Having weighed written testimony from several industry professionals but ultimately deciding their arguments were unpersuasive, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) this week submitted its last report to the court recommending the merger of Ticketmaster and Live Nation receive final approval. The move was not entirely unexpected, considering the... Read more
More concert promoters have filed documents with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) opposing the consent decree the federal agency negotiated with Ticketmaster and Live Nation that allowed the two to merge. A group of promoters, led by Seth Hurwitz of I.M.P. and 9:30 Club fame, believe the merger... Read more
Concert promoter Jack Orbin, founder and president of Stone City Attractions, this week criticized the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) consent decree allowing the Ticketmaster/Live Nation merger, stressing that the deal will severely damage the live entertainment industry. In documents filed with the DOJ and written by attorney David... Read more
Only time will tell whether the Ticketmaster/Live Nation merger will end up being fair to promoters, venues and ticketing companies, and in the meantime the live entertainment industry should look toward innovation to stay competitive, Assistant Attorney General Christine Varney reportedly told a crowd of concert professionals and others... Read more
Having been ordered to reconsider the deal, the UK Competition Commission (CC) will release its new decision concerning the Ticketmaster/Live Nation merger by May 11. The move to reconsider the merger, which has received approval from the U.S. Justice Department with conditions, was issued earlier this month by the... Read more
Convinced by CTS Eventim that the Competition Commission’s (CC) report was flawed, the UK Competition Appeals Tribunal (CAT) Thursday “quashed” the findings and demanded the CC reconsider its decision to approve the Ticketmaster/Live Nation merger. In December, the CC approved the merger in the UK without conditions, which reversed... Read more
New York Times: Ticketmaster / Live Nation merger is ‘worrisome’
February 10, 2010 0
A little over two weeks has passed since the merger of Ticketmaster and Live Nation was cleared by the U.S. Justice Department (DOJ), but the criticism continues to trickle in. In an editorial published this week in the New York Times titled “Music Inc. Gets Bigger,” the two companies... Read more
According to documents filed last week with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Irving Azoff, Michael Rapino and other top executives with the newly formed Live Nation Entertainment will be paid millions of dollars in bonuses as a result of the merger between Live Nation and Ticketmaster. Rapino, who... Read more
As details of the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) approval of the Ticketmaster/Live Nation merger continue to sink in, questions remain about how the deal will affect the ticketing and live entertainment landscape. And, two prominent independent concert promoters are already voicing grave concerns. “I had been assured by the... Read more
With the merger now complete, Live Nation Entertainment, the newly formed company from the combined Live Nation and Ticketmaster, will face considerable scrutiny from consumer protection groups and others who remain skeptical of the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) decision to approve the deal. DOJ attorneys investigated the merger for... Read more
