‘It’s about making the system fairer’: We speak to ABC’s Avani Dias after Four Corners’ Live Nation investigation
Four Corners ran a report on multinational music conglomerate Live Nation on Monday evening, levelling a range of accusations at the company, whose market dominance and vertical business model the ABC claims is harming the local music industry and “squeezing out local competition”.
UPDATE: Live Nation respond to ‘inaccuracies aired’ on Four Corners
The report, headed up by journalist Avani Dias, takes aim at a number of Live Nation’s practices in Australia — as well as in the US and the UK — including the litany of hidden fees added to its ticket prices, dynamic pricing for popular shows, and an aggressive takeover plan that sees it buying up venues, ticketing companies, booking agencies, having “expanded its reach to every part of the Australian music industry” over the past decade.
It was astonishing how little the 4 Corners team knew and understood about how the music industry actually works, and has worked for many decades now. There are many real challenges with live music events at the moment (as Nathan touched on in the article above). If the real broader issues which all events are facing – and were glossed over by the program – aren’t addressed little will change.