The Association Of Independent Festivals (AIF) has urged the UK’s Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) to widen its investigation into Live Nation’s position in the British live music business. The competition regulator is already considering the live giant’s proposed acquisition of the Isle Of Wight festival.
Live Nation – which has divisions operating in tour and festival promotion, venue management, primary and secondary ticketing, and artist management – continues to pursue an aggressive acquisition strategy, not least in the UK where it has bought into a number of touring, festival and venue companies in recent years
AIF has now published research which, it says, shows that Live Nation already controls nearly 25% of the larger festivals market – ie festivals over a 5,000 person capacity – and that the proposed Isle of Wight Festival deal will take it much closer to that figure.
The trade group for independently-owned festivals states, “At present, Live Nation either owns or majority-owns a 23% share of [these 5,000+] events by capacity – including Download, V Festival, Reading/Leeds, Parklife, Creamfields, Lovebox, Wilderness and more”. The next biggest festival operator in the UK is the also Global Radio, but “Live Nation are already almost three times bigger” than the live entertainment wing of Global Radio, which – AIF says – control a 8% share of the UK festival market.
AIF also expressed concerns about the synergies between the different strands of the Live Nation business, and the way that allegedly limits the choices available to artists when deciding which business partners to work with. Said the trade group, “With such concentration of power across the live music value chain, most artists will have little choice but to work with the California-based company at some point in their career.”
Full Content: Billboard
Want more news? Subscribe to CPI’s free daily newsletter for more headlines and updates on antitrust developments around the world.
Featured News
Judge Mehta Questions Both Sides in Landmark Google Antitrust Case
May 2, 2024 by
CPI
FCC Urges Urgent Funding for Removal of Chinese Telecom Equipment from U.S. Networks
May 2, 2024 by
CPI
Former Pioneer CEO Facing Potential Criminal Charges For Colluding With OPEC
May 2, 2024 by
CPI
South Korea’s Antitrust Regulator Greenlights K-Pop Powerhouse Deal
May 2, 2024 by
CPI
Exxon’s Pioneer Purchase Approved, Former CEO Barred from Board
May 2, 2024 by
CPI
Antitrust Mix by CPI
Antitrust Chronicle® – Economics of Criminal Antitrust
Apr 19, 2024 by
CPI
Navigating Economic Expert Work in Criminal Antitrust Litigation
Apr 19, 2024 by
CPI
The Increased Importance of Economics in Cartel Cases
Apr 19, 2024 by
CPI
A Law and Economics Analysis of the Antitrust Treatment of Physician Collective Price Agreements
Apr 19, 2024 by
CPI
Information Exchange In Criminal Antitrust Cases: How Economic Testimony Can Tip The Scales
Apr 19, 2024 by
CPI