Official Ares Free Download

Vivendi Universal (France), Sony (Japan), EMI (Britain), and Warner Music (US) music thought they had it tough trying to steal control of the Internet, at the same time  hammering down online ‘consumers’  to the same level of surfdom as those who buy their ‘product’ offline.

Now what are they going to do?

Because they’re looking at a competitor with the same complete lack of scruples  as themselves.

To  make things worse it, too, is a virtual monopoly with the same kind of   bottomless pockets and obscene legal and political resources as the Big 4 labels.

‘Directly focused on the record labels’

How much smaller will the music industry have to get before they finally abandon their historic business model?

That’s what Pali Research analyst Rich Greenfield was wondering in November, 2007, saying it’s not a question of ‘if’ they’ll change their approach to move into the 21st digital century, but ‘when’.

“We are sitting at the Live Nation analyst meeting in NYC and believe the most immediate takeaway is that LYV management has its strategic ‘cross-hairs’ directly focused on the record labels,” he stated.

Now, “After nearly a year of intense scrutiny, political posturing and consumer outcry, it’s time for the music business to come to grips with its new superpower,” says Billboard.

Live Nation.

And what’s its bottom line?

Direct to fans.

“The new company, led by president/CEO Michael Rapino and executive chairman Irving Azoff, would control the majority of box-office dollars, the myriad revenue streams from concert ticketing and the growing e-commerce from fan-ticket interactions,” says the story.

“Live Nation Entertainment will also aggressively pursue competitive advantages in merchandising, VIP ticketing, fan clubs and, ultimately, physical distribution.

To appease the US Department of Justice (DOJ), “Live Nation will license Ticketmaster’s primary ticketing software to competitor AEG for five years and is expected to sell Ticketmaster’s automated ticketing service provider, Paciolan, to Comcast-Spectacor,” the story points out.

But, it notes, “ticketing is no longer the core business here. Instead, it will be the linchpin of a broader-based operation aimed at profiting from every aspect of the artist/fan relationship.”

Live Nation Entertainment to artist to Live Nation Entertainment to fan to Live Nation Entertainment to artist to Live Nation Entertainment.

Not only but also, “The appeal to sponsors along this pipeline is huge,” says Billboard, going on:

“And Live Nation has everything from merchandise to VIP amenities to recorded content to sell not only at live events but, more important, through its growing digital storefronts and information hubs at LiveNation.com and MusicToday, as well as through Front Line’s I Love All Access VIP program.”

It’ll be interesting see what big names such as Bruce Springsteen have anything to say.

“The Boss is angry twice over with Ticketmaster,” said p2pnet almost exactly a year ago when news of the merger was front and centre.

Springsteen was angry not only about the possible marriage, but also because some of his fans were sent to TicketsNow.com, a Ticketmaster resale site, where tickets for one of his shows were being sold at well over the odds.

Ticketmaster CEO Irving Azoff described the rip-off as “inadvertent”.

Stay tuned for more “inadvertent” rip-offs.

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