On Sunday, musician Courtney Jaye shared screenshots of serveral anonymous texts, claiming that the concert company Live Nation allegedly included a clause in their contracts with artists, that would function as a COVID-19 gag order. According to the claims by the anonymous source, the alleged gag order is so artists can’t reveal that they have tested positive for COVID.
Throughout the text’s the source claims they are currently on the road and most crew members have contracted the contagious COVID delta variant. The source goes on claiming that because of an alleged gag order in their contract with Live Nation, they can’t share any news about their positive results, but asks Jaye to warn her crew and others.
According to Pitchfork, Live Nation has shared a tweet responding to the allegations, saying there’s no gag order and “We care about our employees, crew, fans & artists and will continue to meet requirements of local health officials as we put on events.”
There is absolutely no covid gag order in our contracts. We care about our employees, crew, fans & artists and will continue to meet requirements of local health officials as we put on events.
— Live Nation (@LiveNation) August 2, 2021
In other news, Live Nation recently offered $20 “All-in” tickets for various concerts, including Korn, Megadeth, Coheed and Cambria, The Jonas Brothers and more. Earlier this year the company announced that while their revenue is down 79% in 2021, events are “selling out faster than before.” In 2020 the revenue of the company was down 84% due to the pandemic. Live Nation made $1,861,200,000 in 2020, compared to 2019’s $11,548,000,000. In 2021, the ticket seller’s Q1 was around $290 Million.