By now many of you have heard of the recent travesty that is a potential merger between Ticketmaster and Live Nation. We think that there’s no debate as to wether this merger between the largest ticket provider and largest concert promoter is anti-competitive and monopolistic. As we say all the time at Gigsby, we want more gigs and better gigs. The simple logic here is that if ticket prices continue to increase because of Ticketmaster’s lack of competition fewer fans will be able to afford going to gigs.
It’s not all bad news though. While the merger has been approved in the UK, the US Justice Department is requiring additional concessions from Ticketmaster and Live Nation to approve the merger. These concessions include the sale of some assets such as TicketsNow and no longer selling ticketing contracts and licensing software to 3rd party companies. These are far from a deal breaker but they add yet another obstacle to the merger. We’ll continue to see how this pans out but we’re hoping that the US Justice Department takes extra care in ensuring that this merger is at best blocked and at worst forces the companies to make considerable concessions. [Business Week]
If you generally agree with this post, take a look at www.ticketdisaster.org to learn more about the merger and to sign a petition baring the merger.
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Tags: Live Nation, Merger, TicketMaster