Ticketmaster and Live Nation need to merge for their bottom lines, not to screw you.<\/p>\n
Let me tell you how this works.\u00c2\u00a0 TM has been spun off from IAC, its stock stands (or falls) on its own.\u00c2\u00a0 What’s going to make the stock go up?<\/p>\n
Is TM suddenly going to sell many more tickets?\u00c2\u00a0 Is America gonna wake up and start going to twice as many events?\u00c2\u00a0 No.\u00c2\u00a0 Which is why TM bought Irving Azoff’s Front Line management company. \u00c2\u00a0
To gain another revenue stream, with potential upside.<\/p>\n
Why did Irving merge with Ticketmaster?\u00c2\u00a0 For the money!<\/p>\n
Did Bob Sillerman roll up concert promoters because he loved the live music business?\u00c2\u00a0 Of course not.\u00c2\u00a0 He did it for the money.\u00c2\u00a0 Bob’s such a great salesman, he laid the whole thing off on Clear Channel, claiming some kind of synergy.\u00c2\u00a0 And after running away with his cash, Clear Channel wrote off billions and then spun off Live Nation as a separate company.<\/p>\n
But there’s only one problem.\u00c2\u00a0 Live Nation’s upside is limited.\u00c2\u00a0 Because the acts get all the money from live shows.\u00c2\u00a0 As the "Wall Street Journal" so eloquently put it, Live Nation is "a river of nickels".<\/p>\n
So how is Live Nation going to increase its bottom line?<\/p>\n
By selling merch, by utilizing the artist to create new revenue streams.\u00c2\u00a0 But there’s a problem.\u00c2\u00a0 Almost none of the artists will cough up these streams, so Live Nation’s stock can’t grow.<\/p>\n
But suddenly, Ticketmaster has all the acts, with Front Line. Suddenly, the impediment is gone.\u00c2\u00a0 If they’re all working under the same roof…<\/p>\n
Furthermore, as bad as the financials might be, by merging the two companies you end up with an unknown quantity that you can hype to Wall Street.\u00c2\u00a0 Will the stock go up and stay up?\u00c2\u00a0 Unclear.\u00c2\u00a0 But one thing’s for sure, it can’t be much worse for these two companies than it is now.<\/p>\n
And you’re sitting there at home, bitching about ticket add-ons.<\/p>\n
Like Deep Throat said, FOLLOW THE MONEY!<\/p>\n
The money is generated by the acts.\u00c2\u00a0 And if Live Nation won’t pay the acts, then AEG or JAM or IMP will.\u00c2\u00a0 So, there’s no downward pressure.\u00c2\u00a0 The acts rule.<\/p>\n
But the acts don’t want to APPEAR greedy, so they utilize Ticketmaster to generate more dollars.\u00c2\u00a0 By adding fees, that are kicked back to themselves, or starving concert promoters, or utilizing TicketExchange\/platinum packages to in essence scalp their own tickets. Because, you see, the acts are greedy, they want more money!\u00c2\u00a0 But they don’t want you to know this…<\/p>\n
The ticket brokers are up in arms, knowing that the acts and Ticketmaster want to squeeze them out, getting all that revenue for themselves, utilizing paperless ticketing amongst other techniques.\u00c2\u00a0 So what do the ticket brokers do?\u00c2\u00a0 They start a Website, http:\/\/ticketdisaster.org\/, imploring you to block the TM\/LN merger.\u00c2\u00a0 Why?\u00c2\u00a0 So you can buy overpriced tickets from them!<\/p>\n
But you are angry.\u00c2\u00a0 Because ticketing is a disaster.<\/p>\n
Mainly because the acts are afraid to tell you the truth, that they’re breadheads.\u00c2\u00a0 They take the money from AmEx for pre-sales, they form fan clubs so theoretically you can get good seats, even though you’re paying extra for this privilege.<\/p>\n
You want transparency.<\/p>\n
Then again, do you?\u00c2\u00a0 Do you really want to pay $1500 for a front row seat, or would you rather bitch that you can’t get the same seat for $15, because you’re a fan?<\/p>\n
Will the TM\/LN merger be successful?<\/p>\n
Wow, who knows?<\/p>\n
Maybe it’s like the Telecommunications Act of 1996.\u00c2\u00a0 Allowing radio chains to merge, ruining terrestrial radio.\u00c2\u00a0 Driving sales of iPods, satellite, Pandora and Slacker.\u00c2\u00a0 If TM\/LN really ends up being that bad, do you expect it to survive?<\/p>\n
As for ticketing, you can bet that there will be concessions allowing others to enter the sphere in order for the merger to be approved.\u00c2\u00a0 If they can do it better than TM\/LN, they’ll get traction.\u00c2\u00a0 If not?<\/p>\n
Citadel Broadcasting went bankrupt.\u00c2\u00a0 Clear Channel is tottering.\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe you let TM and LN merge and they’re so inept that the way is paved for the future!<\/p>\n
The loser in a merger?\u00c2\u00a0 The major labels.\u00c2\u00a0 Suddenly, they’re barely necessary.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ve got a manager, with relationships with the tour promoter, you can license your music yourself, do you need a major label?\u00c2\u00a0 The same labels who insist on a piece of 360 degrees of revenue, taking so much money for doing so little poorly?<\/p>\n
Please stop complaining about this merger with the knee-jerk position that you just can’t get a good seat, right down front, for under fifty bucks, to see a superstar.\u00c2\u00a0 Can you buy a brand new BMW for ten grand?\u00c2\u00a0 Is an iPhone free?\u00c2\u00a0 Wake up and see that it’s business.\u00c2\u00a0 All about the money.\u00c2\u00a0 And if you want change, you’ve got to dig down a hell of a lot deeper than the merger of two companies that show little growth individually.<\/p>\n
But one thing’s for sure.\u00c2\u00a0 If you create something of value, that everybody wants, the doors are open for you.\u00c2\u00a0 Yup, every label, concert promoter and manager wants to make a deal with a hit act.\u00c2\u00a0 If you’re talented enough, and business prospects are good, you can even dictate the terms.\u00c2\u00a0 And when you become successful, are you going to let everybody in for free?\u00c2\u00a0 Or very little?\u00c2\u00a0 Are you willing to require ID to get in, to combat scalping, like NIN and Metallica?\u00c2\u00a0 Or would you rather use TM as a front to generate further riches.<\/p>\n
Maybe, years ago, acts were willing to forgo the cash.<\/p>\n
Then came Peter Grant and Led Zeppelin.<\/p>\n
And what did the Eagles sing?\u00c2\u00a0 The doctor say he’s coming, but you gotta pay in cash?<\/p>\n
Are you willing to sacrifice part of your salary for the common good?\u00c2\u00a0 Are you willing to pay more tax?\u00c2\u00a0 Seems most people aren’t.\u00c2\u00a0 Why do you expect the acts to be any different from you?<\/p>\n
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Ticketmaster and Live Nation need to merge for their bottom lines, not to screw you. Let me tell you how this works.\u00c2\u00a0 TM has been spun off from IAC, its stock stands (or falls) on its own.\u00c2\u00a0 What’s going to make the stock go up? Is TM suddenly going to sell many more tickets?\u00c2\u00a0 Is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music-business"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s96vPs-tmln","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2525"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2525\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2526,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2525\/revisions\/2526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}