The merger of doom

On Jan. 25, the justice department of the United States approved a proposed merger between ticket brokering agencies Ticketmaster and Live Nation. While many saw this seemingly minor deal as a litmus test of the Obama administration’s attitude toward antitrust legislation, most fans couldn’t look beyond the negative consequences of such a merger.

Ticketmaster (or Ticketbastard, as it’s often lovingly called by concertgoers) has a well-documented history of jacking up ticket prices and creating surcharges of questionable origin with names like “convenience charge” and “processing fee.”

Live Nation, on the other hand, has notoriously broken software that somehow allows people who go to buy their tickets a week after the on-sale date to get front-row tickets while people who logged on immediately can do no better than row fifteen. This, paired with an asinine “paperless ticketing” policy that only exacerbates the problems with the software, has made them Public Enemy Number Two for fans of live music.

What the merger seems to do is combine the very worst elements of these two companies and reflect all the inefficiencies in the ticket-buying process and the prices. Some of what fans fear has already come to pass, as Ticketmaster has begun redirecting buyers for certain shows to the Live Nation site, and vice versa.

Perhaps the most disturbing thing about all of this is that it’s perfectly legal for these companies to do what they did, and it’s unlikely the decision will ever be overturned. As long as a customer can still drive to the venue box office and buy a ticket, and as long as small brokering firms like TicketNow and TicketWeb exist, Live Nation Entertainment, as the firm resulting from the merger is known, will never have a monopolistic share of the market.

Live Nation Entertainment has found a way to be the most convenient way to buy tickets, and they’re going to make consumers pay dearly for that convenience. There are no winners here except for their shareholders.