More Merger Opponents

Two more major independent promotion companies have stated their opposition to the potential Ticketmaster / Live Nation merger.

Metropolitan Talent out of New York and Another Planet Entertainment, based in California, recently signed their names to an e-mail blast that urges concert fans to voice their opposition to the merger. The letter is also supported by two longtime vocal opponents to the merger – I.M.P. of Washington D.C. / Baltimore and Chicago-based Jam Productions.

Other signatories include Rams Head Live! in Baltimore, Frank Productions in Wisconsin and Washington, D.C., nightclub The Black Cat.

“As a concertgoer you have already felt the pain, and if Ticketmaster and Live Nation get their way, it’ll get worse,” the letter says, citing Princeton professor Alan Krueger’s study that ticket prices have climbed 82 percent while the consumer price index has climbed only 17 percent.

“We are concerned that if the two concert industry behemoths … were permitted to merge, the variety and quality of artists coming to local venues would be affected, and your prices could rise further and faster.”

The letter provides consumers an email to the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice, the ticket broker-backed Web site Ticketdisaster.org and links to reports critical of the merger.

Seth Hurwitz of I.M.P. and Jam’s Jerry Mickelson testified in opposition to the merger at a congressional hearing earlier this year, sitting alongside Ticketmaster CEO Irving Azoff and Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino.