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Live Nation


Live Nation is the largest producer of live concerts in the world, and according to TicketNews's exclusive industry rankings, the company is the fifth-largest overall ticket seller in the country.

The company describes its core business as "producing, marketing and selling live concerts for artists via our global concert pipe." But in early 2009, the company also added a state-of-the-art ticketing operation following its split from long-time client Ticketmaster Entertainment. Live Nation sells more than 45 million concert tickets a year, and its Web site, LiveNation.com, generates more than 60 million unique visits annually. To launch its ticketing operation, the company signed deals with CTS Eventim and SMG, among others.

Live Nation has signed several major acts, including Madonna, Jay-Z and Shakira and U2 to expansive "360-degree deals" that encompass concerts, recording, merchandising and licensing. The produces more than 16,000 concerts annually in 57 countries throughout the world, and it has a roster of more than 1,500 artists for which it produces shows.

The company is headquartered in Los Angeles, CA, and its stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "LYV."

Live Nation ten year class action lawsuit settles

By Jean Henegan

On May 16, 2012, Live Nation and Clear Channel announced that the global class action lawsuit that has plagued the two companies for the past ten years has finally reached a settlement.

The original class action lawsuit, filed in 2002 by Malinda Heerwagen, alleged that Live Nation and its then parent company Clear Channel maintained a monopoly on the live-music concert industry. The initial suit was followed by 22 similar class action lawsuits filed throughout the country. The various suits were later consolidated into a single suit in 2007, which has been pending in the Los Angeles, CA federal court system.

Live Nation expands social media presence

By Jean Henegan

Live Nation added a new social media app to its ever growing arsenal on May 2, 2012, with the official launch of its Concert Calendar Facebook app.

Launching following a six month beta test, wherein over 10,000 users combed the app for quirks, the Concert Calendar will create an interactive calendar for users, allowing them to keep up to date on upcoming events featuring their favorite performers. Data for the calendar will be taken from a user's "likes" on Facebook, what artists a user listens to or follows on additional Facebook apps (such as Spotify), and what concerts or events a user's Facebook friends are set to attend.

Ontario Attorney General defends Live Nation's resale of Madonna tickets

By Arragon Perrone

Ontario's Ministry of the Attorney General dismissed concerns that Live Nation Entertainment violated the province's anti-scalping laws when it sold tickets for Madonna's September 10, 2012 concert in Ottawa. Tickets to the performance in ScotiaBank Place went on sale directly through Live Nation on February 14, 2012 and were sold out within 21 minutes, the fastest sellout in the venue's history. Tickets remained available on a Live Nation subsidiary called VIPNation.com, however, at an inflated price that was often hundreds of dollars above face value.

According to Ontario's Ticket Speculation Act of 1990, reselling tickets above their face value is forbidden.

Live Nation Purchases Setlist.fm

By Jean Henegan

Setlist.fm, which first launched in September 2008, is a self-described "wiki-like" website that allows users to post actual set lists played by various music artists at their concerts. Once the list is posted, the site then links the set list to any available video or audio of the song on the web. The site is also able to generate statistics regarding concert set lists for artists, letting users know what songs are most likely to be performed by various artists in their concerts.

Users are able to join the site and post set lists for free, and the site's accuracy is kept in check by various users — much in the same way Wikipedia monitors its vast content. The central goal of the site is to track actual set lists performed by artists- not simply the set list that is created prior to the concert by the artist, which depending on the artist can vary greatly.

Live Nation using paperless tickets to fight secondary market

By Arragon Perrone

Paperless ticketing has become Live Nation Entertainment's latest weapon against the secondary market. Twenty percent of tickets for Bruce Springsteen's performances in New Jersey this April will be paperless, Live Nation announced. Doing so prevents the resale of these tickets on secondary outlets, such as Ebay-owned Stub Hub, or between fans.

