going HARD in NYC (more by Zachary Alex Stern)

NY Times reports:

Big money is flowing into electronic dance music. In the latest example of corporate interest in this once-ignored market, Live Nation Entertainment on Tuesday acquired Hard Events, a Los Angeles company that has put on popular festivals and concerts across North America.

Yet such investments are fueling fears that a bubble is taking hold in the world of electronic dance music, or E.D.M., jeopardizing the creative and commercial health of the music. The issue has been intensely debated inside the music business, and recently some of the genre's stars have sounded alarms as well.

"E.D.M. has turned into a massively marketed cruise ship, and it's sinking fast," the D.J. and producer Deadmau5 wrote on his Tumblr page on Tuesday. "All I'm trying to do is put on my life jacket and swim as far away from this shipwreck as fast as I can."

photos by Julie Schabel

Odd Future @ Hammerstein Ballroom - 3/20/2012

As you may have noticed when Bowery Presents announced an Odd Future show at Hammerstein Ballroom, the big NYC venue is no longer exclusive to Live Nation. The room also received a technology uprade. Venues today reports...

One of New York's iconic theaters is being retooled into a HD broadcast-capable concert facility, equipped to stream or broadcast any event live in beautiful 1080p.

The iconic Hammerstein Ballroom, built in 1906 and once a popular stop for vaudeville acts, is now home to a new revolution in performing arts -- the complete integration of a state-of-the-art broadcast and recording studio. Since 1997, the Hammerstein has been the anchor of the Manhattan Center, a television and music studio used to record musical performances for television, special concert events and other programming.

In December, the Manhattan Center made two large changes to open the space up to new clients. First, they ended Live Nation's exclusive booking contract for the facility, opening up the 3,500-capacity standing room concert hall to independent promoters and anyone interested in booking the building.

The Manhattan Center management team also completed the installation of TV1, a new fully HD recording studio that allows any content performed at the space to be streamed in HD, or digitally delivered for future distribution. The upgrades come on top of some physical improvements to the building including renovated dressing rooms and a new marquee.

A few more pictures from the Bowery-presented Odd Future show, below...

Continue reading "Hammerstein Ballroom upgraded & can now be booked by anyone (Odd Future played there, Tenacious D on sale)"

Mos Def at House of Blues Chicago w/ Black Star on 9/23 (more by Zach Pollack)

Back on 9/28, just five days after Black Star played two shows in Chicago, Talib Kweli tweeted that "Due to irreconcilable differences with Live Nation, Black Star will not be performing in Atlanta tonight." He then said the show WAS happening, and then again that it wasn't. On 9/30 he said, "Regarding Black Star cancellations, I am just as frustrated as I can imagine many are. If it was my decision it would not go down like this. It is not my decision however, and its frustrating especially since I'm the one who gets to break the bad news and deal with the responses. Either way, some dates are cancelled, some arent and we are trying to book shows on our own to replace the cancelled ones." Then yesterday was his birthday. Then he pointed out that "we debuting new Black Star/Madlib on Colbert Report Oct 5th." October 5th is also the day they were scheduled to play Irving Plaza in NYC, which, as you can see from Ticketmaster, is also cancelled. According to a statement someone issued, "Due to unforeseen circumstances, the remainder of the Black Star tour has been cancelled." Bummer.

Both Talib Kweli and Mos Def, though not as Black Star, are still scheduled to play the Restoration Rocks event on October 8th though.

a musician playing Mercury Lounge (more by Chris La Putt)

"The owners of famed New York City nightspot Mercury Lounge on Monday hit concert promotion giant Live Nation Entertainment Inc. and the club's former chief booking agent with unfair competition and contract claims, claiming Live Nation poached the agent." [Law 360]

Union Transfer rendering

Lots of interesting stuff to report in the world of live concert promotions...

NYC concert promoter Bowery Presents, who already has expanded to NJ, Boston, Maine, and Canandaigua, NY (not to mention MSG, Jones Beach, the Meadowlands, Radio City, etc), is opening a new music venue in Philadelphia this month. In partnership with Philly's one and only Sean Agnew of R5 Productions, and Avram Hornik and Mark Fichera of Four Corners Management, Union Transfer is...

... "named after the original train depot station that occupied the building [and] was developed by the group to meet Philadelphia's need for a mid-sized live music space and will accommodate 600 people. The general admission venue boasts a flexible capacity and can manage up to 1,000 people for larger crowds. Located at 1004-26 Spring Garden St, steps from Center City, Union Transfer is slated to open on September 21, 2011.

