SEPTEMBER | COVER FEATURE
“Is there really
a fair playing
field before
John Smith
from Bracknell
goes online to
make his annual
festival ticket
purchase?”
with government, and can command
enviable budgets that few can compete
with, is there really a fair playing field
before John Smith from Bracknell goes
online to make his annual festival ticket
purchase?
In 2017, AIF conducted and published
research showing that almost 25%
of UK festivals over 5,000 capacity
are owned (or majority owned) by
one company- US headquartered
Live Nation, the festival assets of
which include Download, Reading &
Leeds, Parklife, Creamfields, Lovebox,
Wilderness and many more. In 2018 the
association updated this, publishing a
Pictured: Bradley Thompson
34
festival ownership ‘map’ revealing that
Live Nation now owns or controls 25.6%
of UK festivals licensed at over 5,000
capacity.
But is this necessarily a problem?
The AIF’s CEO Paul Reed tells Access:
“Since our research, Live Nation’s
market share has increased yet further.
A single company increasingly has
control of all elements of the live
music supply chain through vertical
integration of concert promotion,
festivals, ticketing, box office control
and artist management companies.
“For independent festival operators
and indeed the entire live music
market, a Live Nation monopoly would
quite simply be a stranglehold with
profound and serious consequences.”
Reed adds that the issue is not the
amount of market share itself but the
alleged anti-competitive behaviour it
is resulting in. “The complaint we hear
privately from a growing number of
AIF members is about the collateral
damage caused by the imposition of
hugely restrictive exclusivity deals on
talent. By their nature, these deals are
anti-competitive, restraining when
and where even the smallest artist can
perform and significantly diminishing
the pool of talent that non-Live Nation
promoters can draw upon.”
“It’s worth noting that in the wider
context to our festival data, a MINTEL
report published in 2017 estimated that
Pictured: Paul Reed
Live Nation owned 47% of the overall
festivals and music concert market.
SJM concerts is its closest competitor
with approximately 25% market share.
However, it is widely established
that these two companies are closely
aligned on some levels, a situation that
further increases the concentration
of power in the live music industry
into the hands of essentially a few
individuals controlling most of the
supply chain.”
SJM and Live Nation are co-
owners of The Academy Music Group
(operators of Brixton Academy,
Shepherds Bush Empire and academy
venues in Birmingham, Liverpool,
Bristol, Newcastle, Sheffield, Leeds and
Glasgow) and DF Concerts in Scotland
and regularly co- promote many large
arena and stadium tours for artists.
Live Nation and SJM concerts also
co-bought Bestival, Camp Bestival and
Common People festivals in 2018.
In the last two years alone, Live
Nation has acquired several other live
music brands in the UK that trade from
their premises and are fully integrated
into the same corporate structure.
These include promoters Cuffe and
Taylor (Maria Carey, Rod Stewart,
Greenwich Meantime, Lytham Festival,
Scarborough Open Air Theatre),
Metropolis Music (Robbie Williams,
Coldplay, Foo Fighters, George Ezra,
Hozier, Somerset House concert
Pictured: Nick Morgan