The Justice Dept. finds silver lining in Ticketmaster and Live Nation

The merger has been approved after a yearlong investigation. This nightmare merger had been what many music fans had been fearing, but it appears the Justice Department found some common ground. “We were prepared to litigate this case, and I told the parties that,” said Justice Department antitrust representative Christine A. Varney. “The required divestitures and behavioral prohibitions alleviate our concerns.” Ticketmaster has to ditch a ticketing division and license its software to a competitor. Oh, and the boys at Justice will be watching them like a hawk for 10 years. Good idea – music fans will thank you. source

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Smashing suckage Hi, guys. We’re ShortFormBlog. You may know us from such posts as this one and that one. Anyway, we’re here to talk about a serious problem we’ve noticed lately – Billy Corgan’s ruining the legacy of his band, The Smashing Pumpkins. It started slowly. Then it became more obvious. Now, it’s just too much and we think Billy should stop ruining our positive memories of watching his band on MTV.
Lame things he did Earlier this month, Billy Corgan made his opinions known on two fronts that have the potential to hurt fans. Know the RIAA-supported Performance Rights Act, which would give Corgan money every time “Landslide” plays? He testified to Congress about it. Know that heavily-criticized Ticketmaster/Live Nation merger that’s on the table? He wrote a letter to Congress supporting it.
The final final strawRecently, Jimmy Chamberlain – the only other member of the band still left from the legacy era, Tinted Windows notwithstanding – left Smashing Pumpkins due to a desire not to “cash the check,” as he put it. (Is he uncomfortable with selling out his band’s legacy?) Now, the band is going to have an open call for drummers. Limp Bizkit did something like this, and we know they suck. source

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The proposal Ticketmaster, which handles ticket sales at venues across the country, and Live Nation, a spin-off of Clear Channel that promotes and produces live shows and has recently gotten into the artist management business, want to merge, sources say. As both businesses cover much of the live music industry, the merger would face antitrust scrutiny.
The concern Fans are not very happy about this idea, largely due to Ticketmaster’s history of shady practices and overcharging. Ticketmaster convenience fees can significantly increase the price of a concert ticket. If Live Nation, which has recently gotten into the ticket-distribution business itself, remained a competitor, they could help lower prices by increasing competition.
Bruce weighs inBruce Springsteen, who has a long history of railing against corporate greed, weighed in with a note on his Web site. In it, he stated that “the one thing that would make the current ticket situation even worse for the fan than it is now would be Ticketmaster and Live Nation coming up with a single system.” source

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25 Jan 2010 21:13