Friday, February 4, 2011 10:26AM - By Joseph Oliveto
If you’re holding any Ticketmaster stock, you might want to sell. Now. The indisputed monopolizers (almost literally) of the concert and live performance ticketing business have long enjoyed a reign as the number one market for fans hoping to catch a show of their favorite artist, but according to Rolling Stone, that may all be about to change. Concert promoter AEG, along with Outbox Technology, is developing a ticketing company of its own that could represent the first real competition that Ticketmaster has faced in some time.
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Friday, February 19, 2010 3:53PM - By Seraphina L.
The Boss is sounding pretty nice these days. We’re talking about Bruce Springsteen, of course. If you have an overbearing supervisor who sneaks up on you in your cubicle, Office Space style, we’re sorry about that. Unless you’re a Springsteen fan, that working environment for you may still sting. It’s just that it turns out not all Ticketmaster/Live Nation purchasers will have to suffer the high prices due to the massive business merge.
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Monday, January 25, 2010 9:08PM - By Seraphina L.
Too much dismay of indie artists and even major label artists, the merge between Live Nation and Ticketmaster Entertainment has won clearance to merge and become the new company, Live Nation Entertainment. Despite the fear of a monopoly in the industry and those who looked up to the Obama administration to lock down on certain business mergers that may severely hurt parts of the economy, this merger has made both shares of both companies incredibly higher.
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Friday, August 28, 2009 11:00AM - By Seraphina L.
Based on their last quarter in music sales, Live Nation has reported that their revenue per fan is $78.16. This is lower than last year’s second quarter which brought in $81.82 per fan.
Although this is not bad at all when you factor in the economy that has been spiraling downward, it just proves that fans are paying unnecessary amounts of money when it comes to large companies like this. Live Nation confirms the fact that people haven’t stopped going to concerts, but also state that they continue to receive earnings from food, beverages, and visits to their monopoly of a site.
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Friday, May 8, 2009 6:30PM - By Morelli
Global ticket sales rose 8 percent in 2008, but Live Nation’s earnings report for the first quarter of 2009 showed losses of $102.7 million. In the UK, live music sales surpassed recorded music, yet Live Nation reports a 22 percent drop in attendance of live shows.
The anticipation that live performances would continue to grow in sales, or even try to compensate for losses in physical sales is deeply shaken. Live Nation President and CEO Michael Rapino doesn’t think there’s a problem:
“Our first quarter results were in line with our plan and, despite challenging economic times, fans are buying concert tickets at a healthy pace.”
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Tuesday, March 24, 2009 8:00AM - By Brian Spiegel
You’ve heard the line “you can’t squeeze blood from a turnip”. It’s an old phrase that means that you can’t get from someone what they aren’t willing to give. The phrase has been thrown around a lot recently when talking about the American consumer. Apparently we aren’t spending money anymore but instead keeping it between our mattress and planning our move out of the Dust Bowl (metaphorically speaking of course, I’m sure Oklahoma has more to offer right now then California… like a state budget and such).
Without piling more metaphors onto each other, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to present myself as Mr. Turnip and on Friday, even though I’m out of a job and money is kinda tight, I found myself purchasing pricey No Doubt tickets through the Live Nation website. Even if he is watching his money, apparently you can squeeze blood from a turnip if the turnip is willing to overlook such things as service charges and a slightly inflated ticket fee.
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Tuesday, March 17, 2009 5:30PM - By Matt Unangst
Trent Reznor has added his own two cents to the ticketing issue in a post on Nine Inch Nails’ blog. Reznor lays most of the blame for inflated ticket prices on Live Nation and Ticketmaster, but accepts some blame on the part of artists. He says that the artist, when choosing to tour, first chooses the venues it would like to play. In the past, artists would contract with local promoters, who would then sell tickets to the shows, but Live Nation has now bought most of the venues and local promoters, so artists must now deal with Live Nation. Whether a show is sold through Ticketmaster or Live Nation is determined by the promoter, not the artist.
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Thursday, March 12, 2009 5:00PM - By Morelli
Unlike Bruce Springsteen, music stars Eddie Van Halen, Seal and Billy Corgan are in favor of the merger between Ticket Master and Live Nation. It might come as a surprise, but the artists actually sent letters to Congress expressing their support of the deal, and their belief that the merger can help the artist-to-fan relationship.
It all makes since though, because each of the artists is managed or co-managed by Ticketmaster CEO Irving Azoff and his company Front Line Management, making their fervent support much less credible. Of course, the connection isn’t mentioned in any of the letters, instead writing about their careers and the future of the music industry. Billy Corgan says in his letter:
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Wednesday, February 25, 2009 10:00AM - By Matt Unangst
Not satisfied with Ticketmaster’s settlement with New Jersey, New York Senator Charles Schumer has continued his assault on the company, telling them today that it should sell TicketsNow, the ticket resale site that was at the center of the Bruce Springsteen controversy. Schumer rejected Ticketmaster’s description of the incident as a mere software glitch, calling it “more about money than malfunction,” a statement supported by his observation that a ticket sold on Ticketmaster netted the company $7 while a ticket sold on TicketsNow netted $30. Continue Reading
