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Noisey editor not so big a fan of Vice’s latest partner

By | Published on Monday 24 November 2014

Noisey

Talking of Live Nation’s continued march to world domination, remember that announcement earlier this month that uber-funded yoof media powerhouse Vice was allying with the live music giant to “launch a revolutionary new digital content platform delivering the voice of live music to millions of online and mobile audiences”?

Well, Gawker has now honed in on a blog post written a few months back by the US editor of Vice’s Noisey site in which he described Live Nation as “a gigantic, dickbag corporation intent on monopolising live music”. So, that’s fun.

Dan Ozzi wrote the Live Nation-dissing post for another blog called Jaded Punk back in August (and he’s made no kneejerk effort to remove it since). It was in response to a survey that showed that 21 of the 25 most attended club venues in the US are owned by Live Nation.

Noting that these were mainly venues operating under the live firm’s House Of Blues and Fillmore’s brands, Ozzi’s main point was that the masses like the familiar when picking a night out.

But he went on to lay into good old Live Nation. “If you know anything about Live Nation, it’s not news to you that they are a gigantic, dickbag corporation intent on monopolising live music”, he muses, adding: “Many small venue owners and local promoters have accused them of deliberately trying to undersell them and drive them out of business, much like Amazon takes a financial hit on book sales just to eliminate competitors”.

But, he goes on, the public has its part to play in Live Nation’s total domination of the live market (especially in the US), and he calls on bands and fans to do their part. “If you are in a band, book your tours at independently operated venues. Tell your booking agent you don’t want to give Live Nation business. Book shows in basements and libraries and in the back of bowling alleys if you can”.

He continues: “And if you’re just a regular ol concert-goer, don’t buy Live Nation/Ticketmaster’s fee-heavy tickets and make an effort to avoid their locations whenever possible”.

But no word on whether the boycott should extend to that “revolutionary new digital content platform”.



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