The Business and Trade Committee of the House of Commons has called for the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to launch a market investigation into the UK live music industry.

The recommendation follows publication of the Committee’s report on ‘competition and market functioning in the UK live music industry’. The report is the culmination of an inquiry which was launched after the much-publicised outcry over the sale of tickets to Oasis’ reunion tour. In addition to prompting an investigation from the CMA into Ticketmaster (discussed here) and updates to its guidance on dynamic pricing (discussed here), the Oasis episode led to the Committee holding evidence sessions with Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation Entertainment, Inc (Live Nation) after which it was left with “serious concerns about the state of competition in the live music industry in the UK”.

While the Committee has called for an investigation of the entire industry, much of the report is focused on the activities of Live Nation, which it says has been able to “capitalise on its market dominant position” as a result of problems in the wider industry. The report expresses concern that the market is now “dominated by vertically integrated firms of which the leading player is Live Nation” with the result that these companies “behave outside of normal competition constraints”.

The report sets out various ways in which it states that the live music industry is being harmed by the existing state of affairs. For example, it states that it is harder for artists and managers to operate independently of large companies that can offer ‘all-in-one’ touring solutions which “encourage artists to remain within [their] ecosystem”, and can take advantage of vertical integration so as to offer “lucrative, exclusive contracts to top artists that smaller companies cannot match”. Similarly, vertically integrated operators are said to be able to “combine sponsorships, ticketing, marketing and data assets” across their businesses, making it impossible for smaller companies to compete. The Committee also points to evidence it received that grassroots music venues, festivals, and concerts are all affected as “exclusivity arrangements are becoming more widespread, limiting artists’ ability to perform at competing festivals or events”.

In short, the report suggests that all aspects of the live music industry are affected, from ticketing to promotion to artist development and management. Therefore, it concludes that “anything less than a market investigation would be insufficient to fully grasp the extent of suspected competition harms”, and recommends that the investigation should:

• look at the market as a whole, considering all aspects of the UK live music industry, across the entire supply chain;
• obtain the required data to determine the extent of the market share of each of the vertically integrated companies;
• determine whether there is dominance at play in the live music market or harmful vertical integration and whether this is leading to abuse of market position and anti-competitive practices; and
• pay special attention to the position and behaviour of Live Nation in the market.

The Committee has called for the investigation to commence by no later than the end of 2026. In the meantime, the CMA has confirmed that it is “giving active and careful consideration to undertaking markets work in this area”. Live Nation has also published its response to the report (here), which seeks to correct what it claims are “many factual inaccuracies”.

To read the report in full, click here.