Live Nation and Ticketmaster merge, The Boss speaks out

Live Nation, the global live concert promoter that The Gen told you all about last month and Ticketmaster, the world’s largest ticket sales and distribution company have recently agreed to a proposed ‘merger of equals’ deal worth a reported $800m (£550m).

This has created ‘Live Nation Entertainment’, a controversial new conglomerate of the entertainment industry and one that has so far received a hailstorm of criticism, some from very high places indeed.

The Boss himself, Bruce Springsteen vocalised concerns about the deal, which has been predicted by people within the industry for some time. Writing on his official website, Springsteen said:
"The 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"

According to predictions, the combined group will have revenues of $6bn and sell more than 150m concert tickets a year, promoting some 22,000 concerts. It would handle more than 200 artists and run more than 140 venues. For example, here in the UK Live Nation has a 51% stake in all Academy Music Group venues such as The 02 Academy venues in Newcastle, London and Birmingham.

As previously reported, Live Nation have responded to the current economic crisis in the recorded music industry by pioneering unique deals for artists that encompass diverse revenue streams such as live concert promotion, website and merchandising and in some cases recording rights, signing up acts such as U2 and Jay Z.

Critics say that the combined company will gain the economic power to dominate ticket sales, concert promotion and artist management.

At a recent hearing with US lawmakers, the two companies claimed that the merger would not damage competition or lead to increased ticket fees and would result in an overall improved customer experience.

Have your say! Are mergers such as this a major threat to smaller promoters and venue operators in the UK? Would you like to see improved ticketing services for gigs, with less booking fees? Can a monopoly such as this ever truly contribute to healthy competition and diversity of choice in the live sector?