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Five members of Congress sent a letter to members of the Biden administration on Monday (April 19) asking them to investigate Live Nation’s “potentially unfair, deceptive, and anticompetitive practices.”
In the letter addressed to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and Federal Trade Commission acting chair Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, U.S. Reps. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ), Frank Pallone Jr. (D-NJ), Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) and David Cicilline (D-RI) urge the Biden Administration to take a stronger hand of antitrust enforcement in the live events ticket marketplace, particularly in its oversight of the longtime Live Nation-Ticketmaster monopoly.
The members of Congress suggest evidence that the 2010 merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster has “strangled competition in live entertainment ticketing” is “overwhelming” and has harmed consumers.
The letter points to a 2018 Government Accountability Office report, which concluded that Live Nation holds more than 80% of the U.S. venue ticket sales market. It goes on to add that the Department of Justice has found that the promoter has repeatedly violated the terms of the agreement over the course of the last 10 years by threatening venues and forcing the bundling of artists with ticketing services. In 2019, Live Nation reached a settlement with the DOJ’s antitrust division agreeing to extend the 2010 consent decree governing the merger of Ticketmaster and Live Nation to 2025 and clarifying rules regarding threats and retaliation against venues that don’t sign with the ticketing giant.
“We believe the prior administration’s decision to extend the consent decree in 2019 to 2025 was insufficient to protect consumers,” Monday’s letter reads. “In its decision, DOJ did not demonstrate why extending the consent decree with only minor modifications would prevent [Live Nation] from continuing anticompetitive conduct. Rather than double-down on a failed approach, DOJ must now take steps needed to restore competition to the ticketing marketplace.”
Live Nation has declined to comment on the letter from the representatives.
The letter comes at a time when the general attitude towards entrenched economic power is shifting away from conglomerates like Live Nation and Biden has indicated he may be taking a harder line on against monopolistic behavior. In March, Biden announced his intent to nominate antitrust scholar Lina Khan for commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission, whose theories of more aggressive antitrust enforcement have won over academics, and appointed big tech critic Tim Wu to his National Economic Council to focus on technology and competition on the National Economic Council. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), a vocal Live Nation critic, is also releasing a book later this month examining antitrust in America, called Antitrust: Taking On Monopoly Power From the Gilded Age to the Digital Age.
A major concern for the members of Congress is Live Nation’s growing control over the secondary market. The letter highlights the company’s use of its SafeTix technology that prohibits the release and transfer of tickets outside of Ticketmaster’s platform, effectively shutting out other secondary ticketing platforms. SafeTix gives Ticketmaster a major advantage because it grants the company control over the entire lifespan of the ticket, from sale to show night, with a digital ledger showing every time the ticket is sold or transferred, along with the identity of everyone participating in the transaction. SafeTix’s non-transferability option was used for the first time in 2019 at a Black Keys concert at the Wiltern in Los Angeles that saw hundreds of fans who purchased resale tickets via StubHub or Vivid Seats shut out of the show. Ticketmaster’s SafeTix technology has since been used for various other events including NFL games and Madonna’s Madame X tour without major issues.
The SafeTix technology is geared toward preventing fraud by creating unique barcodes that refresh and prevent resellers from selling multiple consumers the same ticket. It is also up not up to Ticketmaster when the non-transferable feature is used. The ticketer provides that option for artists and promoters to implement as they deem appropriate.
The Congress members go on to state that they believes Live Nation will use technology like SafeTix to make entry safer during and after the pandemic, while also compelling concertgoers to register an account with Ticketmaster. The first part could be a good thing, but comes at a cost. “While local governments should work with local venues to ensure common sense public health protections for fans, such as mask-wearing and social distancing,” the letter states, “we cannot allow Ticketmaster to leverage the pandemic to choke off competition by eliminating ticket transfer.”
Ticketmaster president Mark Yovich says Ticketmaster’s technology like SafeTix and Presence could be used to help venues and artists return to concerts with the “ability to explore integrations to allow contact tracing where necessary” and enable social distancing with an algorithm capable of measuring. It also gives artists more control over their tickets instead of yielding them to the secondary market.
