Live Nation’s monopoly

The advantage of having a monopoly, or near monopoly, means that you can pretty much do what you like without fear of revolt. If a customer wants the service, they have nowhere else to go.

Take Live Nation for instance…

• They have been accused of using their dominance to artificially inflate ticket prices
• The 360 deals mean that they will concentrate their efforts on a few commercially successful acts at the expense of diversity and the long tail, squeezing every last bit of revenue to recoup as much of the outlandish fees paid out
• They can offer ridiculous “No readmission” policies without providing food or a smoking area. I am a non-smoker, but “pro-choice”. I didn’t realise Live Nation were into health planning.
• And to top it all, they can introduce priority tickets. The amount you like a band or willingness to queue/wait for a ticket no longer matters – it is all about the phone you have (On the plus side, this may mean that they will no longer be serving Carling)

Is there a concerted boycotting effort going on? Or, like me, are people sucking in their distaste in order to see some of their favourite bands.

sk

Photo credit: http://flickr.com/photos/larimdame/

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