Big Entertainment Mergers
The Department of Justice announced last week that they are going to allow the merger between Ticketmaster and Live Nation. The two companies will form under the new banner Live Nation Entertainment
There is plenty for the average consumer to be concerned about, and very little that can be done by us. The skeptics about this joint venture are abundant, and I am one of them. Can allowing one company to control ticketing, promotion, management, merchandising and venue truly benefit the consumer?
The DOJ is saying that they have done enough by requiring Ticketmaster to hand over software to AEG to allow someone else the ability to create their own ticketing service. This is a problem, although there will be separate ticket agencies, ticket prices will still be determined by the venue and artist, and all this will be controlled by Live Nation Entertainment.
Another issues is the DOJ says it is preventing any venue that decides to go with a different ticketing agency, from being retaliated against by LNE for the next ten years. But can a couple of DOJ employees really police big business heavily enough to keep it in check? On top of that, how do you determine the difference between healthy competitive business and retaliation in a market?
It also leaves indie promoters and venues in a very tough position to try to survive. The LA Times covered this here. If Live Nation Entertainment manages, promotes, handles merchandising for, and sells tickets to the big names in music, how will a small venue or promoter book bigger acts? This will provide less competition, not more.
If you combine all this, and this is just barely a tip on the iceberg, with the history of bullying that Ticketmaster has, it spells trouble. I remember well the battle that Pearl Jam tried to wage against the extraneous charges Ticketmaster levied on their tickets. Pearl Jam in it’s grunge rock Seattle sound hay day was eventually placed under Ticketmasters thumb, and bound into submission. It is no surprise that the joint company will merge under the name of Live Nation Entertainment, providing a temporary respite from the notorious name and practices of Ticketmaster.
This is bad for concertgoers everywhere. Currently ticket prices are exorbitant at best. The only thing keeping them in check is the current recession, and even the extensive recession has done little to curb the appetites of the insatiable companies that now form Live Nation Entertainment. When the economy improves be prepared to sign away your first born son to the company to get tickets.
For more on this check these sites:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/25/live-nation-ticketmaster-_n_435821.html
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1630487/20100126/story.jhtml
We were toast before, now we’re burnt toast. If the Obama administration followed the campaign promises, they would have blocked this egregiously uncompetitive, anti-consumer merger. What a horrible disappointment.
And Ticketmaster tightens it’s stranglehold on entertainment. Woe to the republic. Has the DOJ learned NOTHING from the disastrous huge mergers in the news media/broadcast companies? Apparently not.