Live Nation Continues Bid for Monopoly After Merger with Metropolis Music
One of the biggest concerns for the future of music that continues to fly curiously under the radar is concert promoter and ticketing giant Live Nation‘s ongoing campaign to acquire majority stakes in smaller promotional companies all across the world until nearly all live music presented to crowds bigger than the gatherings at local bars is done under the umbrella of the live music juggernaut.
On Friday (1-20) it was announced that Live Nation had taken over yet another independently-owned promotional company with deep local ties, this time in the United Kingdom. Metropolis Music, which is a stakeholder in V Festival and Academy Music Group (AMG), and as one of the U.K.’s biggest live promoters puts on around 500 shows in the U.K. annually, has now merged with Live Nation. The two companies had previously worked together on the V Festival and other events.
The merger comes after two Metropolis employees left the company in November to create a rival promotional company called Crosstown Concerts. “The team and I are excited for this new venture into Metropolis Music,” says founder of Metropolis, Bob Angus. “We’ve been promoting events in the UK since 1985, and we look forward to providing the best for artists and fans across the UK, together as part of the Live Nation family.”
Like with many of Live Nation’s mergers and acquisitions, Metropolis will keep many of the principals of their staff. The artist management portion of Metropolis is not part of the Live Nation deal. Specific details of the deal were not disclosed, but in most of Live Nation’s recent transactions, Live Nation insists on owning a controlling 51% interest in the companies they acquire or partner with.
And that is not all of Live Nation’s recent acquisition activity. On January 13th a deal was announced with Napa Valley’s BottleRock Festival where Live Nation now owns a majority stake of the event. The three-day festival held in May is in its fifth year, and boasts headliners like the Foo Fighters, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, and Maroon 5 for the 2017 installment. Once again Live Nation keeps all the staff of the festival in place, but benefits from a controlling stake in the company.
BottleRock is yet another major festival that now falls under the auspices of Live Nation. The company also owns controlling interests in destination festivals such as ACL Fest, Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, Governor’s Ball, and Electric Daisy Carnival.
January 21, 2017 @ 11:02 am
There aren’t any antitrust laws that would prevent this? Do you think this will affect ticket prices, is that your concern? I think I have been to one live nation event, but I can’t remember. Would a boycott be a viable solution or would this negatively impact the artists aswell? Or is it up to the artists to unite and boycott live nation?
Ticket price and possibly concert policy is the only thing I could see where this may cause a problem. But if tickets go to high they will lose more than they win consumerwise and fans. I know that any monopoly is damaging to a free and open market, but I am having trouble seeing the future consequences of this.
January 21, 2017 @ 11:24 am
I think the most important thing at the moment is to recognize and be aware of what is going on in the marketplace. Live Nation is not a monopoly yet, but that could change very shorty at the rate of acquisitions, and the nature of their strategy which allows them to gain controlling interest in these companies, but little effort has to be expended on their part in these acquisitions because they keep current management in place. This allows then to grow a lightning speed. It’s like a blitzkrieg.
When Live Nation merged with Ticketmaster, this was a massive national story and there was tons of public outcry and concern. Since all of these small acquisitions don’t make for big national news, they’re flying under the radar. But when you add them all up, an consider they’re taking over independent companies instead of established corporations, the totality of the stories is arguably even more alarming.
January 21, 2017 @ 12:00 pm
Live Nation is the reason that I would only buy my tickets from a broker or someone who cancelled and can’t make it. I don’t buy them, anymore, anyway, but I hate Live Nation. Besides, the brokers steal them, anyway, when they have software that allows them to snatch the tickets right out of people’s carts mid purchase. I don’t even attend concerts, anymore. Too big of a waste. You get dollared to death before you even make it in the gate.
January 21, 2017 @ 12:02 pm
Besides, if they allowed live streaming of their shows, via paid invite only, they might do a lot better, in some cases. They should also rent cameras, but that might be obsolete, now, since cell phones are being used.
January 21, 2017 @ 12:08 pm
There is a huge difference between quality production company shooting your concert and a cell phone. That isn’t a bad idea I just think the market for streaming concerts probably way too small. Kinda defeats the whole purpose, the energy in the room you know.
January 21, 2017 @ 3:11 pm
I do understand that. There needs to be a way for people to interact in a live streaming experience. They could also still do regular shows, just live stream for those who.couldn’t make it. If people could be offered the opportunity to live stream their favorite artist, I think it would actually be a great way to see our favorite artists without going through the hell of attending with all the drunken idiots. Make the live stream available for less, and the regular concert tickets could still be sold, that wouldn’t need to change, but it would be a whole new market for the artist.
January 21, 2017 @ 2:25 pm
economies of scale are good, but monopoly is bad
January 21, 2017 @ 11:14 pm
I would imagine Live Nation would do what other bigger companies do as they buy up the smaller ones: sock it to the consumer.
January 26, 2017 @ 10:34 am
They are already doing that. Let’s back up a sec and call “Live Nation” what it is.. Clear Channel. Under this Clear Channel umbrella is Live nation, Ticketmaster, iHeart Radio, and Stub Hub. They also own most of the amphitheaters in America. When you go to a show and see a concert T-Shirt for $50 the reason the price is so high is Live Nation gets 30-40% of merch sales right off the top. Same reason you pay $11 for a beer. Same reason you pay $20 to park. Live Nation is already increasing the cost of your concert experience by at least 40%. This doesn’t even take into consideration the Ticketmaster/Stub Hub scam where seats for your favorite artists tickets are gone in 5 minutes but available at twice the price instantly on Stub Hub.
Artists don’t make money selling albums anymore, live performances are where the money is now. Clear Channel saw this coming and positioned themselves to make a fortune skimming off your hard earned cash. Both the artist and the fan get screwed and Clear Channel cleans up. Something is going to need to change. Soon.
January 23, 2017 @ 5:35 am
The larger a company gets the more profit it needs and these days they want to see that profit now. The monster has been created and now needs fed, thus this voracious need to buy festival shares. Scary.
I try to support the little promotors as much as possible.Small venues and little festivals are my choice. Less crowds, you usually get to meet the artists, food and beverages are also affordable.