Report: Oak View Group Received Kickbacks From Live Nation/Ticketmaster

The US Department of Justice’s (DOJ) indictment of former Oak View Group (OVG) CEO Tim Leiweke has uncovered details of secret kickbacks paid to the executive and OVG by Ticketmaster.

The details:

• As covered here, the DOJ has indicted Leiweke over allegations he rigged the bidding process to oversee Austin’s Moody Center.

• As per Digital Music News (DMN), the government investigation has uncovered internal emails revealing millions of dollars were paid in kickbacks to OVG from the Live Nation-owned Ticketmaster.

• DMN states: “These communications reveal that Ticketmaster funneled secret payments to Leiweke and Oak View Group for pushing venues to exclusively use Ticketmaster instead of other ticketing partners.”

• Venue reps were reportedly not made aware of any relationship between OVG and Live Nation.

• The DOJ alleges the undisclosed relationship gave Ticketmaster “a lock on ticketing for many arenas nationwide, undercutting competition and transparency across the industry.”