May 8, 2024

Live Nation Settles Suit With Ticketing Start-Up, Buying Its Assets


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Songkick specialized in so-called artist presales — a way of selling batches of advance tickets, often around 8 percent of the inventory for a show, to fans. Credit Chad Batka for The New York Times

Two years ago, Songkick, a ticketing start-up that operated out of a loft in Brooklyn, filed an antitrust suit against Live Nation Entertainment, the colossus of the concert business.

The David-and-Goliath suit included accusations of abuse of market power by Live Nation and its Ticketmaster subsidiary.

But on Friday, less than two weeks before the start of a trial, Live Nation announced that it had settled the suit for $110 million and an additional undisclosed sum to acquire some of Songkick’s remaining technology assets and patents.

“We are pleased that we were able to resolve this dispute and avoid protracted and costly legal proceedings, while also acquiring valuable assets,” Joe Berchtold, the president of Live Nation, said in a joint statement.

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Matt Jones, the chief executive of Songkick’s parent company, Complete Entertainment Resources Group, thanked employees and artists “who contributed so much to our many successes over the last decade.”

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Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/12/business/media/live-nation-songkick.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

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