Ticketrends.com

SEC Filing Outlines A Merged Ticketmaster-Live Nation

Ticketmaster and Live Nation filed a Form S-4 joint proxy statement/prospectus with the SEC on Wednesday. The document is not complete but offers many details on the proposed merger of the two companies.

- Michael Rapino is expected to serve as president and chief executive officer of the combined company. Irving Azoff is expected to serve as executive chairman – which will not be a board position, although the statement indicates Azoff is expected to be designated as a director of the combined company. The SEC filing confirms what a source told Billboard.biz when the merger was announced in February. Rapino’s base salary will be $1.5 million. He will receive an annual bonus of up to 200% of his base salary, annual restricted stock grants of 150,000 shares and a one-time stock option grant of two million shares.

- Holders of Ticketmaster common stock will get 1.384 shares of Live Nation stock for each share of TM common stock. The exchange ratio will be adjusted so holders of TM will own 50.1% of the shares immediately before the merger.

- The combined company will be traded under the TKTM symbol.

Ticketrends Polls

Will paperless ticketing defeat scalping?

	Sure looks that way
	No - will just create new challenges
	Not at all - scalpers will continue to create work-arounds
	Scalpers days are finally numbered

Springsteen Vs Ticketmaster

Like family and money, some things just tend to boil over during difficult economic times.

Comments are made - dirty little secrets are broadcast.

To some, the entire concept of Artist holds - may be news to their ears. To others, this dirty little family secret, like that black and white magazine in your dad's sock drawer - have existed without question. The concept of artist holds inspires notions of greed, mistrust and general disinformation. Performing artists have families and friends. They also employ people with families and friends.

The artist has the right to share their tickets with these people. Remember the Grateful Dead? The String Cheese Incident? Pear Jam? These and many more wanted to increase their allocation of seats during tours. If you are living on the road for 218 days and playing the same shit over and over again - wouldn't it be nice to see the face of some distant cousin, or high school friend peering back at you from the first 10 rows?

As the content provider the artist should have the right and ability to play concerts to anyone they want - anywhere. But, we know that is not the case - and certainly very likely not to be the case should the future look something like - TicketNation. Or LiveMaster....

The Lefsetz Letter - Opinion

Scalping

I had a long conversation with a promoter who told me that with regard to a show he was promoting, Ticketmaster was guaranteeing the secondary market for the act.

Let me explain this to you. A certain number of tickets are pulled from the manifest and ultimately sold on TicketsNow. Ticketmaster guarantees a certain gross payment to the act for these tickets, far in excess of the usual payment per ticket. If the tickets don’t sell at the predicted high prices? Too bad for Ticketmaster.

Blame the acts for this. Ticketmaster Is taking the heat.

It bothers me that the traditional press and concertgoers are too stupid to see the truth here. Irving said at the House hearing that only 80-85% of the tickets to a show are ever sold by Ticketmaster. The question is, where do the remaining 15-20% go?

2008 BEST IN CLASS

CORPORATE TICKETING TRENDS

RAZORGATOR INTERACTIVE GROUP (Click the links below to learn more).

RazorGator - Corporate Ticket Exchange within defined memberbase possible.
TicketOS - Coporate Ticket Management and Utilization application
PrimeSport - Corporate Incentive Events

With over 1 million exclusive high value tickets for sporting and special events like the Super Bowl under management for their Corporate Clients, being resold for Return on Investment or as part of a hospitality entertainment experience, the $1billion value of this inventory represents a significant emerging trend in the marketplace.

Access and distribution to the very best tickets often fall within the Corporate Ticket environment. With today's current economic conditions, many of these Fortune 1000 Season Ticket holders are wondering what to do in 2009? Should we continue with the volume of tickets and renew Season Ticket programs? Are we buying too many tickets - what kind of ROI do we actually have?

When times get tough the financial professionals in every company are in the Centerstage spotlight. This is one reason why we chose Razorgator Interactive Group as Best In Class for Corporate Ticket Trends.

Read Article from Fast Company here: What's The ROI On That Skybox?

Introducing the Brand Formerly known as Tix.com

As a Ticketing 2.0 benchmark, Tix exemplifies the emerging class of ticketing companies that are able to offer enterprise level solutions built on fluid and distributed technology platforms. TIX, with over 1,600 clients supports venues as small as 75 seats up to 20,000 seats.

A quick visit to this firms website presents a varied - in size, scope and location customer base. The ability to offer customized user interface among a standardized control panel or suite of options is yet, another marker of the Ticketing 2.0 evolution.