Monopolisation in the live music industry - The study of a possible monopoly and its consequences in the Dutch live music industry

In this research we’ll take a look at the monopoly of Live Nation in the Netherlands. This monopoly has come to existence through the vertical integration of other companies such as Mojo Concerts. To examine this monopoly, we’ll use four sub-research questions aimed at discovering the developments in the music industry, the strength of Live Nation and the similarities between Live Nation’s situation and standard economics. The results show a different impact of Live Nation on bookers, promotors and venues. As these three intermediaries all have a different relationship with Live Nation and its subsidiaries, three different conclusions are created. For venues, the impact of Live Nation is almost non-existent at this moment, however, this might change in the future as Live Nation continues to grow. For bookers, the impact of Live Nation is greater, as Mojo controls an important market of the Dutch live music industry. Thirdly, the promotors experience the most impact of Live Nation, as they communicate with all the subsidiaries of Live Nation in the Netherlands. As promotors can compete with Mojo, book certain venues of Live Nation such as AFAS and can use Ticketmaster as their ticket seller. Although the impact of Live Nation can be big on these intermediaries, it seems unlikely that Live Nation will become a monopoly who can showcase monopolistic behaviour in the near future. This monopolistic behaviour seems unlikely as the services Live Nation and their subsidiaries supply, are rather easily imitable by other companies that want to enter the market. In the end, the only one who really has the monopoly is the artist. Through the ongoing trend of globalisation, more and more markets are become accessible for the artists to perform. This benefit the income of the artist, and supports the only monopoly in the live music industry, the artist’s one.