Ticketmaster’s Public Image Continues Decline
For The Guardian
By Finn McIntyre
Live Nation executive Ben Baker has come under scrutiny from the public eye after his comments in a 2022 private Slack message chat were revealed, during a court case against his company for illegal monopolisation.
Such messages as “these people are so stupid, I almost feel bad for them”, and “Robbin’ them blind” have been used as a part of the prosecution’s case that Live Nation has operated unfairly and illegally.
Baker has since stated remorse for his language, saying that “there’s no excuse” and that it was “immature”.
This lawsuit comes amid further controversy surrounding Live Nation, as English ticket-buyers were outraged at the perceived use of ‘dynamic pricing’ for band ‘Oasis’s’ recent tour. Dynamic pricing is the act of raising and lowering prices based on current trends, and is legal in the UK, however it must be clear and transparently done. Oasis themselves stated that they “at no time had any awareness” that Ticketmaster would use dynamic pricing.
Live Nation have denied the use of dynamic pricing here, instead pointing to cheaper tickets selling out first, and point to a lack of evidence of any wrongdoing.
As reported by CNN, Live Nation CEO Micheal Rapino testified last month that it is “disgusting” that a top executive would use such language about customers. However, Live Nation argued in court that the messages were “irrelevant” and “prejudicial”.
The court ruled that Ticketmaster ran a monopoly and overcharged fans £1.27 per ticket over several years, and it is thought that this figure will be used to estimate damages and a final ruling from Judge Arun Subramanian.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clyddyp19yyo
“These People Are So Stupid”, Boasts Ben Baker
By Finn McIntyre
For the Observer
Once again music fans the world over are furious with ticket selling conglomerates. After decades of having their wallets wrung out by Ticketmaster and its ilk, the discovery of its execs boasting proudly about this has been, for many, a step too far.
`In a United States Court case, based on accusations that Live Nation (of whom Ticketmaster is a subsidiary) have been illegally monopolising ticket sales across the country, executive Ben Baker was made to testify on a series of text messages that had been made public. If you asked me to draw a caricature of an evil businessman laughing maniacally as he siphons money from the working class, I might draw in the speech bubble something like “robbing them blind baby, that’s how we do it”. It lands then, with little surprise but no less disgust to find that that is exactly what Baker said in a 2022 message to a fellow Live Nation employee.
Many are and have been aware of Ticketmaster and Live Nation’s continued success in overcharging and inflating ticket prices for some time now, especially around the ‘dynamic pricing’ controversy, where Ticketmaster allegedly have used an algorithm to raise prices based on real time demand, of course, in the name of profit. Anthony Fantano1, popular online music critic has gone as far as to say Ticketmaster and Live Nation have “made possible the worst era of scalping we have ever seen”.
I can’t pretend to have seen all eras of scalping, but those words certainly do feel accurate with ticket prices routinely reaching hundreds of pounds to see mid-level artists- where those prices used to be reserved only for the upper echelon of fame. In a world where the price of everything is rising rapidly, and many struggle to afford basic necessities, it seems in particular bad taste for companies to be profiteering off the arts- one of the key things people have to escape from life with.
This is not just a USA issue either, from Albany to Australia to here in the United Kingdom, fans are outraged, and litigation is being levied against Live Nation, however this always seems to end in something along the lines of an admission of wrongdoing, followed by further, more secretive wrongdoing.
What then, can be done? In the 1990s, Pearl Jam famously attempted to fight against disproportionate ticket prices, in a battle against then monopoly Ticketmaster (yes, this is not a new issue), and lost, though for a small time managed to slash into Ticketmaster profits in the order of millions. To that end, maybe something could be done- but until a more coordinated, artist’s driven effort to expel Ticketmaster from the world of music comes, it seems us concert goers remain in the claws of the Mr Burns-like, Ben Bakers of the world.
1 https://www.instagram.com/p/DP6l2jwkQ7i/
Fishfingers and Drumsticks with James Morriss
For Pitchfork.com
by Finn McIntyre
Despite having been close friends with James Morriss for three years, there’s an air of awkwardness as we sit in his living room with our coffees- knowing that he is being interviewed, he switches to ‘professional’ mode. I follow suit. Sat with his drum bag and coat, I know he, as he often is, is soon off to go practice in whatever room they’ll let him at Leeds Conservatoire- the birthplace of Oxford Comma.
Oxford Comma is the latest guitar band in Leeds, combining atmospheric, distorted guitar with James’ magnetic drumming and lead singer Albert’s powerful vocals. The latest guitar band in Leeds might not be entirely accurate though, as James tells me “we recently sold out The Louisiana in Bristol, which is quite a legendary venue”, admitting though “which I found out when I got there”.
