Live Nation, the owner of resale sites GetMeIn! and Seatwave, now has a stake in more than 140 managers looking after more than 500 acts within the music industry.
In details released in last week’s trading update – and noted by Music Business Worldwide – the company’s reach into artist management perhaps calls into question the music industry’s apparent united front against the secondary ticket market.
Live Nation describes itself as “one of the world’s leading artist management companies based on the number of artists represented”. It has a stake in US management companies such as Roc Nation Management, 24 Artist Management, Blueprint Artist Management, Spalding Entertainment, LMG Management, Mick Artists Management, Three Six Zero Group, Vector Management, Career Artist Management and Philymack Management. Its UK interests include Plan B Management and Quest (UK).
The 500 artists it is associated with is more than double the number they were looking after just three years ago.
While a number of music artists and management companies have publicly criticised the secondary ticketing industry, and many have joined pressure groups such as Fanfair Alliance, it appears many continue to be happy to work alongside the owner of GetMeIn! And Seatwave, both of which were last year investigated by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).
The apparent contradiction is highlighted by Live Nation’s strategy for the coming year, which focuses on “growing secondary ticket volume”.
“We will grow the volume of secondary tickets sold through a trusted environment for fan ticket exchanges,” the company said in its 2016 financial results. “Globally, we will expand the availability of secondary tickets, allowing our fans to have a dependable, secure destination for secondary ticket acquisition for all events.”
Live Nation last week announced its sixth consecutive year of record financial results, including a 15-per-cent increase in total revenue.
The company’s total earnings, before interest and taxes for the year to December 31, 2016, went up 48 per cent to $195m (£155m/€184m).