More on Ticketmaster/Live Nation merger

It occurred to me later, after I saw that Irving Azoff, manager of the Eagles is the CEO of this new company, that the Eagles were the first band who broke that $100 ticket price barrier, with tickets for their "Hell Freezes Over" tour going for the outrageous sum at the time of $150. If you think this guy isn't going to jack up prices as high as he can, you got another thing coming.

Anyway, here is some good commentary on the merger from the Springsteen fan site, Backstreets. There is a link in there to a good article, too.

THINGS WILL GET WORSE, THEY GOT TO GET BETTER…
Talk about your Blue Mondays. On January 25, the U.S. Justice Department’s Anti-Trust Division officially approved a “watered-down” version of the merger between ticket-sales agency Ticketmaster and concert-promoter/venue-owner Live Nation, creating a new company called Live Nation Entertainment. (One of the better initial reports/analyses of the deal can be found here.) In reality, there’s very little “watered down” from the original proposal first made a year ago, which essentially will solidify and strengthen what many considered to be a live-entertainment monopoly already since Pearl Jam et. al. unsuccessfully sought restrictions on Ticketmaster from the Anti-Trust Division back in the ’90s, during the Clinton presidency. Springsteen fans in particular should be appalled that not a single item in the “significant changes” ordered by the Justice Department even pretends to address the blatant conflict of interest that is Ticketmaster’s wholly-owned “secondary ticket market” (legal scalping) subsidiary TicketsNow, the source of so many problems for fans who attempted to buy tickets during the Working on a Dream tour last year.

Speaking of conflicts of interest, one of the other "concessions" that the new company surprisingly did not have to make allows it to keep its artist-management wing, headed by Irving Azoff, to boot. To understand just how anti-artist and anti-fan this move is, just remember that when Springsteen was forced to mount his famous lawsuit against former manager Mike Appel, Bruce's major source of revenue to sustain him and his band through that period came from their live performances. Any artist managed by Ticketmaster could be restrained from repeating such a strategy now, with the new company's increased power to control access to venues, ticket sales, etc. Even if you're an artist who's not directly managed by Azoff, if you don't like any aspect of how you or your audience get treated by Live Nation Entertainment, it now will be even more difficult, if not impossible, to oppose the company's policies and continue to make a living as a professional musician.

This latest action (or, more accurately, inaction) from the Anti-Trust Division comes in spite of the public opposition of many, including Bruce Springsteen, his management and touring organizations, and many of his fans who wrote letters, sent e-mails and/or made phone calls urging the Anti-Trust Division to stop this merger. As Springsteen's official website previously noted, "[T]he one thing that would make the current ticket situation even worse for the fan than it is now would be Ticketmaster and Live Nation coming up with a single system, thereby returning us to a near monopoly situation in music ticketing." Barring any significant actions from Congress or the President (who still could actively oppose the Anti-Trust Division's ruling if they chose to do so), it looks pretty certain now that we're headed further down that road.

Despite the discouraging news, however, the battle isn't over just yet. Click here for more information.
- January 27, 2010

Ticketmaster-Live Nation Merger Approved

This is bad news. Its not as much that ticket prices will go up. The supply & demand driving ticket prices is probably right. It you really want those $300 Madonna tickets, more power to you I guess. But with little to no competition, Live Nation Entertainment will be able to raise ticket purchase fees and lockup venues in markets to exclusive deals forcing bands to play with Live Nation Entertainment if they want to play a lot of venues. I just don't see this working out well for bands or consumers.
http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/content_display/industry/e3i57da5f249d19e7dccdedb25cf13bb1cb

Update on Live Nation/Ticketmaster merger

Here is an update on the proposed Live Nation/Ticketmaster merger: http://blogs.suntimes.com/derogatis/2009/05/keeping_an_eye_on_live_nation.html.

Live Nation is already charging you more for beer and souveniers and hiding parking fees (even if you don't drive) in the ticket. So if you think the merged company would be consumer friendly, you're delusional. More control will only lead them to raise prices on everything surrounding the price of a show.

Thanks to Live Music Blog for bringing this article to my attention.

Your ticket price just doubled

Listen.... Listen..... What's that I hear? Its the cost of arena & amphitheater tickets doubling:
http://money.cnn.com/2009/02/10/news/companies/ticketmaster_live_nation/?postversion=2009021013

It may not be a done deal though. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-NY said, "As the Springsteen bait-and-switch shows, even on its own, it is very hard to trust Ticketmaster," Schumer said in a statement Tuesday.
"This merger would give a giant, new entity unrivaled power over concertgoers and the prices they pay to see their favorite artists and bands. It must be viewed skeptically and scrutinized with a fine-toothed comb by the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission," he added.

It will be interesting to see what will happen if the deal goes through. Could large acts who aren't under the Live Nation umbrella band together and start a new ticketing service? Would they then be shut out of all venues Live Nation/TM own or control forcing them to play in open fields and high school gyms? Would new bands be forced to kowtow to Live Nation/TM or risk never being able to move above the theater level?