Live Nation’s problem is not Outbox, but its crushing debt.  If Live Nation dies, it will be because it couldn’t find a way to be profitable, not because a competitor ate its lunch.

Outbox is a white label solution.  Which allows venues to create their own ticketing system.  That’s a positively eighties solution, back before the Internet took hold.

What do we know about the Internet?

We go to one site, one company dominates in every sphere.

Amazon in books.

Apple in music.

Facebook in social networking.

Google in search.

Let’s stay with Google, because it’s got a competitor, Bing, which is similar to AEG.  You see Microsoft’s got almost unlimited cash.  To the point where it can compete, gaining minimal market share and losing money.  No one else with a deep pocket is going into search, Google is just too good.  Ticketmaster’s too good.  A competitor is not necessary.  Technologically.

But the truth of concert promotion is all the profits are in ticketing, so it’s an important area.  The deals you make, the splits are more important than the technology.  Ticketmaster works.  The public hates the fees.  But the only company moving towards all inclusive pricing is…Live Nation?  The same company that wants paperless?

So hate on LN all you want, but they’re the ones that want change.

But this is really about why Outbox is antiquated.

We don’t want to go to a plethora of sites to buy our tickets, we want to go to one.  We don’t want to go to staplescenter.com to purchase ducats for a downtown show and hollywoodbowl.com for tickets to the outdoor show and santamonicacivic.org for shows by the beach.  We want to go to ONE site!

They call it ticketmaster.com.

Sure, you can use Google.  But then you end up buying tickets from a scalper, who’s gamed the search engine optimization system.

So the concept of a white label system where each venue customizes its own site and does its own ticketing is a head-scratcher.

But here’s where it really gets interesting.  Why is ticketmaster.com so lame?

It hasn’t got the best interface and it’s not fast.  But the real problem is it only sells tickets.

I’ve bought multiple television sets from Amazon.  The price is the cheapest, delivery is free and they set it up, what more could you ask for?  A no haggle, no hassle experience.

And Amazon not only sells hardcover books, it sells electronic titles too, Amazon pioneered this market and still dominates.

And iTunes is not only about music.  There are TV shows and movies and apps and free podcasts.

And Facebook makes a profit not only on ads, but gaming.

And ticketmaster.com sells tickets.

Yes, the story isn’t AEG’s move with Fred Rosen’s Outbox, but the money Live Nation is leaving on the table.

And the reason it’s leaving said money has something to do with the vision thing, or more specifically, the lack thereof.

But it’s got even more to do with money.  Live Nation just hasn’t got any.  It’s firing people to make its numbers.  It’s a public company, with shareholders, needing to make a profit, whereas Phil Anschutz funds AEG.

Ticketmaster.com should not only be selling t-shirts and tour booklets, but food coupons and virtual goods, and to create stickiness there should be a social networking component.

But years after Michael Rapino started talking about the future, it’s yet to arrive.

And the old roadblock of acts and labels saying no, not granting rights, is gone.  So many acts don’t even have record labels anymore.  But even more important, Live Nation is in business with so many acts, through its ownership/relationship with Irving Azoff’s Frontline.

No one’s going to kill Live Nation.  If it dies, it kills itself.

Live Nation has the best opportunity to triumph in the future, it’s got the most assets, the best starting point, why can’t it run with the ball?