Meet Live Nation Entertainment

On Monday the U.S. Department of Justice confirmed a merger between two mega companies despised by frequent concert-goers: Ticketmaster and Live Nation. The new company will be called Live Nation Entertainment. The merger was proposed last February and it has been under consideration by governments worldwide ever since. The Department of Justice has made some changes to the merger proposed by the campiness last year. They are as follows:

•Ticketmaster must license it’s Ticketing software for 5 years to competitors Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) and another yet-to-be-determined company. After this time the other companies will have the option of purchasing the software
permanently.

•Ticketmaster must sell its subsidiary ticketing company Paciola to either Comcast or another large entertainment company.

•The newly created company is forbidden by law retaliate against any venue that chooses to use a competitor ticketing service. This is especially important as Live Nation serves as a pseudo-record label for such notable acts as Jay Z, Madonna, Nickelback, U2, and Shikira.

Although the merger will undoubtedly further monopolize the live entertainment market, I believe the provisions added by the Department of Justice will encourage more serious competition to emerge over time. As our country moves more towards online efficiency every day, it is foreseeable that the guidelines established by the U.S. government will allow other companies to create a more fan-friendly ticking experience with new online tools. One can hope that once venue’s contracts with Live Nation or Ticketmaster expire (most contracts are 5 or 10 year deals) they will be able to find more efficient and respectable alternatives to the current super-company.
Live Nation owns thousands of U.S. venues (including all House Of Blues franchisees and the title ‘Fillmore’ made famous Bill Graham) and Ticketmaster has exclusive rights to sell tickets to most, if not more, of these same venues. So, if a noteworthy band decides to book a nationwide tour they are forced into using Live Nation/Ticketmaster as their ticketing and production team. An example of the companies' powers is when Pearl Jam refused to play Ticketmaster venues from 1994-1998. Despite their strong commitment to lead the fight against the ticketing agency the band was persuaded to end the boycott by their fans. Pearl Jam fans were upset by the difficulty of obtaining tickets since the playing was forced to play mainly small venues.



According to the standards of ethical business practices neither Live Nation nor Ticketmaster are good at customer service and support. In fact, there are the only companies I have ever truly believed to be evil. Yes, evil (keep in mind I go to a lot of concerts). Yesterday I bought a ticket to see Yonder Mountain String Band at the House of Blues through Live Nation’s website, an $18.50 face-value ticket. Once the outrageous ‘service’ fees were added to my order my debit card was charged a $29. These added ticket costs are unavoidable, even if you drive to a Ticketmaster or Live Nation Location ahead of time, use Will Call, or print the tickets at home. Last year I bought a ticket through Ticketmaster’s subsidiary company Ticketweb and the ‘service’ fees actually exceeded the face value of the ticket.
Lets hope that future will bring a more fairly minded ticketing industry. I am optimistic that the shear amount of opposition and hatred directed at Live Nation Entertainment will alert competitors of the demand for a respectable ticketing industry service.