Will potential Live Nation/Ticketmaster merger change live concerts, as we know them? Answer: YES

By Omar Afra

Full Disclosure: Free Press Houston sells advertising to Live Nation. They may or may not get upset about this and discontinue their purchases. I hope not. We need the bucks. We will sell our souls in any direction but will not squash our editorial.


“Twenty-one dollars for 2 drinks?!” I yelled with utter contempt to the bartender at the then newly opened House of Blues. I had ordered 2 Greyhounds-- a simple mixture of grapefruit juice and what was probably McCormick’s vodka. That’s a profit margin of more than 1200%. What topsy-turvy business plan in the world required such an overzealous mark up? I had to ask myself if the masters of this event and Live Nation, the owners of House of Blues, were making enough at the door to make this a worthwhile venture. And therein lies what is and what will be one of the most paradigm shifting events in the concert industry. Live Nation is in the works to merge with ticket retailing leviathan Ticketmaster.
READ ON...