As touring returns, the demand for tickets is up as seen with Bad Bunny’s El Último Tour del Mundo tour which sold out in record time. According to Billboard reporting, the tour has also seen the highest ticket market up in history with secondary sites selling tickets for more than 10-times their face value.
Read the full letter here:
Dear Attorney General Garland and Acting Chairwoman Slaughter:
We write in support of strong antitrust enforcement by the Biden Administration, including the live event ticket sales marketplace. The evidence is overwhelming that the 2010 merger between the world’s largest concert promoter, Live Nation, and the biggest ticket provider, Ticketmaster, has strangled competition in live entertainment ticketing and harmed consumers and must be revisited.
According to the Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) 2018 report, Live Nation Entertainment (LNE), holds more than 80 percent of the venue ticket sales market. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) held an important workshop in 2019 that examined the ticketing industry and heard concerns on LNE’s anticompetitive behavior from actors throughout the industry. These important federal reviews, combined with troubling media reports and state sponsored reports, show that more can be done to investigate potentially unfair, deceptive, and anticompetitive practices in the ticket industry.
Since the merger, we have witnessed how pitfalls of the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) consent decree has failed to protect competition and consumers. The DOJ itself has found that LNE has repeatedly violated the terms of the agreement over the course of the last 10 years by threatening venues and forcing the bundling of artists with ticketing services. These practices have enabled Ticketmaster to maintain its control of more than 80 percent of the primary ticketing sale market and to grow its position in the secondary market. We believe the prior administration’s decision to extend the consent decree in 2019 to 2025 was insufficient to protect consumers. In its decision, DOJ did not demonstrate why extending the consent decree with only minor modifications would prevent LNE from continuing anticompetitive conduct. Rather than double-down on a failed approach, DOJ must now take steps needed to restore competition to the ticketing marketplace.
Not satisfied with its near monopoly of the primary sale of tickets, LNE has tightened its grasp on the secondary market, making it one of the largest ticket resellers in the United States. The company is now leveraging its position in the primary channel to drive out competition in the resale market and allowing for potentially unfair and deceptive practices.
One recent example we are concerned about is the introduction of a smart phone ticketing product, known as “SafeTix,” which was purportedly created to fight fraud. However, LNE is using this program to ensure that tickets can only be resold or gifted within the Ticketmaster system. Ticketmaster has also used “SafeTix” to cancel resold tickets minutes before showtime. Media reports tell of patrons who purchased tickets on a competing resale platform being literally left out in the street while the show went on without them. If true, these reports may support claims of unfair and deceptive practices by LNE.
Throughout the coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, LNE has rebranded its anticompetitive ways under the guise of protecting the public health. As reported in Billboard Magazine, “Ticket transfer technology used to restrict fans from reselling tickets to high demand shows will now be used to make ‘entry safer’ by requiring most person[s] entering a concert venue to register an account with Ticketmaster.”[1] While local governments should work with local venues to ensure common sense public health protections for fans, such as mask-wearing and social distancing, we cannot allow Ticketmaster to leverage the pandemic to choke off competition by eliminating ticket transfer.
Although, sadly, the pandemic continues to prevent a return to packed venues, hope is on the horizon that live events will begin to resume. Indeed, the governors of New York and New Jersey recently announced the easing of restrictions on live events in large venues. When live events return in earnest, it is imperative that consumers have access to a market that is transparent, fair, and competitive. We know that LNE is not sitting idle during this lull. Your agencies must guard against one company dictating the conditions of the return of live events and cannot permit LNE to mask its anticompetitive instincts under the guise of public health.
We strongly urge the DOJ and FTC to protect consumers future access to live events by immediately launching an investigation of LNE’s potentially unfair, deceptive, and anticompetitive practices.
The 2021 Academy of Country Music Awards helped push a 317% sales gain for the songs performed on the show, according to initial reports to MRC Data.
Altogether, the songs performed on the April 18 CBS broadcast sold 28,600 downloads on the day of the show in the U.S. – up 317% compared to the 6,800 they sold on April 17.
