Department of Justice Clears the way for Live Nation/Ticketmaster merger

January 26th, 2010

Grant Trimboli

Courtesy of Pitchfork:

The merger between ticket giant Ticketmaster and concert promotions giant Live Nation was originally proposed last February.

Since then, the controversial corporate combo met the wrath of artists like Trent Reznor and Bruce Springsteen, as well as government bigwigs in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

On the flip side, Billy Corgan supported it.

And now we learn the Department of Justice is agreeing with Billy Corgan (always a suspect move in 2010) and approving the merger– with several concessions, which the companies have already agreed to implement. Ladies and gentlemen, say hello to Live Nation Entertainment, Inc., the new source for all your “processing fee” woes.

According to a press release from the new mega-company, “Through this merger, the parties believe that the combined company will have the tools to develop new products, expand access, improve transparency and deliver artists and fans more choice.” Because mergers have a pretty strong history of offering more choice! C’mon guys, how dumb do you think we are?

The U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division and 17 state attorneys general have already filed a civil antitrust lawsuit to block the move, according to the DOJ. But, “At the same time, the department and the states’ Attorneys General filed a proposed settlement that, if approved by the court, would resolve the competitive concerns in the lawsuit.”

As part of that settlement, the companies were forced to make a few concessions in order for the merger to be approved. As The New York Times reports, “Ticketmaster must divest itself of one of its ticketing divisions and license its software to a competitor. In addition, for 10 years the combined company will be subject to what the Justice Department called ‘tough antiretaliation provisions’ to prevent abuse of its power over concert tours, artist management, ticketing and theaters.”

The Congresspeople and concerned citizens united against the merger over at TicketDisaster.org issued a wary statement about the approval and the concessions. “While we appreciate the efforts of the DOJ to extract meaningful concessions from the parties, we remain concerned that these two companies, with a history of anti-consumer behavior, will abide only by the letter, and not the spirit of the settlement agreement,” said TicketDisaster founding member Sally Greenberg, executive director of the National Consumers League.