Live Nation / Ticketmaster talking about merging

[KATHYxx]

(Hahninator edit): Future Linkin Park ticket prices can be affected by this, so this is pretty important (even more so than the YouTube/Warner nonsense). I wonder if Mike and/or LP has followed this and what their take on it is. It'd be interesting to see a blog post from "the man himself" (as many people refer to Mike as) on the issue.

 

From the LA Times:

"Live Nation Inc. and Ticketmaster Entertainment Inc. today announced that the two goliaths would merge, combining the biggest concert promoter with the leading ticketing and artist-management company.

 

The combined company, with almost $6 billion in sales, would touch virtually every aspect of the concert business.

 

...

 

The deal is likely to attract antitrust scrutiny, lawyers said. One source estimated that the combined company would control ticketing rights for 80% of the concert halls, amphitheaters, sports arenas and other venues where live events are staged.

 

A lawsuit filed against Ticketmaster alleges that it manipulated the market for event tickets and cheated customers out of millions of dollars. The suit, filed on behalf of one ticket buyer, Ellen Diamond, claims that fans who attempted to buy tickets for a Feb. 2 Bruce Springsteen concert were redirected to TicketsNow.com, where tickets were marked up hundreds of dollars beyond their original face value. Ticketmaster effectively profits twice from the sale of its tickets -- once from the sale to its wholly owned subsidiary, and through a 15% commission on the sale of the tickets at marked-up prices -- the suit claims.

 

Springsteen posted an open letter to fans on his website, condemning the practice and noting, "Ticketmaster has made us as furious as it has made many of you." The New Jersey attorney general's office launched an investigation after hundreds of fans contacted its Division of Consumer Affairs.

 

"Ticketmaster profits twice as the result of the monopolistic scheme," wrote Paul Kiesel, of Kiesel, Boucher & Larson, in the complaint filed Feb. 6 in Los Angeles federal court. Defendants have bilked consumers of millions of dollars."

 

Entire article here. Updates to this are in the comments (including a post about it being illegal, etc).

[LPxDC]

this REALLY should have gone under world news.

this part of the forum is for LP RELATED NEWS

this has nothing to do with LP. Yea they sell tickets thru ticketmaster but this isnt the place for it

[KATHYxx]

this REALLY should have gone under world news.

this part of the forum is for LP RELATED NEWS

this has nothing to do with LP. Yea they sell tickets thru ticketmaster but this isnt the place for it

This has 8 x more to do with LP than the Julien-K stuff that keeps getting onto the front page for some reason. You guys keep repeatedly posting that you're low on news, and now you don't want none?

 

It has everything to do with LP, especially Live LP news, and it seemed in the interest to the LP live community at large. If the price increase is significant enough it might even deter fans from seeing LP at all.

[LPxDC]

This has 8 x more to do with LP than the Julien-K stuff that keeps getting onto the front page for some reason. You guys keep repeatedly posting that you're low on news, and now you don't want none?

 

It has everything to do with LP, especially Live LP news, and it seemed in the interest to the LP live community at large. If the price increase is significant enough it might even deter fans from seeing LP at all.

not really. And you can take that whole Julien-K thing up with Mark. Julien-K work with Chester. They are part of DBS.

so if Julien K had a show and chester appeared would you still want news about it? how about the chicago show that had chester subbing for ryan?

They are RELEVANT. if you look theres also a small JKLG under LPL dates. nd thats why theres the other News forum?? i dont understand what point your trying to make

and the whole price significance thing seems just seemed like a desperate attempt to cover you. but whatever.

i see no mention in LP at all in tht article. but like i previously stated yea LP goes thru TM.

but all in all this should be in WORLD NEWS.

my 2 cents

[KATHYxx]

not really. And you can take that whole Julien-K thing up with Mark. Julien-K work with Chester. They are part of DBS.

so if Julien K had a show and chester appeared would you still want news about it? how about the chicago show that had chester subbing for ryan?

They are RELEVANT. if you look theres also a small JKLG under LPL dates. nd thats why theres the other News forum?? i dont understand what point your trying to make

and the whole price significance thing seems just seemed like a desperate attempt to cover you. but whatever.

i see no mention in LP at all in tht article. but like i previously stated yea LP goes thru TM.

but all in all this should be in WORLD NEWS.

my 2 cents

If LP Live went and covered every band that LP ever worked and toured with, why not become a general music news site then? Why only Julien-K? Why didn't you bag on the guy that posted the remixes that arent by LP? and I'm talking about Julien-K, not DBS. they're fine but they're seperate bands.

