Backlash from Ticketmaster’s handling of ticket sales for Bruce Springsteen’s spring tour, which includes an April 24 stop at Hartford’s XL Center, is emerging as a major obstacle to the company’s proposed merger with Live Nation Inc.
Hours after the two companies announced plans to combine last week, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-New York) and Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-New Jersey) urged the Obama administration to block the deal on the grounds that it would create an unfair monopoly in the ticket-selling business. The lawmakers also vowed to hold Congressional hearings on the issue.
Springsteen has also taken a stand against the merger.
“The one thing that would make the current ticket situation worse for the fan than it is now would be Ticketmaster and Live Nation coming up with a single system, thereby returning us to a near-monopoly situation in music ticketing,” Springsteen said on his Web site.
The merger announcement on Feb. 11 came a week after Attorney General Richard Blumenthal confirmed that he was investigating Connecticut consumer complaints involving ticket sales to a Springsteen concert in New Jersey earlier this month.
Several people complained that Ticketmaster, the only broker for the New Jersey concert, redirected fans to TicketsNow, a Ticketmaster affiliate that charged highly inflated prices, reportedly hundreds of dollars more per ticket.
The April 24 event at the XL Center in Hartford is sold out, and no reports of ticket-selling irregularities have been reported.
But the combination of Ticketmaster, which sells tickets to about 80 percent of major U.S. arenas, and Live Nation, the world’s largest concert promotion company, could pose problems for Connecticut ticket buyers in the future, Blumenthal said in an interview.
“The experience with Ticketmaster funneling or redirecting customers to TicketsNow certainly heightens our concerns about its potential misuse of dominate market power if it merges with Live Nation,” Blumenthal said.
Live Nation owns more than 140 venues and has exclusive rights covering the tours of stars such as Madonna, Jay-Z and U2.
Last month, Live Nation became the official broker for two major local venues: the Dodge Music Center in Hartford and Chevrolet Theatre in Wallingford. It also has an arrangement selling tickets for Mohegan Sun.
A year ago, Live Nation broke off its contract to sell tickets through Ticketmaster and it started its own ticket service. That set up the prospect of competition between the two giants.
In 1994, the grunge band Pearl Jam complained to the government that Ticketmaster frustrated its efforts to try to organize a discount concert ticket program. After the Justice Department sided with Ticketmaster, Pearl Jam canceled its tour and boycotted Ticketmaster venues for several years.
Antitrust Test
The proposed merger will provide an early test for the Obama administration’s stance on antitrust issues. The Justice Department announced last week it would review it, but Obama’s choice to head antitrust enforcement at the department, Christine Varney, hasn’t been confirmed yet.
Bert Foer, president of the American Antitrust Institute, said it’s too early to determine whether the Obama administration will take a tough antitrust stance.
Foer said the proposed merger appears to be both vertical — bringing together Ticketmaster’s ticket broker business and Live Nation’s promoting arm — as well as horizontal, because Live Nation’s business includes a ticket broker element.
