Incendiary internal messages on the Slack platform have entered the spotlight in a Manhattan federal court antitrust trial involving Live Nation and Ticketmaster, as the U.S. government and a coalition of states seek to rely on the communications as evidence of how the companies ran the market.
The messages were highlighted late Wednesday in a government filing released in the case before U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian. In the government’s submission, lawyers described messages from late 2021 through early 2023, written by Ben Baker when he held a ticketing leadership role in the company. The filing argued that the materials should be part of the week-old trial in Manhattan.
At the core of the antitrust case, government and state lawyers say Live Nation and Ticketmaster squelched competition and drove up prices for fans. Their allegations include conduct they described in the court record as involving threats, retaliation and other tactics. The companies have said in court that the structure and pricing decisions are set by artists, sports teams and venues, not by Live Nation and Ticketmaster.
In their filing, the government lawyers said the Slack messages contain “candid, internal messages” in which Baker called fans “so stupid,” explained that he “gouge(s)” them, and brags that Live Nation is “robbing them blind, baby.” The submission also tied Baker’s comments to a specific discussion about access prices for VIP areas at the MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre in Tampa.
The states and federal government said the messages were exchanged during a discussion about pricing that they characterized as “outrageous.” In that exchange, the filing says Baker wrote that “these people are so stupid” and that “I almost feel bad taking advantage of them,” followed by laughter emojis captured in the public record. The government lawyers also noted Baker’s role and said he was a regional director of ticketing at the time, later promoted to head ticketing for Venue Nation with responsibilities spanning Live Nation venues.
Live Nation, in contrast, urged the court to keep the messages out of the trial. The company argued that the communications reflect “off-the-cuff banter, not policy,” occurring between two personal friends who do not work together. Live Nation also said the messages do not relate to the antitrust claims in the case.
The company’s lawyers further contended that the messages amounted to “passing references” to non-ticket ancillary products sold to concertgoers at amphitheaters in Florida and Virginia. Government and state lawyers responded that the ancillary services are directly relevant to the claims they are pursuing, saying “ancillaries are a significant way that Live Nation monetizes its monopoly position in the amphitheater market.”
The arguments over the Slack messages were made after multiple outlets requested release of the filing materials, including Bloomberg News, The New York Times and MLex, as well as Inner City Press. The company said in a statement Thursday that the messages “from one junior staffer to a friend absolutely doesn’t reflect our values or how we operate,” and added that leadership learned of the exchange when the public did and would look into it “promptly.”
The trial’s timeline has been uncertain in recent days after the federal government announced a settlement with Live Nation that would give competitors some access to ticket sales they are currently excluded from. Lawyers for more than two dozen states asked that the ongoing trial be scrapped and that a new jury be chosen; after testimony began the previous week, jurors were told to stay home this week with an expectation that the trial would resume Monday.
Subramanian encouraged negotiations as the dispute over the Slack exhibits and the trial’s broader posture played out. In a letter to the judge Thursday, a states’ lawyer signaled the trial was likely to resume, and said the judge’s ruling on whether the Slack message exhibits can be shown to the jury would have a “material impact” on which witnesses the states plan to call as they prepare to return to trial.