In perhaps less exciting news for Bowery Presents, Mercury Lounge talent buyer Jay Belin has reportedly moved on and started booking Irving Plaza, Gramercy Theatre and the new Paramount Theatre in Huntington, Long Island for Live Nation.

The Paramount Theatre is...

...located on New York Avenue a block and a half north of Main Street. The space is the former home of the nonprofit Inter-Media Arts Center (IMAC), which closed its doors in 2009 after 26 years of hosting jazz, folk and blues concerts.

The 1,500-capacity venue has been undergoing renovations for months. Among the changes, there will be a VIP lounge on the balcony and a member's only "Founder's Room" with a separate entrance in addition to the general admission floor.

"With both the architecture and the vibe of the venue dedicated to quality sound, hospitality, and experience, The Paramount is sure to be a hotspot for all of Long Island, and especially for Huntington," the founders said in a news release." [Long Island Press]

Speaking of moving on, Rock Shop booker Jack McFadden aka Skippy has moved to the music capital of Texas. He is still booking the Brooklyn club (and other NYC rooms) though. You just won't see him there as much.

Speaking of expanding, the race is on to see who can open in Chicago first. Will it be Brooklyn Bowl? or City Winery?

Speaking of Brooklyn Bowl, and last but not least for this post, the Wetlands is having a Class of '96 reunion at Brooklyn Bowl on Sunday (9/11). Ex-employees of the famed Tribeca club who will probably be in attendance include Rocks Off founder Jake Szufnarowski, Bowery Ballroom (and Union Transfer co-booker) Johnny Beach and of course ex-Wetlands owner and current Brooklyn Bowl owner Peter Shapiro. Brooklyn Bowl hosted a Wetlands get together of sorts in 2010 too, though that one was on a much sadder note, as it was to remember Wetlands' very first employee Dave Nolan who died of a heart attack last year.

"This week a new nonprofit group, the Fans First Coalition, announced itself with a mission of protecting ordinary consumers from predatory ticket scalpers. The group appeared to have broad support from the industry, including prominent artists like R.E.M., the Dixie Chicks, Maroon 5 and Jennifer Hudson.

What fans might not know is that the coalition is financed by Live Nation Entertainment, the parent company of Ticketmaster, and that it has grown out of a lobbying fight between Live Nation and StubHub, the biggest legal online ticket reseller, over control of the multibillion-dollar secondary ticketing market." [NYTimes]

PNC BANK ARTS CENTER AND NIKON AT JONES BEACH THEATER EXTENDS
$10 TICKET PRICING ON SELECT SHOWS.
SPECIAL $10 TICKET OFFERS AVAILABLE BEGINNING WEDNESDAY, JULY 28!
Purchase tickets beginning Wednesday, July 28th, at 12:01 AM.
$10 ticket offer available while supplies last.
UPDATED LIST OF PARTICIPATING SHOWS:

Continue reading "Live Nation $10 ticket deal extended, includes Lilith Fair, STP"

Irving Plaza - June 23, 2010 (EV Grieve)

Previously: Irving Plaza is getting its name back

"...the new name never caught on with fans, and now, bending to what it says has been unrelenting demand, Live Nation is restoring the old name and installing a replica of the old marquee. The first show at the new Irving Plaza will be on June 23, with Taking Back Sunday, a Long Island emo band.

"It's always going to be Irving Plaza in New Yorkers' minds," said Kevin Morrow, president of Live Nation's New York division. "That's where the mistake was made: taking a name and putting it on a building that already had a history and emotional ties with the local music scene."

The change is a rare admission of misjudgment by Live Nation, a giant worldwide promoter. But since the company merged with Ticketmaster this year, its every move has been scrutinized, and Mr. Morrow -- who began running Live Nation's operations in New York a few months after the name change -- said the restoration of the old name was part of a companywide effort to improve its image..." [NY Times]

"It's disgraceful that this situation went on for as long as it did, depriving fans of seeing performers whom they support," said Camille DeSantis, a New Yorker still steaming she was shut out of an online sale of Ringo Starr tickets at Radio City Music Hall.

"Four Nevada men who called themselves the Wiseguys were busted Monday for hacking into online ticket sellers like Ticketmaster and illegally grabbing up prime seats for concerts, ball games and Broadway shows.

