<img class="asset asset-image at-xid-6a00d83451b36c69e201538e0a071e970b" title="image from www.google.com” src=”http://www.hypebot.com/.a/6a00d83451b36c69e201538e0a071e970b-200wi” alt=”image from www.google.com” style=”margin: 0px 5px 5px 0px;” /> (UPDATED) After it was reported that former Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino had gotten a 137% pay hike, music industry commentator Bob Lefsetz joined the chorus wondering how a company that's losing money and laying off staff can pay each of its top executives millions of dollars in bonuses. That drew an angry response from Live Nation's CEO of Global Music, Jason Garner, who in 2008 was #15 on Forbes Higherst Paid Under 40 list. Full text of Garner's emai to Lefsetz:
From: Jason Garner
Pls print this – if you have the balls You are an asshole with a computer. I can finally say what every relevant member of our industry thinks. I dare you to sit in michael rapino’s chair for one week – and then write your column. I dare you to do one thing, just one, that takes a risk to move our industry forward the way michael and irving have for their entire careers versus whining about the glory of the past and criticizing those who pour their hearts into our business today. I dare you, just once, to be on the other side of your cowardly, late night computer jabs and feel the way I’m sure nathan does right now after working 20 hours a day for the last five years. Until then you are a coward and a cynic and a man who never spent a day in the ring and is so bitter in his irrelevance that he takes shots at the guys who are actually doing something. Ineptly yours,
Subject: Re: Live Nation Compensation
Jason Garner
Music Emphia 