Industry Insights: There’s No Escape From Live Nation Entertainment
When We Were Young is organized by Live Nation, the same promoter behind the deadly Astroworld fest. But Live Nation is more than a promoter — it is a growing monopoly over most of the live music industry.
Industry Insights explores the inner workings of the greater music industry, and what they mean for artists and fans alike.
Written by Audrey Vieira
Photo courtesy of Melinda Nagy
The recent announcement of When We Were Young, an emo throwback festival scheduled to take place in Las Vegas this October, sparked excitement from fans with its stacked lineup, with tickets already sold out for all three dates. But despite the enthusiasm for headliners such as My Chemical Romance and Paramore, there are three words on the festival’s pink-and-black checkerboard poster which have understandably left some fans concerned: “Live Nation Presents.”
For those unfamiliar, Live Nation was the promoter behind Astroworld, a disastrously managed festival where headliner Travis Scott continued to perform even as a crowd crush left 10 dead and hundreds injured. At least 387 lawsuits were filed claiming Live Nation, Scott, and other organizers were negligent in planning the event, which, according to Billboard magazine, were recently combined into a single class-action suit representing over 2,800 victims.
Naturally, many music fans view When We Were Young’s connection to Live Nation, and subsequently Astroworld, as a red flag. They may be concerned about attending another festival organized by the entertainment company, especially considering the poor management of Astroworld, and they may want to avoid Live Nation altogether — but unfortunately, doing this is easier said than done.
Live Nation is just one of many cogs in the machine that is Live Nation Entertainment, the company was created in 2010 as a result of the merger between Live Nation and Ticketmaster, the two platforms that sell the most concert tickets. The merger had been controversial at the time, with artists and fans alike worried that it would result in high ticket prices and a lack of competition within the live music industry, a fear which has unfortunately come true as Live Nation Entertainment continues to acquire stakes in its would-be competitors.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, plaintiffs in three states allege Live Nation Entertainment withheld shows from venues that did not use Ticketmaster as their primary ticketing provider. The legal complaint itself, which was filed in January 2022, claims that over 70% of concert tickets for major venues in the U.S. are sold through Ticketmaster’s online platforms.
Austinites may believe they are exempt from this statistic because major venues often partner with Front Gate Tickets, an Austin-based ticketing platform which describes itself as “an alternative approach to ticketing.” But even the so-called “Live Music Capital of the World” is not exempt from Live Nation Entertainment’s monopolization of the live music industry. Live Nation Entertainment purchased Front Gate Tickets for an undisclosed amount in the fall of 2016, meaning tickets purchased since that time are indeed part of that 70% of tickets sold through Ticketmaster-owned platforms.
Photo courtesy of Charles Reagan Hackleman
And while Astroworld and When We Were Young have clear connections to Live Nation, they are not the only two festivals on the company’s resume. As majority stakeholders in C3 Presents (the events promoter behind multi-day festivals such as Lollapalooza, Rolling Loud, and Austin City Limits), Live Nation Entertainment is technically attached to many festivals in addition to those it advertises under the Live Nation name. Just as the six degrees of separation idea theorizes that everyone in the world is connected through friends of friends, it’s more likely than not that an avid concertgoer has done business with Live Nation Entertainment or one of its many subsidiaries.
This is not to say Live Nation Entertainment should be boycotted. Considering the amount of ticketing services, venues, and promoters that Live Nation owns or has stakes in, avoiding the company altogether would be hard. Touring bands and their crews would likely bear the brunt of the losses, not the corporation which sells tickets to their shows. And if artists were to take a stand against Live Nation, they would likely face retaliation. When Pearl Jam spoke out against Ticketmaster’s high service fees in 1994, the ticketing platform struck back by canceling the band’s summer tour, and that was before Ticketmaster became part of the behemoth we now know as Live Nation Entertainment.
Not even the COVID-19 pandemic could sink Live Nation Entertainment. The company’s pockets were deep enough to get through almost a year without live shows in the early days of COVID-19, to the point where CEO Michael Rapino managed to earn $1.89 million in 2020 despite forgoing his salary for two months. Live Nation also reduced its losses by taking out a $120 million loan and negotiating rent on some of its third-party venues. This occurred in stark contrast with independent venues, who were not as privileged. Many did not even receive COVID-19 relief grants on time because the Small Business Administration missed its deadline to release the funds.
The losses that devastated smaller venues were merely a dent in Live Nation’s bottom line. Even during the drought of live music at the beginning of the pandemic, Live Nation Entertainment could afford to cough up a $10 million fine that allowed Ticketmaster to avoid criminal prosecution for hacking the systems of competing ticketing platform Songkick. (Which, incidentally, Live Nation Entertainment went on to acquire.) To a smaller company, one that does not have financial stakes in the majority of the live music industry, losing $10 million during the first winter of a pandemic would be devastating. But for Live Nation, it is just a cost of doing business as its monopoly continues to expand.
Fully avoiding the Live Nation behemoth is a difficult task, especially now that COVID-19 has proven the company can afford to stay afloat without shows. Nobody should avoid shows solely because of connections to Live Nation. That would make the majority of live music events off-limits, as well as damaging artists who rely on them. If they could take on Pearl Jam in the early 2000s, they can take on anyone now. So go to those shows. Buy tickets to that festival. Pay a ridiculous service fee on those tickets because Live Nation Entertainment bought out its competition and can technically charge whatever they want. But if you are lucky enough to live near an independently owned venue, or attend a show booked by a promoter who they haven’t yet bought out, do not take that for granted. If they go under, it is unlikely that they can borrow millions of dollars to stay afloat. You may not be able to escape Live Nation Entertainment, but you can support your local scene.
This article was added to Industry Insights after its publication, upon the creation of the Industry Insights series.