The massive conspiracy - which allegedly netted the men $25 million between 2002 and 2009 - blocked ordinary fans from buying tickets, forcing them to turn to scalpers and price-gouging ticket brokers, officials said.

"The public thought it had a fair shot at getting tickets to these events, but what the public didn't know was that the defendants had cheated them out of that opportunity," said U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman, unsealing a 43-count indictment in New Jersey.

Wiseguys Tickets was charged with using a computer program to virtually muscle to the head of the line when an online sale began." [Daily News]

The Boss @ Izod Center in May (more by Tim Griffin)

The Federal Trade Commission has settled with Ticketmaster over complaints that Ticketmaster used deceptive tactics to steer Bruce Springsteen fans to expensive scalped tickets last year. As part of the settlement, the company will pay refunds and, in a move that could have a wide impact on the multibillion-dollar resale business, make disclosures about the availability of the tickets it resells.

The settlement, announced Tuesday by the F.T.C.'s chairman, Jon Leibowitz, concerns 14 Springsteen concerts last May and June. Fans trying to buy tickets through Ticketmaster's Web site were pointed to a subsidiary site, TicketsNow. In what Mr. Leibowitz described as thousands of instances, brokers on TicketsNow -- an eBay-like resale marketplace with no price caps -- advertised tickets they did not have, and fans never got the tickets they paid for.

"TicketsNow.com sold phantom tickets without letting consumers know that the tickets did not exist," Mr. Leibowitz said in a statement. "Then the company held on to consumers' money, sometimes for months, when it knew those fans weren't going to see Springsteen. Clearly consumers deserve better. They deserve to know what they're buying, including the risk that their tickets won't materialize." According to the settlement, Ticketmaster must refund to fans who used TicketsNow the difference in price between the tickets' face value and the final amount. Mr. Lebowitz said those payments could amount to more than $1 million. In addition, brokers on TicketsNow must disclose when they are listing tickets they do not have in hand, and the F.T.C. is sending letters to about 10 large ticket resellers warning them to comply with the law.

Scalped Springsteen tickets have been a focus of news-media and political pressure on the concert industry since early last year, when fans for two Springsteen shows in New Jersey were directed from Ticketmaster to TicketsNow while tickets at face value were still available. Ticketmaster settled with the state of New Jersey over those concerts.

Last month Ticketmaster received approval from the Department of Justice to merge with the concert giant Live Nation. That merger still faces court approval. [NY Times]

"Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Md., has inked an online ticketing and marketing deal with Ticketfly. The deal marks the largest venue contract to date for the upstart ticketing company, which also handles ticketing for 9:30 Club in Washington D.C., among other venues. The 9:30 is owned and operated by independent promoter I.M.P., which also books and operates Merriweather." [Billboard]

Andrew Dreskin is the co-founder of Ticketfly, Inc., a next-generation ticketing and marketing company. He is the co-founder of the Virgin Mobile Festival, a multi-day music and arts festival. Mr. Dreskin was the co-founder, and president and C.E.O., of TicketWeb, the first company to sell event tickets over the Internet. TicketWeb was acquired by Ticketmaster in 2000. Prior to founding TicketWeb, Mr. Dreskin was the co-founder of Energy Media, an early web design firm. Prior to that, Mr. Dreskin was the executive vice president of Beserkley Records, an influential independent record label. Until its recent acquisition by Knitting Factory Entertainment, Mr. Dreskin was the largest outside shareholder in the Big Easy Concert House, a chain of concert venues in the Pacific Northwest. He holds a B.A. from Tulane University, where he is a member of the Dean's Advisory Council. He is also a member of the board of directors of Headcount, a non-profit voter registration organization.

Independent concert promoter Seth Hurwitz and the Maryland-based companies he co-owns, It's My Party (I.M.P.) and It's My Amphitheatre (IMA), have taken legal action against Live Nation.

