Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Ticketmaster/Live Nation merger approved: What's in it for you?
EW.com: "Almost a year after Ticketmaster and Live Nation announced their intention to combine into one massive megacorporation, setting off a thorough anti-trust investigation, the U.S. Department of Justice has approved the merger. As of yesterday afternoon, the way is clear for the two concert-industry giants to become one, under the name Live Nation Entertainment. Ticketmaster currently sells tickets and manages artists, while Live Nation books tours and owns venues, among other things. So what does their merger mean for you, the everyday ticket-buying consumer?"
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4 comments:
Personally, every experience I've had with ticket master has been horrible so I absolutely agree that this merger seems like its going to disadvantage the Ticketmaster/Live Nation customers more than anything, clearly with less options the merger between the two largest concert businesses will open the option to higher prices and a complete monopoly over ticket sales. When Ticket master previously held an 83 percent share of the market for major venues and the next competitor held 4 percent, its hard to imagine both companies have anything in mind besides jipping their customers especially since they've been often times referred to as "anti-consumer" and are notorious for their horrible customer service.
I think that this is going to be really bad for customers. Live Nation owns so many venues, and adding almost complete control of ticket prices to that is a little crazy. I really want to know how this made it past the anti-trust investigation, and why it could be perceived that it would save money. From what I know, Ticketmaster is very good at tricking unobservant customers into paying higher prices for nothing.
I feel that this merger will have little effect on the consumer. I think we might see a little or no drop in the price of a ticket. The merged companies’ job will be easier, since they will now have more control of the “touring” industry. The company will have to go though less gates so there is less needs for added on fees. People are out there that are willing to pay an exorbitant amount for the tickets. The company may put more money into the production instead of cutting ticket prices. Then we might see more earth shattering techniques and equipment.
I agree with Robert. I think that tickets as far as we know will generally stay the same. At least for a while. The main difference will come in the ticket purchasing system. It will probably be made simpler to buy tickets. I hope that the merger does not make concert prices go up because they are already at a premium. In this economy if they try to get any more money out of their costumers they will hit the point of diminishing returns.
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