I have yet to weigh in on the proposed Live Nation/Ticketmaster merger, although I'm not sure why. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, Live Nation and Ticketmaster announced on February 10 that they plan to merge to form a new company called Live Nation Entertainment. That day I sent out about 150 emails to peers and colleagues urging them to write to their congressman to speak out against this clear anti-trust violation. I myself wrote letters to Florida Senators Bill Nelson and Mel Martinez. In the letters I explained that this merger not only effects the fans who are already getting robbed by Ticketmaster, but it also effects independent concert promoters such as myself and a many others like me all around the world.
Contrary to Live Nation and Ticketmaster's claims, this merger would not "bring new life" into a outdated industry. Ticketmaster currently tacks on as much as 40% of the face value of every ticket that they sell, an amount which will no doubt increase subsequent to merger. This is because Live Nation holds such a substantial market share that practically all consumers are at their mercy. Most major concert venues are under a contract with Ticketmaster, which means that if Live Nation is producing a concert at a venue that is required to sell tickets with Ticketmaster, there is no incentive to lower service fees. Currently Live Nation sells their own tickets on their website (www.livenation.com) which gives consumers a bit of a break on service fees--but only 10% of the available tickets are given to Live Nation to sell. (TIP: nearly all venues with Ticketmaster contracts have a clause built into the contract that allows the promoter to sell 10% of the tickets--USE IT!)
Independent concert promoters are going to be greatly damaged by this merger as well. If I were to promote a concert at a venue which is required by contract to sell tickets through Ticketmaster, then each ticket I sell is allowing my biggest competitor to profit. Additionally, Ticketmaster now has a database of every customer that bought a ticket from me, so next time the same artist plays in the city where my event was held and Live Nation promotes the show, they have a neatly packaged list of every single individual that came to my show.
www.creekviewconcerts.com
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