In an 11-count lawsuit filed shortly after Live Nation and Ticketmaster announced their intentions to merge in February, plaintiffs I.M.P. and IMA allege that Los Angeles-based Live Nation "deliberately" and "unlawfully" acquired monopolistic power over promotion for the national concert market, and has used its influence to "coerce" artists from only appearing at amphitheaters and other venues the company owns, operates or books.
[Billboard - June 12, 2009]

What does it mean for NYC? How long until Bowery Presents (who probably sells more NYC tickets total through Ticketmaster than anyone else in NYC at the moment) moves to Ticketfly too? Ticketfly is already selling tickets for a few NYC venues: Brooklyn Bowl, Littlefield and Knitting Factory / Warsaw. Nothing on that list is as big as Merriweather, but Brooklyn Bowl is a Bowery Presents-booked venue (though important to note: Brooklyn Bowl were using Ticketfly before Bowery was in the picture there). And even before the TM/LN merge we learned that Bowery wasn't 100% committed to Ticketmaster when they started selling tickets to their NJ venue Wellmont Theatre through Tickets.com (though it is of course possible that they use tickets.com there due to some strange contract that came with the venue when they opened it.... regardless, anyone who has tried tickets.com knows that it won't ever be where Bowery moves permanently).

Meanwhile, Live Nation, who used to use Ticketmaster exclusively but then switched to their own LiveNation.com ticketing system, have started using Ticketmaster again. For instance, Crystal Castles' Irving Plaza show went on sale on Ticketmaster today. Shows that have been on sale for a while, like Ted Leo (and Obits and Screaming Females), are listed on Ticketmaster (its a redirect), but actually only on sale on LiveNation.com.

More details of the Baltimore story are below...

Continue reading "Ticketmaster has to pay refunds to Bruce Springsteen fans, loses Maryland's Merriweather Post Pavilion to Ticketfly"

Julian Casablancas @ T5 on January 15th (more by Natasha Ryan)

This has already come up in the comments, and has been posted on a few other sites. Just to be clear, Pollstar's venue ranking is measured in ticket sales. Terminal 5 sold the third most concert tickets of any "club venue" in the world in 2009. They were beat only by the 9:30 Club in DC and House of Blues in Boston (clubs who have more shows coming up in February than Terminal 5 has total on its schedule total right now). Pollstar writes...

When a New York City club that didn't exist three years ago showed up as No. 3 on the latest Top 100 Worldwide Club Venues, we had to take notice.

That's above names like The Fillmore, The Wiltern and every House of Blues in the country other than the one in Boston. It became a running joke in this office to ask, "What's Terminal 5?"

Of course, plenty of agents, artists and production crews are familiar with the venue by now. The 3,000-capacity facility opened in the New York island of Manhattan in the fall of 2007 and has become the new room for up-and-coming acts.

It is also the "next step" for Bowery Presents, which manages a series of well-known venues in the NYC area - the 250-capacity Mercury Lounge, the 500-capacity Bowery Ballroom, the 600-capacity Music Hall of Williamsburg and the 1,400-capacity Webster Hall.

Speaking of Terminal 5, tickets went on presale today for Sia and The Specials. The full list of 18 upcoming shows is at Ticketmaster (which recently confirmed they'd be merging with Bowery Presents' biggest competitor Live Nation).

The full list of 100 venues (that report to Pollstar), along with some videos, below...

Continue reading "Terminal 5 is the #3 club in the world (in sales) "

The U.S. Justice Department approved Ticketmaster Entertainment Inc.'s merger with Live Nation Inc., while imposing conditions on their plan to create a new music- industry power.

Under terms accepted by both companies, Ticketmaster must license its software to AEG Live, its largest customer. Ticketmaster also must sell its Paciolan unit to a Comcast Corp. joint venture or another suitable buyer. The new company also will be banned for 10 years from retaliating against any concert site that signs a ticket-sales contract with a competitor.

The $889 million merger "will change the landscape of the live entertainment business," said Allen Grubman, a New York- based music industry attorney whose clients include Madonna, Elton John and U2. "Artists are focusing tremendously on live performance because that's an area where there is still a lot of money to be made." [Business Week]

From: Bob Lefsetz
To: Nathan Hubbard

Is this true? That buyers of DMB and Phish tickets at livenation.com were redirected to coasttocoast.com?

___________________________________

From: Nathan Hubbard

Sorry, been traveling.

No it's not to my knowledge. Have not had fan complaints about this and we monitor issues in the email and call center hourly. We DID find out that a couple of these broker sites including gotthetix.com were using the Live Nation name in their Google ads and displaying the ads when someone searched "Live Nation." This happened in late June. We filed a trademark complaint with Google soon after. But no redirect from the buy button.

We do of course know that many brokers get their tickets using bots that vault them to the front of the line. It sucks for us (we have to build a costly infrastructure that can essentially handle an attack), and more importantly it sucks for the fan (lack of available inventory). We continue to work on technologies that thwart these efforts, and dynamic pricing to address the underlying economic reasons why the secondary market exists.

