Ticketmaster/Live Nation near merger (Wall Street Journal)

sweetcell wrote:

walkonby wrote:
someone should send in jay z and his crew.  that will settle this mess.  ticketmaster and livenation would be walking dead ticket companies.

why?  i don't get it… please explain. 

Bartelby wrote:
The Live Nation/Ticketmaster merger is just ONE more step in a long-term LN/Clear Channel strategy:  You might remember about three years ago, when LN/CC ?acquired? the Charlottesville, VA based companies, Red Light Management and MusicToday.  The latter provided merch/music distribution for small bands, Red Light, artist development and talent management. Thru similar acquisions, LN also presently provides tour management (booking, logistics, buses, drivers, roadies, road managers), owns and/or manages venues (already noted elsewhere on this thread); talent development and representation services, and now possibly ticketing for ALL TicketMaster venues ? even those not owned/operated or managed by Live Nation. So, in essence here?s the dealeo:  They will own EVERY freekin aspect of the music industry we love.  Only bands ?managed? by them will get gigs, tour support, merch distribution, ticketing services; only venues owned/operated or managed by them will get their bands.  It?s really sickening.  I know some of the lesser ?management? from their C?ville days.  They all have personalities similar to the LN chairman:  They are king-makers; it?s all about them, their vision/egos and their ?extraordinary? business acumen. This is NOT good for small club owners, music lovers or musicians

Live Nation and Ticketmaster face skeptical lawmakers

But Azoff and Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino argued that music piracy had changed the economics of the industry – artists no longer toured to sell albums – and the faltering U.S. economy worsened matters.

"I can hope that the economy gets better or I can seek a more proactive approach to protect our employees, reward our shareholders and better service artists and fans," said Rapino.

That proactive approach is a merger of the world's largest concert promoting company with the top U.S. ticket seller, each of which has made tentative but well-funded forays into the others' business.

David Balto, a fellow at the Center for American Progress, disagreed that the merger would create cost-saving efficiencies because of the two companies' market power.

"I think it's extremely unlikely that these convenience and service charges are going to go down," he said. "This is a competitively unhealthy market."

Ticketmaster slammed again over early sale of Leonard Cohen tickets

Ticketmaster's website says tickets don't go on sale until Wednesday for most Canadian dates, but the company's affiliated website, TicketsNow, began selling tickets to the shows for hundreds of dollars more than their face value before that.

Tickets to Cohen's concerts were withdrawn from sale by TicketsNow sometime Tuesday night or Wednesday morning.

Senator presses Ticketmaster to sell TicketsNow

Irving Azoff, Ticketmaster's chief executive, replied that he never would have bought TicketsNow, the No. 2 reselling site behind eBay Inc.'s StubHub, if he had been in charge when the deal closed in February 2008.

"The whole secondary area is a mess," Azoff said. "I would never have bought it."

"I don't believe there should be a secondary market at all."

On Monday, Ticketmaster agreed with New Jersey's attorney general, Anne Milgram, to not link to the TicketsNow site from Ticketmaster for a year and to only do so after that in a way that received her office's approval. The changes apply to all Ticketmaster sales nationwide.
(…)
The companies hope their all-stock merger of equals, valuing the combined entity around $2.2 billion, will close in the second half of 2009. They said the deal would help them save about $40 million annually.
(…)
Seth Hurwitz, a promoter and co-owner of the 9:30 live music club in Washington, said the merger would allow Live Nation to access its confidential sales information because its tickets are sold through Ticketmaster.

"My biggest competitor will have access to all of my sales records, customer information," he said. "This will put all independent promoters at an irreparable competitive disadvantage. This would be like Pepsi forcing Coke to use its services as a distributor."

In response, Live Nation Chief Executive Michael Rapino said he understood the concern and would forbid sharing information between the divisions.

The subcommittee's chairman, Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis., asked if Rapino would support an information firewall between the businesses. Rapino replied: "In theory, yes."

Live Nation and Ticketmaster: ?Don?t stop Believing?

Live Nation and Ticketmaster might have plenty of people out there who are not pleased with the idea of the two companies coming together but they have received support from several superstars in the run-up to a U.S. anti-trust hearing in Washington DC on Tuesday.

Names like Seal, Shakira, Journey, Van Halen and Billy Corgan (The Smashing Pumpkins) have all offered support to a merger some legislators, smaller rivals and fan groups worry will put too much power over the U.S. and global live music industry in the hands of just one company.

MyraEllen wrote:
Just more confirmation that Billy Corgan is nuts:
http://stereogum.com/archives/mr-corgan-goes-to-washington_057782.html

The most ridiculous part of his testimony is this sentence: "This is a new model that puts power into the hands of the artist, creating a dynamic synergy that will inspire great works and attract healthy competition."

power in the hands of the artist?  Just because that's what his manager told him doesn't mean it's true.  booooooo

MyraEllen wrote:
The most ridiculous part of his testimony is this sentence:

beetsnotbeats wrote: