.commentary-cls-1 blogherads.adq.push(function () ); Indie Venue Owners Have Wanted ‘Justice for Years.’ The Live Nation Verdict Could Change Everything “The jury gave us the verdict to build” a better concert industry, writes the executive director of the National Independent Venue Association. On April 15, a federal jury in Manhattan saw through it. After six weeks of trial and four days of deliberation, the jurors found Live Nation and Ticketmaster liable on every count: monopolization of the ticketing market, monopolization of amphitheaters, and, crucially, unlawful tying of Live Nation’s promotion services to its ticketing and amphitheaters. [Editor’s note: Live Nation plans to appeal the ruling.] That last finding is the one that should guide everything that happens next.
The tying verdict is not a legal technicality. It is the lived experience of independent venues, festivals, promoters, fans, and artist managers in America, finally recognized by the courts. And the trial evidence made clear exactly how the tie operates in practice: through Live Nation’s control of tours.
The former head of Brooklyn’s Barclays Center testified that his venue switched back to Ticketmaster not because of pressure on any single show, but because Live Nation, which manages artists and books their tours, threatened to pull the entire touring relationship from the arena. John Abbamondi, then CEO of the company that runs Barclays Center, testified that when he called to confirm his arena was leaving Ticketmaster, an “irate” Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino warned him it was “going to be tough to continue delivering concerts to the venue.” blogherads.adq.push(function () { blogherads .defineSlot( 'medrec', 'gpt-dsk-tab-article-inbody-uid0' ) .setTargeting( 'pos', ["mid-article","mid","in-article1","mid-article1","inbody","inbody1"] ) .setTargeting( 'viewable', 'yes' ) .setSubAdUnitPath("music\/article\/inbody1") .addSize([[300,250],[620,350],[2,2],[3,3],[2,4],[4,2],[640,250],[6,6],[620,366]]) .setClsOptimization("minsize") ; }); That is the mechanism. Control the tours, and you dictate which venues get the shows.
Threaten a venue with losing its touring pipeline, and that venue feels it must sign a ticketing contract you put in front of it. Ticketmaster skims fees on every seat, then profits again when that seat is resold. Live Nation manages the artist, and then can steer them to its preferred venues.
The jury found that this architecture is illegal and made Live Nation and Ticketmaster an illegal monopoly. The remedy has to reach that architecture. Editor’s picks The 250 Greatest Albums of the 21st Century So Far The 100 Best TV Episodes of All Time The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century Monetary damages will be part of this lawsuit’s remedy, and this money should flow directly to those Live Nation harmed: independent venues, independent promoters, festivals, and fans.
The jury found Ticketmaster overcharged consumers $1.72 on every ticket over four years, a finding that triples under antitrust law, with billions of dollars at stake. It will help fans and rebuild a sector in which 64% of independent venues were unprofitable last year. But let’s be honest about what money cannot do.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
