 According to the Wall Street Journal and the PR Newswire Live Nation has purchased a majority stake in MusicToday. Live Nation is a recently spun off company from Clear Channel.
In the past Clear Channel has been rallied against by fans and artists alike for its monopolistic practices of using its control of nearly 1,200 radio stations and 10% of the radio market to bully venues and artist service providers.
Dave Matthews has come out very clearly against Clear Channel in the past, having said he would play Gorge dates just to say, "Well, f*** you." to the company. A stir seemed inevitable when it was discovered that the somewhat ill-fated Dave and Friends was planned by Clear Channel.
The recent spin off of Live Nation from Clear Channel confuses the situation somewhat because this new company has its own stock to purchase and it's "own management structure." However a quick look at who is controlling Live Nation and the fact that the initial stock owners were simply those of Clear Channel Entertainment means that the apple does not fall far from the tree here. Clear Channel Communications Founder Lowry Mays is the Director of Live nation and the current Clear Channel CEO serves as Vice President of Live Nation.
What does this mean for Dave Matthews Band fans? MusicToday is the company that Coran Capshaw grew out of an internet service provider business, Red Light Communications, in the early nineties. Capshaw saw the opportunity to merge his merchandising and order fulfillment company supporting Dave Matthews Band with his internet company. For more information see our article: Capshaw Cashes In.
Today, MusicToday brings "business solutions" (fan clubs, ticketing and merchandise) to major touring artists including Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, John Mayer, Nickelback, Usher, Santana, Shania Twain and of course Dave Matthews Band. MusicToday is also tied directly to Bonnaroo and Vegoose, two emerging music festivals populated by Big Hassle artists.
While many DMB fans groan at delays over their Warehouse fan club packages and bad luck with the lottery or instant ticketing--no other company has so successfully brought ticketing, artist promotion, merchandising and customer support under one umbrella as MusicToday has.
The Clear Channel management did not grow its business behemoth it is today by poor business decisions--clearly the smart money is in MusicToday. The strange and perhaps sad and strange situation is that a company that is spun off from and run by the founders of a corporation Dave Matthews has strongly derided in the past now has a controlling stake in DMB's merchandising and fan club.
|
