Rockbites: US radio-concert 'monopoly' challenged in court

newsarchive

August 2001 • Rockbites Alternative Daily

• back to August 2001 index

US radio-concert 'monopoly' challenged in court
13 August 2001

One week ago, Denver based concert promoter Nobody In Particular Presents (NiPP), in a survival move against what they say are predatory and monopolistic practices, filed an antitrust suit in federal court against the United States’ largest concert promoter, Clear Channel Communications.
    Clear Channel also happens to be the nation’s largest broadcaster with 1,170 stations (and another 240 outside the US), the owner of more than a hundred concert venues, a publisher of radio trade magazines... and the monopolistic list goes on.
    Most musical artists make their money from shows, not CD sales. As such they depend on the synergy between radio play and concert promotion. In control of both, Clear Channel is in a uniquely powerful position to determine who succeeds and who fails.
    Until now—amid grumblings among bands and other concert promoters, and the occasional exposé on Salon.com by senior writer Eric Boehlert—Clear Channel has proceeded unchallenged in its continuing and aggressive takeover of live entertainment in the US. Even record company executives are afraid to speak up for fear of the artist promotion they stand to lose.
    Among the charges claimed in the NiPP antitrust suit against Clear Channel: artists who book shows with promoters other than CC don’t get played on CC-owned stations, and competing concert promoters are refused advertising time on CC-owned stations.
    Clear Channel either denies such charges or defers comment because of the pending lawsuit—which, in addition to challenging CC’s concert practices, revisits the payola issue which has been skirted over the years by a rather disingenuously conceived system of middlemen.
    NiPP’s lawsuit now moves into the discovery phase. | story on Salon.com | | NIPP | | Clear Channel | | top of page |

back to August 2001 index

today’s stories •

click for Rockbites Home
	Copyright © 1998 - 2001 M. Jason. All Rights Reserved. Rockbites is not for profit and supports human rights. “Rockbites” and “Alternative Daily” are service marks of Rockbites. All names are the property of their respective owners. Send your feedback or questions to feedback@rockbites.com Send your press releases to press@rockbites.com Rockbites Alternative Daily contact information