The press release announcing the unholy creation of Live Nation Entertainment—the live-event monster to emerge from the merger of Ticketmaster of Live Nation, barring any intervention from the Justice Department—has crossed the transom, and the subtitle alone is enough to inspire snickers and eye-rolling from skeptics: “Combination Will Drive Greater Access, Transparency and Choice in Ticketing to Serve Fans, Artists and Entire Live Entertainment Industry… Will Improve Live Event Attendance, Supporting Venues and a Healthier Industry.” Also, freedom is slavery, don’t you know? Anyway, the full release is after the jump—I wonder if we should make this a game, and give a prize to the first person who gets a Corproate Bingo from reading its text? MORE »
Posts Tagged ‘TicketMaster’
the biz
The Live Nation And Ticketmaster Announcement: PR Speak, Ahoy
the biz
Ticketmaster-Live Nation Two-Headed Monster Comes Closer To Existing
The boards of concert-promotion behemoth Live Nation and ticketing giant Ticketmaster have approved a merger agreement between the two companies, and an announcement regarding the megamonopolistic entity is scheduled for sometime this morning. The all-stock deal will result in a company known as Live Nation Entertainment Inc. provided that the government’s antitrust division doesn’t get all huffy and try to scuttle the deal. And now we know another reason that Ticketmaster really wanted this deal to happen: All those negative associations concertgoers have with the word “Ticketmaster” will just evaporate into the night! MORE »
the biz
Bono Apparently Knows What Side His Soda Bread Is Buttered On
From a Wall Street Journal article on the Live… MORE »
they write letters
Bruce Springsteen Makes Ticketmaster CEO Grovel, Apologize, And Generally Feel Like Crap
So after a New Jersey Congressman fired off a missive to the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division regarding Ticketmaster’s policy of dumping users to its sister reselling site, TicketsNow, once tickets to Bruce Springsteen’s shows in the Northeast sold out, Springsteen and his manager got in on the open-letter act, too, going so far as to use the verbs “abuse” and “condemn” in regard to the sorta-scammy practice while also getting salty about the ticketing behemoth’s proposed merger with concert-promotion heavyweight Live Nation. Oh snap! MORE »
they write letters
Ticketmaster Dares To Get Between A New Jersey Congressman And His Springsteen Tickets
When tickets for Bruce Springsteen’s slate of shows in New York and New Jersey appeared on the site for Ticketmaster’s “reseller” division TicketsNow just seconds after they went on sale, people were understandably outraged, especially since TM’s somehow-legal side business had marked up tickets to the sold-out shows by hundreds of dollars. In stepped the newest hero of the working man, New Jersey Representative Bill Pascrell, Jr., to request that Department of Justice look into this remarkable coincidence. His letter to the Antitrust Division—written hours before the news about the possible Ticketmaster/Live Nation merger broke—is below the cut. MORE »
top
Ticketmaster And Live Nation To Merge?????
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Ticketmaster and Live Nation are close to a merger that would bring the United States’ two largest concert-promotion/ticket-sales companies under one roof. Um, I guess the whole Phish tickets onsale was more of a disaster than previously thought! MORE »
Social-music company iLike, which got a boost… MORE »
the new model
Ticketmaster May Be Taking It Easy On Its Extra Fees (No, Really)
The good news: Ticketmaster is experimenting with dropping the “convenience fees” that can potentially mark up the tickets it sells as much as 75%. The bad news: This experiment, right now, is restricted to fans of the freaking Eagles, thanks in part to the deal two weeks ago that brought the ticketing behemoth together with Irving Azoff’s Frontline Management. Which just happens to manage Don Henley & Co. MORE »
