Industry Gatekeepers – The New York Times

To approve the merger, the Justice Department required that the mixed firm conform to sure guidelines. One was that Ticketmaster wasn’t allowed to power venues to signal ticketing offers by threatening to disclaim them entry to Live Nation excursions. They couldn’t say, “If you don’t use Ticketmaster, you’re not getting X-Y-Z tours next year.”

But a number of years in the past, the Justice Department investigated and located that Ticketmaster had actually done this a number of times.

And on the listening to this week, the C.E.O. of rival ticketing service SeatGeek testified that once they pitch their providers, venues will likely be impressed with their proposal, however say that they’re anxious about dropping concert events in the event that they drop Ticketmaster. Senator Klobuchar stated that that is the definition of monopoly — that Live Nation doesn’t even have to exert strain, and folks simply fall in line.

How do artists really feel about this? Could they only promote their very own tickets?

Nearly 30 years in the past, Pearl Jam sued Ticketmaster, which the band stated had a monopoly on live performance tickets. They tried to guide a tour with out Ticketmaster, but it surely was a problem for them to seek out venues to play exterior the Ticketmaster ecosystem. They ultimately deserted the combat and got here again to Ticketmaster.

For very giant artists, it might be doable. Taylor Swift sells her personal merch; perhaps she might promote tickets too? But there’s a establishment constructed into {the marketplace} for dwell music: An artist goes out and makes a cope with a promoter to placed on a present, the promoter finds a venue for the present to occur, and the venue has a cope with a ticketing system for everybody who performs there. It’s not straightforward to alter, particularly when one huge participant controls a number of components of it.

Back in 2018, we reported that Ticketmaster handles 80 of the top 100 U.S. venues. The firm’s market share is a matter of debate, however it’s nonetheless very excessive.

What may come after the Senate listening to?

It’s unclear. If the Justice Department does search to interrupt up the corporate, it will be a really huge deal. Even although the senators have been united of their displeasure in regards to the energy that Live Nation Entertainment has, I feel it’s an uphill battle to alter the system.