News exposé claims Live Nation exploits artists, rips off fans: WATCH
A new investigative report by ABC News purports to show that Live Nation exploits artists and regularly rips off fans with the help of ticketing arm Ticketmaster.
News exposé says Live Nation exploits artists, rips off fans
While the 60 Minutes style piece was produced for Australian television, several US and UK industry players are prominently featured.
Among the concert giant’s alleged offending practices are dynamic pricing that leads to soaring ticket prices (which the AU government has now pledged to ban), excessive hidden ticket fees, control of all related income streams, and monopolistic practices that hamper or eliminate competition.
“We’re in an extinction event right now.” states legendary promoter Peter Noble of the Byron Bay Bluesfest who says 2025 will the festival’s last. “Do we want to see our industry decimated?”
Harming The Emerging Artist Ecosystem
Most of the exposé’s accusations will be familiar to those following the US DoJ’s lawsuit and the UK government investigation targeting how Live Nation and Ticketmaster do business.
What is new is an emphasis on how Live Nation’s business practices allegedly combine to hamper emerging artists and the independent live music ecosystem that once supported them.
Aussie indie rock band Bad//Dreems shared a story (starting at 10:09) of netting $9000 AU on a tour that grossed over $100,000 because Live Nation to a cut every step of the way. The agent who they paid to book the tour worked for a Live Nation owned company. Then many of the venues they played were owned by Live Nation who, according to the band, charged exorbitant ticket fees, deducted vague and excessive facility fees from the show grosses and demanded a cut of merch sales.
“Live Nation is “misusing its market power” and “calling all the shots” at the expense of artists and fans concludes Midnight Oil frontman and former Labor arts minister Peter Garrett.
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Bruce Houghton is the Founder and Editor of Hypebot, a Senior Advisor at Bandsintown, President of the Skyline Artists Agency, and a Berklee College Of Music professor.
