UK May Block Ticketmaster-Live Nation Merger, Save Universe
While U.S. authorities are still trying to figure out whether letting the Godzilla and Megalon of ticket-selling join forces is a good thing, the U.K. has come to the rescue of concertgoers worldwide. The Competition Commission declared that the merger would "will limit the development of competition in the market for live music ticket retailing."
The Competition Commission, which regulates antitrust matters in the U.K., warned that the merger would likely block the ability of German ticketer CTS — which has a pending deal with Live Nation — from competing in the U.K., said the commission's deputy chairman, Christopher Clarke.
As the second-largest ticket agent in the world after Ticketmaster, with considerable experience and expertise in other countries, CTS's entry would have increased competition in ticket retailing to the benefit of customers - whether fans, promoters or venue owners.
Ticketmaster and Live Nation responded with a statement that, "both our companies are committed to this merger and look forward to addressing any and all issues that the commission deems necessary."
U.S. officials are expected to weigh in next month. If the merger is blocked, nobody expects Ticketmaster and Live Nation to suddenly stop charging crazy fees or partnering with resellers. So, yeah, the universe hasn't really been saved. But competition does tend to help limit some excesses, and avoid, as Wisconsin Senator Herb Kohl said this summer, "one company with a stranglehold on all segments of the concert business."
UPDATE: UK Regulator Against Ticketmaster, Live Nation Merger [WSJ.com]
Previously: Mergers: Ticketmaster And Live Nation Agree To Merge
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Comments:
Hooray! Give me a C - A - T - S CATS CATS CATS!
Oh, wait, the other UK.
/shows self out
@MostlyHarmless_Under Influenza: And the inaugural "RSS Speedreader" award goes to MostlyHarmless, for being first on 50+% of comment threads!
@Traveshamockery: I doubt that figure. Also, I've been at home last couple of days, so that might help :P
"If the merger is blocked, nobody (expects) Ticketmaster and Live Nation to suddenly stop charging crazy fees or partnering with resellers"
One reason why I don't go to concerts here - excessive ripoff fees to sell/handle tickets. That, and no law against resale of tickets, resulting in bulk purchases by "brokers" who then double the face-value price to gouge the the concert goer, and ripoff the "artist". If I were in the music industry, I'd be going after that rather than Napster & Pirate Bay. Ticket brokers are scalpers by another name - ripping everyone off in the process.
I think you accidentally a word there.
Tell me that a government agency known as the "competition commission" doesn't sound Orwellian...
@dieselbug: I totally agree with you here, what ever happened to the days where you lined up at the store and camped overnight for event tickets? Note that was the thing to do last time I went to a concert in the US...
Nowadays you can't even get access to the good tickets since they are gone as soon as the sales open up so there is no chance at all thanks to the brokers buying them up then reselling them for profit.
@MostlyHarmless_Under Influenza: Shh, I cooked the numbers to give you the award.
You do manage to have high quality "first" contributions generally, which is also commendable. There aren't any "lol" or "why is this on Consumerist" first posts in there that I've noticed.
They were probably upset that there weren't enough cameras at the events (at least 1 per person), that mandatory DNA testing wasn't planned for each event as people went through the turnstile, and that the lyrics of each event wasn't approved by the government's "Lyric Committee".
The situation of Ticketmaster and Live Nation is so dire at this point that I just avoid going to venues where either is the only ticket source. So if you are part of a music band or sports team and you are reading this. These two companies (Ticketmaster and Live Nation) are they reason I and a lot of my friends just don't attend anymore.
So I put the ball back in the court of the bands and sports teams, if you want my attendance, fix this problem of ridiculous fees and selling to ticket brokers first before fans.
And to you ticket brokers... Piss off! I have never bought nor will EVER buy from you with your ridiculous pricing.
@axiomatic: The bands don't usually have control. And there are precious few large venues that aren't locked into Ticketmaster and Live Nation. A large sports team often has that control, at least over home games. Musicians, rarely.
(I'm not saying you shouldn't avoid those venues, just that telling a band "I won't go to your shows at XYZ Arena" is unlikely to make a difference, because there is no ABC Stadium that has better policies.)
@rosvicl:
Sounds to me like government (once again) needs to step in and break up these monopolies. Why are so many venues "locked in" to certain promoters? It should be free market.
@Saboth: They're locked in because the venue and Ticketmaster got together and voluntarily made a business arrangement for their mutual benefit.
That is free market. NOT free-market would be the government not allowing them to make said arrangements in the interest of "competition"
No way this gets blocked, the entire FCC and half of congress is bought an paid for by the generous funding of Clear Channel. Live Nation, it just so happens, is a spin off from parent company Clear Channel Communications.
