Ticketmaster/Live Nation near merger (Wall Street Journal)

Ticketmaster Entertainment Inc. and Live Nation Inc. are close to a merger, people familiar with the matter said, in a deal that would consolidate two of the most powerful forces in the music industry under one roof.

The combined company would be called Live Nation Ticketmaster, and would merge the world's biggest concert promoter with the world's dominant ticketing and artist-management company. The resulting firm would be able to manage everything from recorded music to ticket sales and tour sponsorship. It could package artists in new ways, for example, allowing corporations such as a cellphone provider to sponsor a concert tour and to sell an exclusive download of a song.

Because it would be so vertically integrated, the new company would also be able to muscle out competing concert promoters and have more power to dictate ticket prices to consumers.

The boards of both companies have yet to approve the all-stock merger, these people said. Terms of what these people described as a merger of equals have yet to be worked out. It was unclear last night which company would be acquiring the other. Live Nation's market capitalization, at $390 million, is slightly higher than Ticketmaster's $351 million. But the concert promoter has more debt and less cash.

Sticking points remain to any deal. Because a merger would concentrate so much power in the music industry under one company, it would require review by antitrust authorities. The deal, which wouldn't entail any exchange of cash, could be announced as early as next week, these people said.

i don't see this one getting past the trust-busters.

No - this really can't get through… you thought XM and Sirius were held up?  That'd seem lightning fast as opposed to this.

If there were ever two companies that shouldn't be bailed out, these would be them.  Let them implode.

i just puked in my mouth a little

The fan is screwed!

(They might as well just charge service/convenience charges and not even call it a ticket price!)

Anti-trust, perhaps??

dave24 wrote:
If there were ever two companies that shouldn't be bailed out, these would be them.  Let them implode.

i don't understand: what are you talking about bail-out?  no one is being bailed out here.  it's a merger.

Yeah, this has to be illegal.

sweetcell wrote:
i don't understand: what are you talking about bail-out?  no one is being bailed out here.  it's a merger.

"merger"?  what?!

can you please stop using fancy "i'm so fucking smart" economic terminology in here… not all of us financial wizards can differentiate between the combination of two corporations and a capital injection into a failing business

geez.

sweetcell wrote:

dave24 wrote:
If there were ever two companies that shouldn't be bailed out, these would be them.  Let them implode.

i don't understand: what are you talking about bail-out?  no one is being bailed out here.  it's a merger.

If the feds allowed this merger to happen, it'd be the rough equivalent of a bail-out.

dave24 wrote:

sweetcell wrote:

dave24 wrote:
If there were ever two companies that shouldn't be bailed out, these would be them.  Let them implode.

i don't understand: what are you talking about bail-out?  no one is being bailed out here.  it's a merger.

If the feds allowed this merger to happen, it'd be the rough equivalent of a bail-out.

you have a very unique understanding of economics and public policy.

I think Hoya was being sarcastic…

On a second note, if this is serious, I think they waited too long.  Why didn't they try the Sirius XM approach of now or never and file the app in 2007 knowing that if it were ever going to happen, it would be as the Republican's were being shown the door?

The chiefs of Live Nation and Ticketmaster donated to the Obama campaign . . . so they've got that going for them.    But yeah, we now seem to have a government that's awake and this seems like a textbook antitrust violation . . .by companies choking the marketplace with their monopoly-like power as is

howard stern does not sell tickets for either company, so the merger will go right through.

sweetcell wrote:

dave24 wrote:

sweetcell wrote:

dave24 wrote:
If there were ever two companies that shouldn't be bailed out, these would be them.  Let them implode.

i don't understand: what are you talking about bail-out?  no one is being bailed out here.  it's a merger.

If the feds allowed this merger to happen, it'd be the rough equivalent of a bail-out.

you have a very unique understanding of economics and public policy.

he's just "sounding off" dont worry!

  I think the thing people are missing is that this merger isnt really all that bad for everyone.  Sure it will make ticket prices higher, but for the majority of the people who just like the ease of being spoon-fed music in a nice neatly marketed package, i think it would go over well.

  Most of us here dont need to spend $100 on a concert ticket/exclusive download/dvd/poster package for a band we consider $25 a steep ticket price for, but there are tons of people out there that it would appeal to.

  This is bad news for independant artists and labels who may get muscled out of touring stops or force being put on some "Live Nation Indie" tour package that would eventually suck the creative life out of them.

  Seriously though, these 2 companies seem smart enough to let this thing slide off pretty darn easily  and i dont see the overwhelming majority complaining.

i wonder what the new ticket scalping service fronted as a auction place that for some reason always has the first three rows for sale even before tickets go on sale will be called?

walkonby wrote:
always has the first three rows for sale even before tickets go on sale

if you repeat it often enough, will it become real?

if you lick it long enough will you ever get to the center?

sweetcell wrote:

walkonby wrote:
always has the first three rows for sale even before tickets go on sale

if you repeat it often enough, will it become real?

ticketsnow.com?

the boss man speaks:

Springsteen just posted this update to facebook:

A Letter to Our FansFrom Bruce Springsteen
Today at 3:48pm
A Letter to Our Fans:

We know there was much confusion regarding Ticketmaster and TicketsNow during last Monday's on-sale dates. We were as confused as you were, as we were given no advance notice of the major changes in the Ticketmaster-TicketsNow world. (Bear in mind that we are not clients of any ticketing company, and that all those arrangements are between venues and ticketing companies.)

Last Monday, we were informed that Ticketmaster was redirecting your log-in requests for tickets at face value, to their secondary site TicketsNow, which specializes in up-selling tickets at above face value. They did this even when other seats remained available at face value. We condemn this practice.

We perceive this as a pure conflict of interest. Ticketmaster is there to ensure that we have a good, fair sale of our tickets at their face value plus normal ticketing charges. TicketsNow is supposed to be a secondary site where people who already have tickets may exchange, trade, and, unfortunately, speculate with them. We have asked this redirection from Ticketmaster to TicketsNow cease and desist immediately and Ticketmaster has agreed to do so in the future and has removed its unwanted material from their and our site.

We know the many cynical arguments some make in favor of the Ticketmaster system: There are rumors that some artists or managers participate in Ticketmaster charges–we do not. There are rumors that some artists or managers are receiving a percentage of the amount above face value at secondary outlets like TicketsNow–we do not. Some artists or managers may not perceive there to be a conflict between having the distributor of their tickets in effect "scalping" those same tickets through a secondary company like TicketsNow–we do.

While many of you have sent notes to us and your local promoters, you may also send accurate informational letters to Albert Lopez of Ticketmaster [Albert.Lopez@ticketmaster.com] and he will try to address your questions.

A final point for now: 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. Several newspapers are reporting on this story right now. If you, like us, oppose that idea, you should make it known to your representatives.

The abuse of our fans and our trust by Ticketmaster has made us as furious as it has made many of you. We will continue to do our utmost now and in the future to make sure that these practices are permanently curtailed on our tours.

Bruce Springsteen, Jon Landau and the entire Springsteen Tour Team