TechCrunch reports an offer from Dimensional to buy all outstanding stock of our digital music distribution competitor The Orchard, whose operation currently has offices in 25 countries, and is losing $17.5 million dollars a year. The purchase offer is for $2.05 per share of common stock, valuing the company at $12.8 million, about 28% of their annual revenue of $45 million. Rumours also abound of a merger between The Orchard and eMusic, which would see the vertical value chain completed, from artist to store – seemingly a simple and sensible synergy, but since eMusic is also rumoured to be for sale predicting where the chips will fall may be difficult. Private owners of The Orchard will have a lot of cost cutting to do whatever the case, so look to see a lot of those international offices closed down, and a consolidation of revenue streams and staffing before long.
After months of speculation and reels of red tape, the world’s biggest live music company has been created by the combination of the two giants Ticketmaster and Live Nation have finally secured approval from the necessary legal bodies to go ahead with their merger. The company formed is now called Live Nation Entertainment, Inc., and TKTM’s stock ceased trading at close on the 25th. According to Reuters, common stock in Ticketmaster will be exchanged for 1.474 shares of stock in the new entity. This news has seen a massive jump in the share price of both companies, and will undoubtedly have a seismic effect throughout the live music world over the coming year.
Hypebot reports that the US Justice Department is close to a positive ruling on whether or not to allow a merger between live music giants Live Nation (LYV) and Ticket Master (TKTM). The deal has already been approved by UK bodies, and if it goes ahead will create the biggest live music and ticket sales company in the world (hence the scrutiny from monopoly legislators). Shares in both companies have jumped more than 3.5% after this hopeful news, but are still more than a third down on their pre-crash values (Aug ’08).
The live music industry has seen a difficult couple of years, with a lot of smaller festivals being postponed or cancelled – consolidation makes a lot of sense for these two big companies, and we’ve seen them selling underperforming assets and shedding debt, I’d guess the upshot will be more uniform ticket prices, and a smaller range of venues being played by massive artists as they get signed to lucrative exclusives by the newborn giant as it exploits the new confidence inevitably born of being the biggest player in the market. 
