Live Nation is an Evil Monopoly

And what we can do to stop them

The great scourge of our time is concentrated economic power. The worst aspects of government collusion and cronyism joining forces with the ruthless efficiency of greedy multinationals. It leads to a society today where we are literally being lied to about where our nation’s food is being produced. It leads to an America where cattle ranchers, hog farmers and chicken farmers are going out of business because they are being undersold by foreign meat cartels like JBS. Where rural America is effectively being cannabilized by foreign companies and domestic elected officials.

This monopoly abuse is rampant. Every industry from food, to pharmaceuticals, to airplane manufacturing, to banking is infected. Even music. And in many ways, this corruption in the music industry is at the heart of why the Rural Revival Project has come to be. But before we get to the solution, let’s outline the problem.

Monopoly abuse is being recognized and reported on by both conservative news outlets like the Wall Street Journal (in the video above) and progressive YouTube channels like More Perfect Union (in the video below).

Independent music venue owners are just barely paying the bills. This is because they are getting squeezed out by Live Nation.

Live Nation controls what they call the flywheel of the industry- the artists, the venues, the ticketing, and the promotion. They are working tirelessly to control all four. 1) Many venues across America have become exclusive Live Nation venues. 2) The ticketing platform Ticketmaster was bought by Live Nation, to form Live Nation Entertainment and controls up to 80% of the resale market, and a hefty percentage of ticket sales. 3) Another subsidiary of Live Nation- called Artist Nation- represents more and more musical artists and finally 4) Live Nation controls the promotion. So you have a scenario where one company is getting an increasing share of the live music ticket, and as a result is setting up a monopoly. How does this impact the concert experience?

Ticket prices have doubled in the last ten years, and there are more and more soulless corporate partnerships or experiences at musical events. Who wouldn’t want to go to the Verizon club while watching a Phish concert?

In a particularly evil development, Live Nation has begun to control the meals, water and desserts available at its music events. Ever notice the recent proliferation of a water brand called Liquid Death? That’s because it is owned by Live Nation and is the exlusive water sold at many of its events and/or venues. They do the same with plant-based burgers and even ice cream.

We’ve gotten to a point where you can go to a concert at a Live Nation venue like the Coca-Cola Amphitheater to watch an Artist Nation- repped musician, with tickets on sale exclusively by Ticketmaster, promoted exclusively by Live Nation. Of course, when you are there you can only drink Live Nation owned water company Liquid Death, eat a plant-based burger (maybe bugs are next?) and wrap up your meal with a baby packet squeeze tube of ice cream from CVT (backed by Live Nation). They want to control experience from the first moment of hearing about an event, until the last moment you leave.

It’s sickening, and it’s the direction the industry is headed. It’s also why we have so few artists producing music that feels real anymore. It is not a coincidence that a place selling foods made up of primarily genetically modified organism GMO foods are selling an experience with audibly modified music with autotune and synthetic tracks.

And in some cases we’re shelling out hundreds or even thousands of dollars for a single night’s experience.

We’re being sold a generic brand experience at a ludicrously high price for a night that has little to do with music and everything to do with profit.

Alright. So what do we do?

The truth is how we spend our dollars and our time matters. We can stop going to venues owned by Live Nation, stop listening to music repped by Artist Nation, stop buying tickets through Ticketmaster.

And more importantly what should we do? Play music around campfires with family. Watch the fireflies dance in the night. Seek out independent venues and the maverick musicians who fill up their calendars. The beautiful thing about freedom and about capitalism is that if we have the courage of our convictions we can change any industry we want to. So Godspeed.

best thoughts,

graham