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After a year of quiet deliberations behind closed doors while everyone from angry congressmen to consumer advocates to Bruce Springsteen shouted in opposition outside, the U.S. Department of Justice on Monday gave its blessing to the merger of two of the most controversial companies in the music industry: giant national concert promoters Live Nation and monopolistic ticket brokers Ticketmaster.
The ruling--which can be read here--cleared the way for the creation of a new company called Live Nation Entertainment that will own more than 140 concert venues worldwide and sell 140 million tickets to 22,000 concerts annually. It will dominate every aspect of the live music industry, setting prices while promoting shows from small clubs to giant arenas, selling the tickets, concessions and merchandise for those gigs and managing the performers who play them.
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The major stumbling block to the scenario of three competing ticket brokers is that Ticketmaster has locked almost all of the major concert venues in America into exclusivity agreements of five to ten years, and venues will not be able to entertain competing offers until those expire. ...
The government is trusting an ever-expanding big business to police itself and act in consumers' interests.
For followers of politics as practiced in Chicago, it is hard not to suspect some successful influence peddling. In addition to employing the most high-powered Democratic lobbyists in Washington, Live Nation's board members include Hollywood super agent Ari Emanuel, brother of President Obama's chief of staff and former North Side congressman Rahm Emanuel, while Ticketmaster's board of directors included the President's Harvard classmate and transition team leader Julius Genachowski, until he resigned to become chairman of the FCC.
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[SETH HURWITZ INDIE CONCERT PROMOTER]
"I had been assured by the DOJ that the plan they came up with is actually better for everyone than blocking the merger. And then I woke up Tuesday morning to find out that my tickets are now, in fact, being sold by Live Nation, my competitor. They rushed that merger through Monday night like an NFL team snaps the next play before anyone has a chance to throw that red flag...Creating competition is worthless if there is no means to use it."
blogs.suntimes.com/derogatis/2010/01/looking_closer_at_the_ticketma.html
Thought this was a great read. Looks like concerts ain't going to be getting any cheaper...