In a hoodie and shorts, eating fishfingers, you could be forgiven for seeing James and not thinking: “that’s a rockstar”. By some definitions you might even be right; despite all the exciting progress his band is making, his ego stays checked, and he remains level headed. James is a man focused entirely on making music, and to a large extent, getting really good at drums. Despite this I wanted to know his thoughts on all that is going on, so, hoping to get him to brag I ask “there’s a lot of momentum with Oxford Comma at the moment- how’s it feeling?”.
“Its feeling pretty good”
Humble as ever.
He does then humor me, and lists a few of the accomplishments they have achieved in the relatively short timeframe, such as signing to quite a big record label, selling out shows, and a promise of an EP coming out in the next few months. I can tell though, that his favourite thing is that they have close to 2000 monthly listeners, most importantly from across the globe. He tells me that a lot of bands’ main audience comes from word of mouth, and that he finds it encouraging that they’ve managed to amass an audience that likely don’t even know their names.
This is made even more impressive when he tells me “there hasn’t really been like a conscious effort to convert people”; with only minimal social media presence, the main source of publicity has been shows they’ve played and word of mouth- it seems a very- let the music speak for itself- type of thing. I say as much, to which he nods and smiles.
Like mentioned, James is not one to get caught up in the moment, but rather he remains solely focused on his drumming, putting in tens of hours a week into practice and recording. For others, an approach of near-ambivalence toward marketing himself in favour of polishing his already huge talent may hinder, but it seems to have worked perfectly in this case. I’ve been to a few Oxford Comma gigs, and at each one the most common thing people agree on is that James’ drumming takes them to a whole new level- this isn’t just a backing 2 and 4, he adds something really important to the music.
Having listened to their single quite a few times before, as well as attending gigs, I was interested to find out about their influences as a band. Fittingly for what is quite a unique sound, James listed a myriad of different influences for each band member, including: Radiohead, Wolf Alice, Wunderhorse, Folk music (as a whole, though he mentioned this doesn’t get through much), as well as The 1975 and The Night Cafe. This makes a lot of sense in working out the sound of Fake Fancy Shoes, Oxford Comma’s new single: with Radiohead soundscape-ey production and Wunderhorse guitar tones, all underpinned with an almost poppy undercurrent.
I ask my last question “so who writes the songs” and the air of professionalism returns again- he emphasises that it’s all a collaborative process, that no one person or couple of people are more responsible than any other, and I believe him, though he does tell me that often he is instructed on fills with beatboxing. It seems that Oxford Comma are a proper, hardworking, music focused band.
Ultimately, what stands out most about James, and Oxford Comma, is not just their growing list of achievements, but the very deliberate way they’re happening. Rather than letting his ego get over-filled by a first, very real taste of success, James seems to save his enthusiasm for the music itself, and for making sure he is the best musician he can be. He gets up to leave, drumsticks in hand, and lets me know he’s free for a beer in about 9 hours- he’s got drumming practice then a recording session. It seems he’s going to keep hiding his excitement for what’s to come with Oxford Comma, and leave it to the rest of us to make noise.
Getting Killed Review
For Pitchfork.com
by Finn McIntyre
Coming off the back of 3D Country, a sprawling, hectic, and at times balladic rock album, Cameron Winter and his band Geese have somewhat changed their tune. Following the success of Winter’s solo album Heavy Metal (a title which is far from descriptive), the stage was set for Geese to explode in popularity.
Departing slightly from their more detached, post-punk sound, Getting Killed leans more into the personal, emotional, and sincere elements of Winter’s songwriting. Where 3D Country’s lyrics were more of an outside looking-in-perspective on life, Getting Killed’s titular track opens: “My love takes a long time// Longer than a lover can survive”. Despite this change in colour, the things one expects from Geese remain. The habit of almost poking fun at their musical influences with stylised parody carries over, with songs like Cobra imitating soppy love ballads of old, while doing so with genuine appeal.
There is a sense of not wanting to be put in one place; the opening track, Trinidad, starts muted, with a disjointed, but steady drum beat and haunting guitar lines, before exploding into a wall of noise and sound, with sharp horn lines and all sorts of sound-effects, topped by a screeching Winter yelling “There’s a bomb in my car”, then fading back to the duller backing beat. This is followed by the aforementioned Cobra, where Winter switches from loud and violent to his best impression of a sultry country western crooner.
The typical structure and norms of a rock album are played with in ways that often come off very well, however at times can lack a sense of resolution and finality that listeners may find off-putting. Songs like Husbands and Islands of Men build and build, but never quite release in quite the cathartic way one would expect. This is not however, to a significant detriment, as gorgeous lush vocal stacks and instrumentation more than make up for it.
Getting Killed culminates in a six and a half minute long epic- where the rest of the album is about being unsure of one’s place in the world, and the pain that causes, Long Island City Here I Come states with confidence and certainty the direction Winter and Geese are aiming: they intend to do great things in music. This album being so different from its predecessors, for those that aren’t sure about Getting Killed- you may well like the next one.
Appendix (Interview Audio)