Thanks for highlighting the great stuff NIN does via Musictoday (part of Live Nation Ticketing). These really are the two options to address the issue; restrict transferability and ask the fan to jump through a few hoops to prove their identity, or price the tickets at what the market is willing to pay. They aren't mutually exclusive

"Regulators in the United Kingdom and United States appear likely to impose conditions on the merger of concert promoter Live Nation Inc. and ticket-selling giant Ticketmaster Entertainment Inc. now that British authorities came out against the deal yesterday." [AP]

"Fame Kills canned by Live Nation because tickets were not selling" -thehausofgaga

"@gagadaily creative differences!!!" - Laurieann Gibson

"Lady Gaga/Kanye West tour canceled due to "creative differences" (via Laurie Ann Gibson)" - thehouseofgaga

"Lady Gaga still appearing on SNL tomorrow to perform hits including "Paparazzi" and brand new single off The Fame Monster" - thehouseofgaga

"Lady Gaga said today that both she and Kanye West made the decision to cancel the "Fame Kills" tour, and that she will be embarking on her own headlining tour soon, while West plans to drop out of the spotlight.

"It was a mutual decision," Gaga said as she arrived for the Billboard Women in Music Event, where she is receiving this years Rising Star Award. "Kanye's going to take some time off. But the good news is that I'm going on tour in a few weeks." [Billboard]

Continue reading "Why was the Lady Gaga & Kanye West tour canceled?"

Live Nation is running its weekly "No Fee Wednesday" promotion today, but for the first time it also includes clubs. For NYC that means Roseland Ballroom, Irving Plaza, and The Gramercy Theatre, in addition to Jones Beach and PNC Bank Arts Center.

Live Nation santas outside Irving Plaza - 7/14/2009 (Jason DeCrow/AP Images)

Live Nation has been dealing with the recession, or at least their recession, by putting tickets on sale like crazy this summer. They've been continuing week after week with their No Service Fee Wednesdays (for lawn tickets at amphitheater shows). This past Tuesday they sent multiple Santa Clauses to give out tickets outside Irving Plaza here in NYC. And there are $5.00 ticket promotions running for both Citi Cardmember holders and Subway sub eaters (code = Subway$5tix). NYC show tickets you can get for $5.00 include Pinback, Bob Mould, Son Volt, Alice in Chains AND STRYPER, Suffocation (playing with Necrophagist on Sunday), Marduk, Obituary, Vader and KMFDM, Brian Wilson in Westbury, and Motorhead, Psychedelic Furs, Happy Mondays, and Islands. Supposedly Pet Shop Boys are $5.00 too, but I can't get that to work.

"Live Nation announced that it is expanding its "No Service Fee" program to every single available ticket in each of its amphitheaters this Wednesday, June 10th, for 24 hours only, exclusively at LiveNation.com.

Last week's debut of "No Service Fee Wednesday" generated a sales spike 500% higher than the average number of tickets sold on a typical Wednesday, as music fans everywhere took advantage of Live Nation's no service fee offer, which helped more concertgoers get to more shows for less money."

Today, Live Nation announced that it's dropping service fees on more than five million lawn tickets and hundreds of concerts, helping add value and save money for fans throughout North America. The 24 hour event makes June 3rd the biggest one day sale in concert business history.

"No Service Fee Wednesdays," kick off June 3 at 12:01 a.m., offering fans some of the lowest prices of the summer with no ticket service fees on any LiveNation.com-ticketed amphitheater show, and only at www.LiveNation.com.

Throughout the rest of the summer, Live Nation becomes Free-Nation, as it offers a variety of "No Service Fee Wednesdays" specials at www.LiveNation.com, making Wednesday the biggest day of the week for savings on concert tickets for hundreds of shows and millions of fans.

"Summer concerts are a great escape in these tough times," said Michael Rapino, President and Chief Executive Officer of Live Nation. "Starting this Wednesday, Live Nation and the world's top artists are making it less expensive for fans to see their favorite bands by waiving service fees on over five million tickets at www.LiveNation.com. We wanted to do something that had never been done before and "No Service Fee Wednesdays" provide incredible value to millions of music fans to attend the hottest concerts this summer."

Tickets for "No Service Fee Wednesdays" go on sale at 12:01 a.m. local time on June 3, 2009 at www.LiveNation.com. This promotion is not valid in combination with other special pricing offers and is subject to availability.

