Jim DeRogatis has a fantastic summary posted of the recent news surrounding both Ticketmaster and Live Nation and their supposed merger that has yet to be approved by the Department of Justice.
5. The American Antitrust Institute last month issued a paper “urging the Department of Justice to ‘just say no’ to the proposed [Ticketmaster/Live Nation] merger now under investigation.” (The PDF is here.) Among the conclusions: “Live Nation Entertainment would be a vertically integrated enterprise with dominance or substantial power on five market levels. The new entity would therefore be able to use its strengths in some markets as leverage to gain customers or compliance in others. This vertical integration would effectively frustrate new entry because, as a practical matter, it would require firms seeking to compete seriously against Live Nation Entertainment to enter the industry on several levels at once. The second factor is that the merged entity would likely enjoy market power not just as a seller but also as a buyer. In essence, the company’s market dominance would benefit it in both ways.”
I think if this is allowed to go through, we’re going to see a revolt in the industry somehow. Revolutions need to happen at the ground level, and if the government can’t stop these capitalist pigs from seeing what they’re doing to damage the music industry in too many ways then we’re going to have to help them see the light from our point of view.
