Ticketmaster Entertainment Inc. and Live Nation Inc. are close to a merger, people familiar with the matter said, in a deal that would consolidate two of the most powerful forces in the music industry under one roof.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the combined company would be called Live Nation Ticketmaster, and would merge the world’s biggest concert promoter with the world’s dominant ticketing and artist-management company. The resulting firm would be able to manage everything from recorded music to ticket sales and tour sponsorship. It could package artists in new ways, for example, allowing corporations such as a cellphone provider to sponsor a concert tour and to sell an exclusive download of a song.
Because it would be so vertically integrated, the new company would also be able to muscle out competing concert promoters and have more power to dictate ticket prices to consumers.
The deal, which wouldn’t entail any exchange of cash, could be announced as early as next week, these people said, the paper resports.
Music-industry executives have struggled to come up with a new business model as paid digital downloads have grown too slowly to make up for the loss in CD sales, and concert ticket sales and corporate sponsorships have become integral to artists’ income.
The deal may neutralize a Live Nation initiative that is also one of the biggest challenges facing Ticketmaster. Live Nation last year broke with Ticketmaster and launched its own competing ticketing service. By selling its own tickets, Live Nation said, it would be able to control a larger share of the pie.
February 5th, 2009 at 10:28 pm
Awww, man! So much for TicketBastard getting some sort of competition. This merger could be even WORSE for ticket prices.