"Barry Diller is currently the Chairman of Expedia and the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of IAC/InterActiveCorp, an interactive commerce conglomerate and the parent of companies including ServiceMagic, Home Shopping Network, Ticketmaster, Match.com, Citysearch, LendingTree and Connected Ventures, home of Vimeo and CollegeHumor." [Wikipedia]

Read what Barry Diller thinks about Ticketmaster service charges and the Live Nation merger, below...

Continue reading "Barry Diller on Ticketmaster charges & Live Nation merger"

"Live Nation is hoping to dump the lease for the Gramercy (Blender) Theater on 23rd Street, just a few years after completing a hefty renovation of the space. The 600 seat space is a choice of last resort for most major acts in town that would seek a venue of this size, with many acts choosing to perform in one the Bowery Presents facilities. If you have ever dreamed of running your own music venue, now is your chance." [Down by the Hipster]

Recent shows there have included Lou Reed's Metal Machine Trio, Napalm Death, and a secret-like show by The Dead.

The Get Up Kids are playing there tonight (5/1).

"Live Nation is planning to open the area's largest general admission venue this summer as part of its Nikon at Jones Beach Theater complex, with Long Island's own Taking Back Sunday set to christen the new stage.

The Bay Stage, named for its location on Zach's Bay in Wantagh, will have a capacity of 5,000 and focus on big-name acts that prefer playing general admission shows and developing acts and package tours that are too big for New York ballrooms but not big enough for arenas, said Live Nation's Christian McKnight, who is spearheading the stage's launch.

"It's the right place to play for certain bands - bands who have wanted to come, but haven't been able to play Long Island," said McKnight. "It will fill a void."

The new venue, which is located on the other side of the concession area from the amphitheater, will operate on the amphitheater's off days and feature lower ticket prices. Live Nation will start with six shows this season and, depending on the audience response, will expand further next year." [Newsday]

NIN @ the 2009 Virgin Fest (more by Bao Nguyen)

A letter from Trent below...

Continue reading "Trent Reznor: thoughts on ticket re-sellers / scalping"

"Yeah, we're getting really good at mergers and acquisitions at this point, so we've had a lot of companies that we've acquired and had to integrate. But we're working on our ability to do this much quicker. We have to keep some of these systems distributed; sometimes you just can't directly integrate them. You've got to keep running them to better integrate them into the overall enterprise."
[Joe Manna, CIO of Live Nation]

"Mr. Billy Corgan was busy in Washington today, first appearing before the House Committee on the Judiciary in a hearing on the Performance Rights Act, then delivering a letter in support of the controversial Ticketmaster/Live Nation merger. You can read Billy's words to the committee here, but essentially Corgan told congressional leaders that radio should pay performers, not just songwriters, for tracks played." [Stereogum]

"Bono said he had no opinion on the mega-merger." [Chicago Sun Times]

"I had a long conversation with a promoter who told me that with regard to a show he was promoting, Ticketmaster was guaranteeing the secondary market for the act." [Bob Lefsetz]

"In a meeting last May with more than 100 ticket brokers, Ticketmaster's then-chief executive, Sean Moriarty, acknowledged that the ticketing giant had used TicketExchange to sell 160 Neil Diamond tickets over two shows at marked-up prices." [Wall Street Journal]

"No Doubt is sticking it to Ticketmaster by selling 10% of the tickets for its North American Tour directly to fans. The goal, according to Jim Guerinot, No Doubt's manager, is for fan club members to buy tickets instead of 2nd party distributors such as TicketNow, the legal scalping division of Ticketmaster. This is the same problem Bruce Springsteen and his fans have been pissed about for weeks." [New York Press]

"AEG CEO Tim Leiweke slammed the proposed Live Nation, Ticketmaster merger, saying that it is 'not good for the industry.'" [The Busines Insider]

"Come on! Only Gene Simmons got into this business for the money. The rest of you were enraptured by the music. Can't you get the public on the same page? Can't you turn everybody into a club rat? Can't we get everybody to go out and see live music on a regular basis? Or do we have to wait until the labels fail, independent promoters are broken and every ticket is sold on TicketsNow and StubHub?" [Bob Lefsetz]

Continue reading "Bono, Billy Corgan, No Doubt, Bob Lefsetz, AEG, others chime in on Live Nation & Ticketmaster"