DBS = relevant

JK = not relevant, they're not touring or doing anything with LP.

 

Also, do you really expcet the LA times to list all 9000+ bands that would be affected by this? Would that have been so much better if they just explicitly said "Linkin Park" instead of "Nickelback" or "Miley Cyrus" when they're already implied to be in this article to begin with.

 

If I didn't think the page wasn't news worthy I wouldn't have posted it to begin with, so naturally it follows that I would be able to explain why it was relevant.

Edited February 11, 2009 by KATHYxx

[LPxDC]

If LP Live went and covered every band that LP ever worked and toured with, why not become a general music news site then? Why only Julien-K? Why didn't you bag on the guy that posted the remixes that arent by LP? and I'm talking about Julien-K, not DBS. they're fine but they're seperate bands.

DBS = relevant

JK = not relevant, they're not touring or doing anything with LP.

-__- *headsdesk i will repeat. LPLG DOES have a small JKLG. like i said its posted because julien-k has a small part in the LG as well. again take that up with mark if you want to question why its there. also what remixes are you talking about the JK ones? because LPLG has a small portion of the site dedicated to Julien-K!

 

Also, do you really expcet the LA times to list all 9000+ bands that would be affected by this? Would that have been so much better if they just explicitly said "Linkin Park" instead of "Nickelback" or "Miley Cyrus" when they're already implied to be in this article to begin with.

 

wow. thats an extreme exaggeration.

 

Also, I don't like the whole "Im going to assume characteristic qualites about people I think are wrong" game. How about your sudden animosity towards my new post is just you trying to be macho. Sounds dumb when people try to assume your intentions, dont it? If I didn't think the page wasn't news worthy I wouldn't have posted it to begin with, so naturally it follows that I would be able to explain why it was relevant.

umm. i have seen you post on the LPU and i have seen you act a tad elitist and a "know it all" SOMETIMES. see the whole cbennington.com thing . Macho? really? what do i need to be macho about? Its the internet not some contest .Maybe if you hopped off your high horse you can tell the difference.

you really did not have to hostile on me the way you did. i merely tried to tell you something and you blew this out of proportion. now i will be the one to say thank you and goodbye cuz i dont want to get warning points for flaming.

 

*EDIT

i like how you edit the last part but its ok i got you.

Edited February 11, 2009 by lilIverson09

[KATHYxx]

-__- *headsdesk i will repeat. LPLG DOES have a small JKLG. like i said its posted because julien-k has a small part in the LG as well. again take that up with mark if you want to question why its there. also what remixes are you talking about the JK ones? because LPLG has a small portion of the site dedicated to Julien-K!

 

 

 

 

wow. thats an extreme exaggeration.

 

 

 

umm. i have seen you post on the LPU and i have seen you act a tad elitist and a "know it all" SOMETIMES. see the whole cbennington.com thing . Macho? really? what do i need to be macho about? Its the internet not some contest .Maybe if you hopped off your high horse you can tell the difference.

you really did not have to hostile on me the way you did. i merely tried to tell you something and you blew this out of proportion. now i will be the one to say thank you and goodbye cuz i dont want to get warning points for flaming.

 

*EDIT

i like how you edit the last part but its ok i got you.

 

The use of caps lock in your first post implied that you were yelling or being hostile towards me, and I took offense to it. I realize the opposite now.

I apologize for the misunderstanding.

 

EDIT: I wasn't calling you macho, I was illustrating how dumb it sounded when you tried to tell me that I was being desperate or however you put it. You got the sounding dumb part but not the point I was getting at.

Edited February 11, 2009 by KATHYxx

[zuben7o7]

Seriously? Debating whether or not a topic should be posted in this forum or not? My Lord. It deals with LP in some capacity because we will be seeing Tickets for them sometime this year from TM/LN. It may not be LP-exclusive news, but it deals with them and the venues they play in, so it warrants this to be in this forum because most people who come here check the LP-only forums in the first place.

[HybridThe0ry97]

If the arguing continues I will lock this topic.. which would be a shame considering it is a very good one..

