First, sources close to Front Line pointed out to me that Hypebot’s Bruce Houghton was mistaken when he wrote, “Each is managed or co-managed by Ticketmaster CEO Irving Azoff and his Front Line Management.”
True, Seal is not managed by Azoff. But some digging through the Pollstar database reveals that the two do have a relationship.
The singer was on Front Line’s roster for several years and only signed with Ric Salmon at Harvest Entertainment last fall.
Next, I wrote this:
Okay, let’s look at venues first. The only company that’s even within a stone’s throw of Live Nation in terms of how many venues it controls is AEG. And the numbers aren’t even close. It’s like being the second place finisher in a bike race where Lance Armstrong is number one.
HSLono disagreed with that statement, saying:
Live Nation does not control the most venues either. That would be SMG.
Well, that depends upon how you define the word “controls.” While it’s true Live Nation is first and foremost a concert promoter, not exclusively a facility management company like SMG (which does run the most venues), they do manage some buildings and they own a healthy chunk of real estate, including the House of Blues chain and most major amphitheatres in the U.S.
The company also has a ton of exclusive promoter agreements with venues across the country. And those agreements give the company a great deal of control. How? If a venue wants to bring in an artist, the show has to be promoted by Live Nation. Otherwise it doesn’t happen.
Last, Mikebrc wrote:
Live Nation didn’t launch a ticketing company. They hired CTS, an existing ticketing company.
That’s kind of splitting hairs. Live Nation made lots of noise about launching their own ticketing service. In fact, they even talked to Pollstar’s Joe Reinartz about it. They hired CTS Eventim so they could use their existing software platform and not have to start from scratch.
When you go to Live Nation.com to buy a Jonas Brothers ticket, you’re not buying it through CTS, you’re buying it through Live Nation using CTS’ system.
I’m glad we could sort all of that out. A big thanks to all of you who’re helping me to keep all of the confusing details of this deal straight. Keep up the good work!