Further sales gains are possible on April 19. Any news on continued sales increases, as well as significant streaming gains for the performed songs will be reported in the coming days.
Here are the top 10 selling songs performed on the show, on April 18, according to initial reports:
Elle King and Miranda Lambert, “Drunk (And I Don’t Wanna Go Home) (3,000 sold on April 18; up 267%)
Gabby Barrett, “The Good Ones” (2,300; up 25%)
Little Big Town, “Wine, Beer, Whiskey” (2,000; up 360%)
Ryan Hurd and Maren Morris, “Chasing After You” (1,900; up 613%)
Luke Combs, “Forever After All” (1,700; up 218%)
Chris Stapleton, “Maggie’s Song” (1,600; up 887%)
Thomas Rhett, “What’s Your Country Song” (1,600; up 348%)
Alan Jackson, “You’ll Always Be My Baby” (1,100; up 994%)
Carly Pearce and Lee Brice, “I Hope You’re Happy Now” (1,100; up 867%)
Kenny Chesney, “Knowing You” (1,100; up 386%)
The ACM Awards are produced by Dick Clark Productions, which is owned by MRC. MRC and Penske Media are co-parent companies of Billboard.
Lil Nas X called out Rihanna and Bad Bunny’s names when asked about who he’d love to have on an official remix of his latest Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hit “Montero (Call Me By Your Name).”
In a Capital Breakfast With Roman Kemp interview, the rapper said it was his “wish” to have a remix with the two international superstars in the pipeline. Despite his success with tweeting at Billy Ray Cyrus to hop on a remix of “Old Town Road” — which remains the longest-running No. 1 song on the Hot 100 with a record-shattering 19 weeks — he’s not trying to “jinx it” by tagging the artists on Twitter with his request.
“Montero” already received RiRi’s stamp of approval before it was officially released on March 26. Back on July 29, 2020, Lil Nas X shared a snippet of his video conversation with the beauty mogul in support of her Fenty Skin line, which he modeled in the official campaign alongside Rihanna and A$AP Rocky.
“I heard a clip of your new song the other day,” she told the “Old Town Road” hitmaker last summer. “Banging…. I’m not just saying that, honest to God, I’m not just saying that. It is dope…. I’m so glad because you came so strong in the beginning. That kinda gets tricky, like, where do you go next? But man, you’re killing it. I’m happy for you.”
Lil Nas X recently clapped back at haters claiming he was “milking the song” by joking that he was the “n—a who remixed a song for 10 months,” referring to the numerous “Old Town Road” remixes including Cyrus, BTS’ RM, Young Thug, Mason Ramsey and Diplo. At the 2020 Grammy Awards, the 22-year-old artist recruited everyone mentioned (sans Thug, plus the other six members of BTS) for a star-studded performance of his first chart-topper. Looks like it might be time to ride out the new song’s success with A-list remixes until he can’t no more.
On Friday, the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC), which officially launched Jan. 1, made its first distribution of mechanical royalties to rights holders for the month of January, paying out $24 million out of about $40 million collected from digital services.
“The completion of The MLC’s first monthly processing of royalties and the payment of more than $24 million in royalties directly to rightsholders represents another step toward realizing the promise of the Music Modernization Act,” Alisa Coleman, chair of the MLC board of directors, said in a statement.
What’s more, the MLC is also holding another $4.9 million in royalties where songs have been matched to royalties, but where publishing ownership stakes are as of yet unclaimed. It is holding onto another $11 million in royalties that is neither matched to songs nor to publishers, for a total of $15.9 million awaiting identification so the funds can be distributed.
Overall, the MLC said that the mechanical pool of revenues amounted to slightly more than $53 million in royalties, which means that direct deals between services and publishers account for approximately $13 million. The Music Modernization Act and its regulations allow the services to carve out, or withhold, that portion of royalty funds from the MLC and instead pay them directly to the publisher. What amount is actually paid to the publishers for those direct deals is unknown because a publisher with a direct deal might negotiate a rate higher than the statutory rate; and if they do, that higher amount comes out of the service’s pocket, not the mechanical pool.