Though ticket resale is legal according to U.S. law, individual states have passed legislation restricting the practice. In New York, for instance, tickets cannot be resold for more than $2 above face value. In January, New Jersey Rep. Bill Pascrell called for increasing government regulations on ticket selling after Ticketmaster's website suffered a malfunction, preventing fans from acquiring tickets through the Live Nation subsidiary. Tickets were available, however, on Stub Hub.

Live Nation Entertainment's ticket resale may violate Ontario anti-scalping law

By Arragon Perrone

Event promotions giant Live Nation Entertainment may face steep fines after a possible violation of Ontario's anti-scalping law. On Feb. 13, tickets for Madonna's concert in Ottawa's Scotiabank Park were sold out within 21 minutes of being placed on-sale. On resale websites such as Kijiji.ca, however, tickets remained available. On Live Nation Entertainment's subsidiary site, VIPNation.com, Madonna fans could purchase a concert ticket for $1500 despite its $350 face value. Once the customer presses the button to purchase the tickets, users are rerouted to iloveallacess.com, which has a different URL, but displays VIP Nation in the top banner. There is no information on this page that discloses that VIP Nation is a subsidiary Live Nation Entertainment.

The Ticket Speculation Act of 1990 forbids ticket resale in Ontario for a price above face value. A 2010 amendment sets a maximum $5,000 fine for individual violators and a maximum $50,000 for corporations. Whether the maximum fines are to be implemented per ticket or in total remains unclear because of the bill's vague language and its limited enforcement history.

Live Nation buys data analytics company BigChampagne

By Alfred Branch Jr.

Live Nation this week bought data analytics company BigChampagne to help expand its marketing and Internet branding efforts. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Located near Live Nation in Beverly Hills, CA, BigChampagne is an entertainment industry media measurement company that crunches a wealth of information and analytical data to help businesses reach more customers.

Building housing Live Nation headquarters sold

By Alfred Branch Jr.

Live Nation's corporate headquarters building, referred to as the "Ice House" because it housed ice storage in the 1920s, was sold for $20 million this month.

New York-based commercial real estate company Tishman Speyer bought the 45,000-square-foot building from a partnership headed by former movie mogul Michael Ovitz, who initially purchased the building for about $3.3 million in 1993.

Jimmy Buffett tour, Live Nation suffer ticket woes

By Alfred Branch Jr.

Few acts in popular music are as consistent as Jimmy Buffett, who packs amphitheaters with fans year in and year out. But the chief Parrothead recently experienced a set back at Live Nation's Jiffy Lube Live Amphitheater in northern Virginia due to two hindrances, one natural and one man-made.

Buffett's scheduled performance at the venue for August 27 had to be postponed to September 1 due to Hurricane Irene, but the rescheduled date reportedly caused about 10,000 fans — out of the 25,000 who bought tickets — to request refunds.

Ambassador Theatre Group thrives with Live Nation UK theaters

By Alfred Branch Jr.

The UK-based Ambassador Theatre Group (ATG), which bought more than a dozen London-area theaters from Live Nation in 2009, has seen both its revenues and profits grow since the purchase.

The company paid more than $140 million for the 17 Live Nation theaters, a move that was almost derailed by a lawsuit filed by ATG rival Key Brand Entertainment (KBE), which unsuccessfully tried to claim that it had a deal with Live Nation to be given a final chance to bid on the theaters.



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Month of April 2012

  Seller Score
1     Ticketmaster.com 31.21
2 StubHub.com 15.02
LiveNation.com 8.10
4 Eventbrite.com 7.50
5 Tickets.com 6.05
6 TicketsNow.com 3.74
7 TicketLiquidator.com 3.59
8 TicketNetwork.com 2.57
9 Goldstar.com 2.28
10 ETix.com 1.81
11 Vividseats.com 1.52
12 TiqIQ.com 1.23
13 TicketWeb.com 1.17
14 Telecharge.com 1.15
15 BrownPaperTickets.com 1.10
16 TicketFly.com 0.93
17 EventTicketsCenter.com 0.87
18 Tix.com 0.82
19 SeatGeek.com 0.76
20 TicketCity.com 0.76

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