Ticketmaster and Live Nation Merger Approved by Justice Department
The U.S. Justice Department approved a merger on Monday between Ticketmaster and concert promoting company Live Nation, paving the way for an entertainment conglomerate of unbelievable force in the market. The new merged company will be called Live Nation Entertainment and could change the face of the live music industry forever.
The $889 million merger between Live Nation and Ticketmaster received approval from the U.S. Justice Department on Monday. The two companies have faced serious criticism regarding the merger due to the near-monopoly the combined company could have over concert ticket sales. One of the major concessions in the deal to forestall such a monopoly was an order for Ticketmaster to provide access to its technology to Live Nation rival AEG Live.
Some are still not convinced enough concessions have been made to prevent the new Live Nation Entertainment conglomerate from taking a stranglehold on the live music industry.
“While we appreciate the efforts of the DOJ to extract meaningful concessions from the parties, we remain concerned that these two companies, with a history of anti-consumer behavior, will abide only by the letter and not the spirit of the settlement agreement,” said Sally Greenberg, executive director of the National Consumers League, according to MTV.com.
Ticketmaster and Live Nation argue their combined power will actually be good for customers, despite complaints they will drive their competitors into the ground. It will give us greater flexibility in how we promote market and sell tickets to events,” Ticketmaster CEO Irving Azoff told the Senate Judiciary Committee. “It will give us a pathway to alternative pricing and fee structures.”
We just feel bad for anyone trying to do business in the live music industry without going through Ticketmaster and Live Nation. No matter how much they might want to dismiss the ‘monopoly’ accusations and no matter how many ‘concessions’ they had to make to finalize the deal, a monopoly is pretty much what they’ve got at this point.
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