Despite okaying a merger between Live Nation (who run the majority of live gigs in the UK) and Ticketmaster (who have about a 70% Ticket market share) in December, thankfully (and its not often I thank the Germans for anything except Rammstein, beer and sausages) it has been shelved for who knows how long by the complaints of by CTS Eventim, a German-based ticket seller contracted by Live Nation to handle their UK ticketing.
Sean Micheals in The Guardian of 12 FEb 2010 wrote:
If this evokes some deja vu, it is because in October 2009, the Competition Commission ruled against the Live Nation/Ticketmaster merger, citing its impact on CTS Eventim, which is Europe's largest ticket broker. "[The merged company] will have every incentive to inhibit a significant potential rival from entering the UK market," an official explained at the time. "[This would put] CTS's future prospects in the UK in considerable doubt."
What is the world coming to? This is not okay in the slightest, because there are idiots out there that will pay £80 or whatever they want to charge to see Liza Minelli in some soul-less arena gig and again ruin music for everyone. Its bad enough that when I do find a gig I want to go to at a decent venue in London it sells out in 7 minutes. With most tickets being purchased through Ticketmaster my chances of going are increased possibly but at what cost to the consumer and other smaller ticket agencies that rely on phone sales and walk in geek customers who don't own nor could operate a PC, ones that have done us proud over the years like Stargreen box Office in Oxford Circus? What about them? - Ah fuck it, build a mini-Tesco there and let Ticketmaster do everything online with their phones re-routed via Bangalore and the Phillipines. Who cares, its only music after all! What did live music ever do for us! Viva la Resistance!
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