Friday, June 19, 2009

Why The Jonas Bros Don't Come Here

The Sun's ExploreHoward blog reports that the operators of Merriweather have filed a federal antitrust suit against the world's largest concert promoter, claiming Live Nation is blocking acts from coming here.

The 11-count complaint claims Live Nation controls 19 of the top 25 regional markets in the country and wants to eliminate all competition so it can dominate all aspects of the music business. Live Nation signs deals with artists for entire tours and requires them to perform at only Live Nation-owned venues, the suit states.

That means major artists are performing at Nissan Pavilion, in Bristow, Va. and are skipping Merriweather. In 2008, fewer major acts performed in Columbia than in past years, the suit claims.

As an example, Merriweather points out that the Jonas Brothers performed at 1st Mariner Arena in Baltimore rather than Merriweather, because Live National refused to let them play at Merriweather. Other acts that have performed in the past at Merriweather, including Maroon 5 and Pearl Jam, signed contracts with Live Nation that keep them from performing at the venue.

1 comment:

Alison C said...

That explains why we haven't had as many good concerts at Merriweather this year. And I refuse to go to Nissan. It's too much of a pain!