[SouthernGirlAM]

Back on the original topic...I think this thing has many hurdles to go through before it happens, but since the stock and shareholders are supposedly meeting tomorrow...it seems like this thing is well on its way to happening...I'm interested to see this develop, though I gotta say a ticket company having a monopoly is definitely a concern for concertgoers.

[Jen]

The Justice Department will be investigating this before it can be official, so it may not happen.

 

(CNN) -- The Justice Department has launched an investigation into a proposed merger between Ticketmaster and Live Nation, which two lawmakers said would create a "near monopoly" in concert ticketing.

 

The announcement came as Sen. Charles Schumer, D-New York, and Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-New Jersey, sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder warning that the deal would "consolidate ticket selling, concert promoting, and concert venue ownership under one massive entity."

 

"The Antitrust Division is committed to vigorous enforcement of the merger antitrust laws and will conduct a thorough investigation of the proposed Ticketmaster/Live Nation transaction," Justice Department spokeswoman Gina Talamona said.

 

Rep. Pascrell, who last week called for a federal probe of Ticketmaster's practices, said "the deal could put concert-goers nationwide at risk of permanently increased ticket prices and should not gain regulatory approval."

 

Ticketmaster, long a target of fan and artist criticism, drew singer Bruce Springsteen's ire last week when it routed some of his fans trying to buy tickets to his show in New Jersey to a "secondary site" where they were charged far more than face value.

 

Tickets on that site -- which Ticketmaster owns -- cost between $200 and $5,000, while face value starts at $54.

 

Pascrell, who said angry music fans deluged him with calls, sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission chairman asking that the FTC look into Ticketmaster's practices.

 

Live Nation Inc. and Ticketmaster Entertainment Inc. announced plans to merge Tuesday, combining the nation's biggest concert promoter with the largest seller of tickets for live entertainment.

 

The new company, which will be called Live Nation Entertainment, will have an enterprise value of about $2.5 billion, the companies said in joint press releases.

 

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Music/02/1...tion/index.html

[Astat]

The United States has pretty specific laws against there being a monopoly with any type of business, which this would pretty much turn into if Live Nation and Ticketmaster merged. The government has sure been pretty lazy about enforcing said laws in recent years though.

[hahninator]

They better make sure this doesn't happen. Absolute monopoly..."BUST UP THE TRUST" like Roosevelt did (my fav subject of US History lol).

 

For christ's sake with all the arguing-

-liliverson even though you are a great member of the site, you don't run LPLive and even though I appreciate you standing up for me/the site, I can handle things.

-This is LP-related news - it covers the ticket prices for fans, etc.

-Next, JK news does belong here. Sorry Kathy but Chester is producing their album. He helped them on the album (not as in, contributing vocally, but he was there when they were doing it and he helped them make the record). We cover JK live because of this and the fact that Chester has come out on a good number of shows they've played (including the first one ever, I believe). They are 9/10 of Chester's side project as well - Dead By Sunrise is Julien-K and Chester. With all of this combined, it's natural for us to cover them as well. We are not covering every band they've ever worked with. JK is an important thing for Chester so I felt the need to throw a little JKLG up on here as well for their fans.

 

I absolutely 100% agree with Kathy, liliverson, and Preston as well. You all are correct - this IS news worthy - Julien-K IS relevant to this site and *does* belong on the homepage - but there is NO need to fight please. I know both of you have valid points but please don't go at each other.

 

All of you are welcome to reply to this post, and I even would prefer it, but I'd like to keep the arguing down on the forums as much as possible. No need to jump on someone if news isn't news-worthy - we have mods and can handle it, etc. Thanks guys.

[Jen]

I can't remember where I read it, but Live Nation is the promotion company for approximately 80 percent of the concert venues in the United States. This potentially could prove to be a huge problem for everyone interested in seeing live music. Great article from the Chicago Sun Times here: http://blogs.suntimes.com/derogatis/2009/0...ation_meet.html

 

And Ticketmaster? haha. They have been a major rip off for years. (In Example: Pearl Jam vs. Ticketmaster.) http://www.thefreemanonline.org/featured/p...war-on-reaiity/

 

If this merger is approved, I can forsee ticket prices being raised anywhere from 25 to 50 percent higher then what we pay now. Ticket prices are already excessive. Fuck Ticketmaster.

[Papelbon]

I don't think that it will be approved, they'd control too much of the ticket prices, and ya, I think that prices would sky-rocket. I think that musicians should come out and denounce this as it affects ALL of their fans..