But even though the MLC doesn’t collect those funds, it still gets the play reports for songs that are involved in those direct deals and goes through the process of matching royalties to songs and publishers since some of the other owners on a song might not be party to a direct deal.
Consequently, the MLC says it matched 80% of the royalties reported to the musical works with songs in its public database, which, according to public statements by organizations like Music Reports Inc., a competitor to the Harry Fox Agency, is how much it typically matches on its first pass-through of play reports.
Even with the 80% match, the MLC’s reported payouts means that about 30% of the $53 million in the mechanical royalty pool are unclaimed if you consider the $11 million in royalties that have yet to be matched to songs; and the $4.9 million where songs have been matched to recordings, but not all the publishers have been identified.
In instances where songs have been matched to recordings but the claims don’t add up to 100% of that song, the MLC makes payment to the rights holders of the known portions of a song, while the unknown portion of a song would also fall into the $4.9 million category of royalties. This pool of royalties includes unmatched portions of songs that also are owned by publishers that are in direct deals, but only the portion that may be owned by publishers that don’t have direct deals. That means those publishers need to register their share with the MLC so they can be paid their portion of royalties.
The unmatched royalties ($11 million) and the unclaimed royalties ($4.9 million) accumulate interest until the songs are matched and claimed.
According to knowledgeable sources, matching 80% of royalties to songs and then paying 70% of collected royalties to publishers is pretty much in line with industry averages on the first pass-through of matching. Subsequently, those percentages drop as songwriting ownership on newer songs are finalized and registered with the various industry databases that fulfilled this function before the creation of the MLC.
“Thanks to the hard work and diligence of our team, and the cooperation and support of our many partners, we have now begun fulfilling our important mission of ensuring that rightsholders receive their proper share of the blanket mechanical royalties paid by DSPs,” Kris Ahrend, CEO of the MLC, said in a statement.
In an interview, Ahrend added it was “a significant team effort” to get songs matched and payouts happening, with wire transfers for members who signed up for that service receiving payment on Friday.
“We now have 75 people working for us, and that doesn’t count board and committee members, so a ton of work has gone into getting us this far,” he added.
The organization further said in a statement that it “will continue its attempts to reduce the amount of royalties that are currently pending distribution, including by matching uses to registered musical works and identifying rights holders who have not yet claimed their shares of matched royalties. The MLC encourages its Members to check and update their data in The MLC Portal, and rights holders who are not Members to join The MLC and register their songs.”
Ahrend says he expects improvement each month. One thing that will improve matching efforts will be new membership. Since the beginning of January, more than 1 million have been added to the database and now the membership pace is moving along at a clip of over 1,000 new members a month. “Those registrations alone will drive improving” matching, Ahrend said. “Also, we will continue to improve our internal processes.”
Ahrend reported that the members’ individual portals were expected to go live with statements Monday (April 19).
In a complete accounting, the MLC reported that about $500,000 of the matched royalties are on legal hold, likely because of disputes over ownership stakes in a song. By policy, the MLC doesn’t resolve disputes; it is up to the stakeholders of a song to come up with a resolution.
Taylor Swift’s Netflix documentary Miss Americana was named the fan favorite movie of 2020 at Rotten Tomatoes’ 2020 Golden Tomato Awards, and she’s sending a “million hugs” to the fans who made it happen.
The pop superstar’s documentary — which opened at Sundance Film Festival on Jan. 23, 2020, and was released in select theaters and on Netflix on Jan. 31, 2020 — was voted by fans as the top film in the category. Swift took to Twitter to congratulate Miss Americana director Lana Wilson and virtually give “a million hugs” to her supportive Swifties.
Back in January, Wilson shared on her Instagram that Miss Americana was ranked as one of the top five documentaries of 2020 by the National Board of Review.
It’s a big week for Swift, who is back at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 this week with Fearless (Taylor’s Version), the re-recorded version of her 2008 sophomore album Fearless, which gave the singer her first No. 1 album almost 13 years ago. Upon hearing the news of securing her ninth No. 1 album total, and her third No. 1 in less than a year, Swift didn’t give her die-hard fans a break from the excitement by announcing she’s already “been in the studio” working on her next re-recorded set.