There are worse things going on than just the fees and high prices. Both Live Nation and Ticketmaster now reserve and sell a large number of their tickets to ticket brokers who in turn are either connected to Live Nation and Ticketmaster, or simply get some sort of kick back. The ticket brokers jack up the prices to extreme levels. This screws the consumer, who has to pay higher ticket prices, and the artist, who doesn't get any percentage of the additional ticket price. Basically the brokers and the ticket providers are making extra profit without any value add at all.
This won't stop until people STOP BUYING TICKETS FROM BROKERS!
@Traveshamockery:
We're all thankful for that. If we could just get rid of the "Cue the blame the consumerist in 3,2,1" posts, Consumerist would be a damn-near-perfect site.
@dieselbug:
I had always bought my tickets via Ticketmaster, but had to use LiveNation for a concert at the Dodge Theater in Phoenix.
We purchased one wheelchair spot and one regular spot. The tickets indicated they were wheelchair seats. When we arrived at the theater, the seats were seventeen rows up; each row had a step. No way we could get a wheelchair up there. I don't know if that was LiveNation's fault or not, but we never had that problem buying accessible tickets via Ticketmaster.
@axiomatic: and @ all - the other problem is that there are those of us who don't attend (I'm with you), but then there are plenty more who are more than willing, who are beating down the door to pay the fees. How fast do some of these shows sell out? I mean, as long as parents freak out because Miley Cyrus sells out in 3 minutes and one band can sell out the Staples Center (huge) 4 nights in a row, I think this is falling on deaf ears.
@axiomatic: Same. I haven't gone to an arena concert in years, and the only times I've gone to major sports games is if I bought cheap tickets off Craigslist the day of.
As for arena concerts, you can't get good seats because the brokers and scalpers buy them up before anybody in the general public has a shot in hell. So now you're playing $30 and up for relatively crappy seats where you watch your favorite band on a jumbotron for two hours. Then, add in the $10-20 in fees from Ticketmaster/Livenation and it's not worth my time or money.
The only nice thing is that I think the outrageous ticket prices as of late for big venues/big name acts are really helping out indie bands and small clubs. I go and see 3-5 shows every few months for what I would have spend on one arena ticket, I discover great new bands and I give my money to people who actually deserve it.
There was a concert I wanted to see last week, ticket price was $23 and Ticketmaster wanted another $10. So I didn't go. I'm happy to give money to musicians I like, and I don't mind the venue making money on the deal. But 1/3 of my money should not go to some company that does nothing but sell the ticket.
I wanted to see a concert on Tuesday. (Blink 182 with All American Rejects, Fall out boy, and "special guest" Asher Roth, if you must know.)
Tickets on monday were $19 each (plus $6/ticket for "parking" and another $9 for "ticket fees"... but i digress). Day of sale tickets were around $5 more.
On Monday, all 3 bands were still listed.
I get to the show tuesday night, still expecting to see all 3 headliners. Apparently 2 of the 3 headlining bands canceled (we were the 3rd to last stop on the tour, and our date was pushed back by 4 days).
There was no email communication about the lineup change, no notifications at the gate, no offers to refund tickets before the show.
I called and complained, and got the standard "band lineups are subject to change without notice" line - do i have any recourse at all?
[This was a LiveNation concert, sponsored by T-Moil, at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater Charlotte]
@smartmuffin: I do not think that word means what you think it means. I mean, what else would you call a commission which reviews business competition?
@Sockatume: Well, until recently it was called the Monopolies and Mergers Commission. Perhaps they got fed up with people asking why there was only one Monopolies and Mergers Commission.
@gStein: A friend of mine went to another concert on the same tour, in Atlanta. He even tried to get a refund but was refused at every turn. If you were a fan of AAR and FOB but not B182, I imagine you'd be terribly frustrated at the change. Imagine if you ordered three games for your PS3 and only one arrived ...
How is that legal?
@smartmuffin: um, no. An exclusive deal between a client and a vendor is not an example of free-market economics at work. "Voluntarily making a business arrangement" has nothing to do with the market if the business arrangement locks out other competitors ... because it's the "competition" that represents the "market" part of free-market economics.
You are closer to the mark when suggesting that government intervention does not necessarily produce competition. However, when there is no competition at many venues and a high barrier for entry (say, venues being unwilling to deal with companies that do not have a reasonable number of venues for which they already handle ticketing), it can be difficult to find a scenario where competition can be initially generated without government involvement.
@kaplanfx: Exactly. As long as the government continues to be run by corrupt assholes they will continue to give breaks to their corporate friends. It's not a question of "which do you prefer, a government or corporation run market", in our reality the two collude with each other to stifle any meaningful choice.
And this years award for "The best use of a Captcha in a Blog or Forum (Self Help)" goes to...
Marc Perton of Consumerist! For "UK May Block Ticketmaster-Live Nation Merger, Save Universe", a heartwarming tale of a former imperial power maybe possibly kinda sorta doing the right thing.