Published
Thu, Jun 25, 2020, 18:52
- The Future Of Music Coalition and Artist Rights Alliance are campaigning US Congress to investigate the events giant for "monopolistic behavior."
Live Nation's recent memo asking artists to cut their fees to help the live music industry recover after the coronavirus pandemic is being roundly condemned.
Last week, Rolling Stone reported Live Nation's document for talent partners proposes artists decrease their performance fees by 20 percent post-pandemic, along with other unprecedented measures that place the financial burden on them.
"We are in unprecedented times and must adequately account for the shift in market demand, the exponential rise of certain costs and the overall increase of uncertainty that materially affects our mission," the memo reads. "In order for us to move forward, we must make certain changes to our agreements with the artists."
Live Nation's suggested "principle changes" also include: artists must pay promoters 200 percent of their fee if they cancel; decreased deposit rates for bookings; required permission to livestream performances; artists pay airfare and accommodation costs; and an inability to challenge event sponsors. (Read the complete memo here.)
Since the document leaked, Live Nation executive Charles Attal "backtracked" on the demands, claiming it's a "stale document" in an interview with Pollstar.
This week, the Future Of Music Coalition, Artist Rights Alliance and Center For Digital Democracy have sent a joint letter to the US House Judiciary Committee, Complete Music Update reports. The industry groups are asking US Congress to investigate Live Nation's "exploitative" suggestions, as well as parent company Liberty Media, which also owns Ticketmaster, Pandora and SiriusXM, for "monopolistic behavior and abuses" as it plans to merge with iHeartMedia. (They've launched a petition against the merger here.)
"Liberty/Live Nation should not be allowed to exploit its multi-market monopoly and impose overwhelmingly one-sided and exploitative terms on performers under cover of a worldwide pandemic emergency," the letter reads. "Artists are organizing to resist this pressure, including by considering boycotts of Live Nation facilities. But in many areas there are no practical alternatives to Live Nation facilities."
The day after the Live Nation memo leaked last week, the events giant announced a series of drive-in concerts across the UK featuring the likes Dizzee Rascal, Gary Numan, The Streets and more.