Ticketmaster Wants its Hands in Everything - Including Indie Fest

Guess who's gunning for Carolina Indie Fest? Your favorite company, Ticketmaster, has it's

cronies coming after our free independent music festival. Don't believe it? Read on ...

You may have seen the recent news about Ticketmaster & it's parent group, Live Nation, being ruled a monopoly by a jury in federal court. Live Nation manages top musical talent and venues. These venues were allegedly obligated to use only Ticketmaster for ticketing. Live Nation was alleged to deny independent venues access to top musical talent unless they agreed to use Ticketmaster. In the trial it was found that this closed loop of ticketing, venue and performers resulted in inflated service fees and shutting out of independent artists from these venues (about 150 venues in total, increasing to 170 fairly soon).

One of the ways Ticketmaster enforces its monopoly is through ASCAP, a music licensing agency for artists. ASCAP grants licenses to venues for playing music they license and threaten legal action against non-compliant venues. Do you know who they exclude from this enforcement? Ticketmaster. If you are not a Live Nation venue you will be targeted.

This week I was tipped off that the "music industry" (as it was listed on the application) was hiring secret shoppers to come to Carolina Indie Fest and record the artists in an effort to enforce their monopoly over licensing rights, musicians and venues. Part of me is proud that we've made it on the radar of the music monopoly, we must be doing something right. But mostly it's upsetting and disturbing (but not surprising) that THE industry monopoly would come after a FREE festival with all INDEPENDENT musicians.

If you've ever struggled to understand why Carolina Indie Fest - and any celebration of independent music artists and venues - is a big deal then this should underline it. The entire music industry is weighted heavily toward this monopoly that forces artists and venues to play along or suffer meaningful financial consequences. They not only setup a system that not only privileges their own but also spends good money on often going after venues that aren't Ticketmaster exclusive.

TLDR? Your presence at Indie matters, it's a subversive act in the face of a music industry monopoly (it's also great music, good fun, and FREE!)