A Live Nation Entertainment Inc. ticketing director, who once denigrated fans in an internal chat as "so stupid” for being willing to pay high fees for VIP add-ons at concerts, minimised his comments to a New York jury at an antitrust trial against the company and its Ticketmaster unit.
Ben Baker, who now heads ticketing for all of Live Nation’s venues, testified that his language was "immature and regrettable” and that he was simply "testing market demand.” His chats from 2022, when he managed ticketing at a Live Nation venue in Tampa, Florida, were unsealed last week as evidence in the case. "These people are so stupid,” he wrote. "I almost feel bad taking advantage of them.”
Baker was one of three Live Nation employees to testify Tuesday. A group of more than 30 states accuses the company of illegally monopolising the live events industry and seeks to force the sale Ticketmaster, the company’s ticketing arm.
The states allege Live Nation uses its various businesses to reinforce its dominance over live events, including by threatening to withhold concerts from venues that seek to use other ticketers.
In his chat comments with a coworker, Baker bragged about raising prices for ancillary services such as parking. On the witness stand, he told jurors his choice of language was "immature” and "indefensible,” but said he hasn’t been reprimanded or demoted by Live Nation.
Fans paid for extras at the shows even though "were not required to,” he said. "What I was trying to convey was my surprise that fans were willing to pay” this much.
In another exchange about fees, Baker bragged about "robbing them blind, baby. that’s how we do,” after sending a coworker a table that showed Live Nation had increased revenue on parking by 33% from 2019 to 2021.
He also boasted about charging "$50 to park in the grass” and "$60 for closer grass.”
On Tuesday, the states introduced a series of emails involving a Live Nation employee who threatened to re-route Jonas Brothers concerts in 2019 unless venues paid additional money to the company and switched their ticketing provider to Ticketmaster.
Brad Wavra, who worked on tours for Live Nation, told venues they needed to increase fees in order to pay the company an additional $4 on each ticket and switch from AEG’s AXS to Ticketmaster.
In a later e-mail to more senior executives including Live Nation chief executive officer Michael Rapino, Wavra said he had used a similar manoeuvre on a previous tour for the singer Pink and "never was told it was a bad idea.”
Wavra said he had gotten most of the venues to agree to the additional per-ticket payment and to switch to Ticketmaster, intending for the extra money to go to Live Nation, not the artists.
But Mark Campana, who was then chief operating officer for Live Nation’s concert division, told jurors that Wavra was "completely out of line” and that he was "told he shouldn’t be doing that.”
Wavra was "reprimanded” by Rapino, according to Campana, though he acknowledged he didn’t know whether Wavra experienced any career consequences over the incident.
Wavra is now a senior vice president for Live Nation’s touring arm, according to his LinkedIn.
In 2015, Live Nation considered bidding on the exclusive booking rights for the amphitheatre that houses the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. In an internal analysis about the deal, Live Nation employees said gaining the rights would help "consolidate” the market and "stop the threat” of rival AEG acquiring a location in the area.
As part of the analysis, which was shown in court Tuesday, company officials concluded Live Nation could gain "considerable talent savings” on artistes for future concerts because the venue often made "excessive offers to artistes.”
They cited a $750,000 deal the amphitheatre gave to Stevie Wonder, beating out Live Nation’s bid to host his concert for $500,000.
"At times we’ve had to raise our offers to compete therefore artificially inflating the artist value in the market,” company officials said in their internal analysis.
"They were overpaying the artiste,” Campana testified about the amphitheatre.
He rejected the idea that Live Nation wanted the exclusive rights to the venue so that it could depress artist payments, saying they were "proud” to partner with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.
‘Not language we want’
Towards the end of his testimony Campana said he reprimanded an employee for "inappropriate” language in an e-mail.
"Please do not send e-mails that state you want to ‘crush’ the competition. Not the language we want to be seen in e-mails when reviewed by the DOJ or anyone for that matter,” Campana said in a June 2020 text to a Live Nation employee. "Crap,” she responded.
Campana said he sent the text to the Live Nation employee - a booker in Portland, Oregon - rather than responding to her e-mail because of the seriousness of the issue, not in an effort to hide any communications.
"I’ve been under review with the DOJ over a decade,” Campana said Tuesday, to explain why he referred to the Justice Department in his text.
The case is US v. Live Nation Entertainment, 24-cv-03973, US District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan). – Bloomberg
