• Small Talk – Daniel Radcliffe (2 of 2)

    In his latest movie, The Woman In Black, Dan traded his Hogwarts uniform for a totally new role as a Dad.

  • #freshpresslive – feb 10/12

    Natalia brings you the latest news on Adele’s interview with Anderson Cooper, Kristen Bell’s interview on Ellen is auto tuned, Ladyhawke’s latest music video and much more!

  • #freshpresslive – Feb 8/12

    Natalia discusses what’s new with Pharrell Williams and her thoughts on Karl Lagerfeld’s mean comments towards Adele’s weight. She also shows a roster of animals behaving like humans and, wait until you see the new size of coffee available at Starbucks!

  • #freshpresslive – Feb 7/12

    Natalia dishes the latest news on the Juno Awards nominees, the upcoming Spiderman 3D film starring Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield and is Katy Perry hooking up with Tim Tebow? Watch today’s episode to find out.

  • Small Talk – The Kooks (2 of 2)

    When The Kooks are in the studio they’re focused and most importantly, sober. Watch Hugh and Luke explain their reasoning below.

  • Small Talk – The Kooks (1 of 2)

    The Kooks released a new album called “Junk of the Heart,” and you would think Hugh and Luke would be very excited about it. Well, they seemed rather indifferent to be honest. We spoke about that and why they don’t care about critics.

  • #freshpresslive – Feb 2/12

    Natalia dishes the latest in entertainment news on Joan Rivers, Lana Del Rey and a brand new trailer for the movie Hunger Games.

  • #freshpresslive – Feb 1/12

    Natalia talks about how Snooki might be pregnant, Nicolas Cage’s Cage Rage, Elisabetta Canalis is dating Steve-O and more for Feb 1, 2012.

  • #freshpresslive – Jan 31/12

    Natalia dishes the news on Miley Cyrus breaking her tailbone, a 100 year old woman who plays the Nintendo DS to stay young and Houston, Texas contemplating a statute of Beyonce.

  • #freshpresslive – Jan 30/12

    David Beckham debuts a new line of underwear, the worst dressed celebrity – Shy’m and Matthew Broderick is back as Ferris Bueller with a brand new commercial airing during the Super Bowl on Feb 5th 2012.

  • Small Talk – Daniel Radcliffe (1 of 2)

    Daniel Radcliffe is back with his new movie The Woman In Black. It’s a bone chilling remake of a film from the ’80s. Ironically, Daniel actually scares very easily but he’s not afraid of ghosts. In this interview he tells us what really gives him the creeps.

  • Small Talk – Graffiti6 (2 of 2)

    Next time you’re struggling to make conversation, try asking this question: “If you could invite anyone (living or dead) to the perfect house party, who would it be?”

  • Small Talk – Graffiti6 (1 of 2)

    Graffiti6 is starting to make their North American invasion, and they are hitting up the Tonight Show. Does this sound familiar? Well the Beatles made the exact same journey over 40 years ago. Naturally, @jordans_life had to make some comparisons.

  • Small Talk – Nick Carter (3 of 3)

    Nick plays World of Warcraft. Not only that, he’s the head of his guild, demonstrating that it IS possible to juggle being a hardcore gamer with being a top-selling recording artist.

  • Small Talk – Nick Carter (2 of 3)

    During a LIVE interview on andPOP.com Nick Carter gave out a number and took phone calls from his fans. These were real phone calls from real fans who we gave exclusive access to one of the biggest recording artists of our generation.

  • Small Talk – Nick Carter (1 of 3)

    There were great questions about music, fitness, the backstreet boys but the most popular question, however, was about his underwear. In this clip Nick talks about his his ‘Haynes’ and covering his fans with glow in the dark paint.

  • Small Talk – Hedley (2 of 2)

    When releasing new music today, half the battle is online promotion. However, contests, signed merch and giveaways aren’t always the best solutions. When working on their latest album, Hedley came up with a brilliant idea, they decided to make trailers.

  • Small Talk – Hedley (1 of 2)

    It’s hard to prepare for an interview with Hedley. So in this interview, we threw caution to the wind, got a 24 of beer and broadcast the interview live on our USTREAM (andPOP.tv). Eventually Jacob, Dave and @jordans_life ended up talking about hairy legs, their newest music video and more.

  • Small Talk – Marina and The Diamonds (2 of 2)

    Diamandis from Marina and The Diamonds talks to us about her very serious disease. It’s called synaesthetic. And we lied, it’s not a disease. More like a cool condition. Diamandis explains further.

  • Small Talk – Neverest

    Would you be embarrassed if someone scrolled through your iPod? We sit down with Spee and Brendan to talk about the diverse music on their playlist.

 
 


Live Nation, Ticketmaster Merge Gets Approval

Posted by Sara Harowitz on January 26th, 2010

The U.S. Department of Justice approved the Live Nation and Ticketmaster merge on Monday, according to rollingstone.com. The joining of the two biggest pieces in the $4.4 billion (U.S.) worldwide concert business is sure to affect every live-music fan, artist, agent, manager, and promoter.

In a statement, Ticketmaster’s chief executive, Eagles manager Irving Azoff, called the decision “a great win for fans,” but some people in the business fear the combined power of the two companies will make it hard for outsiders to promote and sell tickets.

“It’s disappointing to me,” said Buck Williams, who represents R.E.M. and Widespread Panic. “It’s just another step in eliminating competition.”

“They’ve pulled the rug out from under the entrepreneurs, to some degree,” he added.

The new Live Nation Entertainment, which will begin its merge as early as tomorrow (Wednesday), will own a large chunk of the business: Ticketmaster’s Front Line management company represents the Eagles, Jimmy Buffett, Christina Aguilera and many others, while Live Nation’s clients include Madonna and Jay-Z. Ticketmaster has exclusive ticketing deals with most of the major U.S. arenas, while Live Nation owns and operates 140 top venues overall, including most of the ampitheatres. And Ticketmaster alone sells about 140 million tickets a year.

These combined assets make some people in the business optimistic. “My hope and belief is that there is going to be an expanded opportunity for touring artists to [experiment with] a variety of different products,” said Jim Guerinot, manager of the likes of No Doubt and Nine Inch Nails. “And I look forward to trying those things.”

Azoff and Live Nation’s CEO, Michael Rapino, said that the new Live Nation Entertainment would have the power and flexibility to make more money, cut costs, and ultimately reduce ticket prices and service fees. The Justice Department mostly agreed, but before approving the merger, U.S. attorneys forced Ticketmaster to license its software to top competitor AEG Live and forbade the combined company from retaliating against any concert venue that uses a non-Ticketmaster outlet.

The agreement “promotes robust competition for primary ticketing services and preserves incentives for competitors to innovate and discount, which will benefit consumers,” said Christine Varney, an assistant attorney in the Justice Department’s antitrust division, in a statement.

Some artist representatives are still skeptical. “I don’t think prices are going to come down,” said Tom Windish, an agent who represents Animal Collective, Hot Chip, and dozens of other top indie artists. “I don’t think it’s going to change that much. I don’t see Live Nation getting less money, I don’t see artists getting less money and I don’t see Ticketmaster charging a surcharge that’s lower than [what] they can possibly get. If anything, it’ll be higher.”

Related Stories:



Tags: , , , ,
Categories: Announcement, Music