Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino took the witness stand Thursday to distance himself from employee messages bragging about "robbing them blind, baby" through inflated ticket fees — but admitted he hasn't fired the staffer who made the remarks. Speaking in federal court during the company's ongoing antitrust trial, Rapino called the 2022 Slack messages between employees Ben Baker and Jeff Weinhold "disgusting" and insisted "it's not the way we operate." Yet Baker remains employed at full pay, with Rapino saying he plans to "deal with it" this week while noting the company doesn't "fire easily."
The exchange reveals the peculiar arithmetic of accountability at America's concert monopoly. When your employees celebrate gouging customers in writing, the appropriate response is apparently a public tongue-clashing followed by private inaction.
The Slack messages, shared as exhibits in the antitrust case against Live Nation, showed employees gleefully discussing fee increases with the kind of enthusiasm typically reserved for actual robbery. Yet Rapino maintained he only learned of the messages last week — a timeline that raises questions about internal oversight at a company that controls roughly 70% of the primary ticketing market.
Jeffrey Kessler, representing the states suing Live Nation, pressed Rapino on multiple fronts during what became a contentious day of testimony. The CEO found himself defending everything from the Taylor Swift ticketing debacle (blamed on a "cyber attack") to his previous admission that Ticketmaster's system was "held together by duct tape."
Rapino's testimony offered a masterclass in corporate deflection. When questioned about requiring venues to use Ticketmaster exclusively, he insisted these arrangements reflected what "the venue wants" rather than anticompetitive pressure. When asked about denying Adele's offer to pay ticketing fees herself to sell directly to fans, he claimed the company "would never say no to Adele" — they were supposedly saying no to the ticketing company involved.
The CEO particularly bristled when Kessler questioned whether Live Nation had pumped up amphitheater revenues through tactics like requiring attendees to rent chairs rather than bring their own — a change that generated $7 million across 12 venues. "It became a safety issue," Rapino claimed, though the safety implications of personal lawn chairs remain unclear.
- Baker, the employee who bragged about "robbing" fans, remains employed at full pay
- Rapino claims he was unaware of the inflammatory messages until they surfaced in court last week
- Live Nation changed its policy to prevent artists from selling tickets directly to fan clubs, requiring all sales go through Ticketmaster
- The company's forecasted profits for outdoor venues fell short in 2024, leading to executive reshuffling
Throughout the hearing, Rapino attempted to narrow the scope of questions, often claiming decisions were made by "teams beneath him" or splitting hairs over definitions and chart interpretations. When confronted with his own previous statements about Live Nation's "incredible moat built around the castle," he reframed the comment as referring to the company's early investment in building integrated ticketing, venue, and promotion businesses.
The trial has already seen its share of drama beyond Rapino's testimony. The jury pool has dwindled from eleven to nine after two jurors cited "extreme financial hardship" — an ironic twist given the case centers on alleged price manipulation in live entertainment.
Perhaps most telling was Rapino's apparent reference to personnel changes at the executive level. When discussing missed profit projections, he noted that "Tom See's no longer here," referring to the former president of Live Nation US Venues who has since been moved to chief strategy officer for international venues. The comment suggested that while front-line employees who celebrate robbing customers keep their jobs, executives who miss financial targets face consequences.
The broader context makes Live Nation's personnel decisions more significant. This isn't a competitive industry where bad actors face market consequences. When you own the venues, control the ticketing, and promote the shows, customer complaints have nowhere meaningful to go. Fans can't switch to a competitor that doesn't exist.
Rapino's testimony continues as the state attorneys general attempt to prove that Live Nation's integrated business model constitutes an illegal monopoly. The CEO's admission that his company doesn't "fire easily" — even when employees explicitly celebrate exploiting customers — may prove more damaging than any economic analysis.
The trial resumes next week, with additional witnesses expected to testify about Live Nation's business practices. Meanwhile, Ben Baker remains employed, his job apparently secure despite providing prosecutors with a smoking-gun document that reads like a supervillain's internal monologue.
In an industry built on the magic of live performance, perhaps the most impressive feat is Live Nation's ability to make customer exploitation disappear through the simple expedient of calling it disgusting while changing absolutely nothing.