Ticketmaster to Merge with LiveNation: This Will Stranglehold the Modern Consumer

I just wanted to take some time to respond to a Wall Street Journal that I read earlier today. It talks about how the largest ticket broker and one of the largest concert promoting companies are finalizing a merger.

For the sake of time, I want repeat what is in the article. If you haven’t read it you can read it here.

I feel this merger will be a problem in the music industry. Personally I feel that concert tickets are already too expensive but I also understand that it is one of the few ways left for artists to make money from their talents that they have surely worked almost all of their lives to perfect. I mean with music pirating, CD’s becoming obsolete and the the large amount of leverage being lost by the major labels, artists are finding it hard (like most other industries) to turn a profit.

With this merger of the largest ticket broker and one of the biggest promoters, I can definitely foresee concert tickets becoming more expensive. Not only that but there will be less places for others to go as an alternative. LiveNation was already struggling to turn a profit because so much money went to musicians anyhow. Now with talks of “exclusivity” contracts being given out to LiveNation Ticketmaster, some of the hottest tickets in town (like Jay Z, Beyonce, and Madonna) will be just that much more out of reach.

Truthfully, this seems a little reminiscent of what happened to the boxing industry. With so many power vying for power and to corner certain segments of the boxing market they have a record number of titles and very few boxers that even want to bother fighting for them. And I understand. What is the point of training and training then going to fight where HBO is making a majority of the money that should be going to the people that showed up to fight?

Anyhow, I just found the article pretty interesting and were wondering what your thoughts were?

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