Elsewhere in the exchanges, one employee says, “I have VIP parking up to $250 lol” for a 2022 Kid Rock show at an amphitheater in Virginia. The other responds, “I almost feel bad taking advantage of them.” Another exchange shows the employees sharing a graphic showing the growth of “premier parking” incoming at an unspecified venue, which reached the not-at-all-demonic number of $666,000 in 2021. This is the chain that brought the “robbing them blind baby” comment, along with a comment that “I gouge them on ancil prices to make up for it.” The Times reports that Baker’s most recent title is head of ticketing for Venue Nation and had been handling events in Florida and that Weinhold is the senior ticketing director for the area around Washington, D.C.
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