Competition and market functioning in the UK live music industry

Since the CMA merger investigation in 2010, evidence suggests that vertically integrated companies have built and maintained a dominant position in the UK’s live music market. We conclude that the evidence gathered through our work on the live music industry, including evidence to this report, has sufficiently demonstrated that Live Nation and other vertically integrated companies in the UK live music industry are able to behave outside of normal competition constraints. This has harmed competition in the live music industry in the UK and warrants further investigation. (Conclusion, Paragraph 25)

Transparency of ownership and controlling interests within the live music industry is lacking. The Committee therefore recommends the CMA uses its information gathering powers to fully investigate how entangled major companies are and to assess the extent of market integration within the sector. (Recommendation, Paragraph 26)

The Committee believes that all three of the CMA conditions used to determine whether a firm holds a dominant market position have been met for the live music industry. (Conclusion, Paragraph 29)

The Committee concludes that a market investigation into the live music industry should be a priority of the CMA. Against a backdrop of the cost of living crisis, an investigation and consequential remedial measures have strong potential to improve market functioning and help deliver economic growth in the UK. (Conclusion, Paragraph 30)

The Committee therefore recommends that the CMA launch a market investigation into the UK live music industry by the end of 2026 and sooner if possible. The investigation should: • look at the market as a whole, considering all aspects of the UK live music industry, across the entire supply chain; 21 • 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. • We trust that the evidence already received from stakeholders and the contents of this report will serve as the evidence needed to open such a market investigation. (Recommendation, Paragraph 31)

If necessary at the conclusion of its investigation, the CMA should make use of its powers under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 to enforce remedies to improve competition and champion consumers. (Recommendation, Paragraph 32)

The Committee recognises the vital role of the grassroots market to the wider music industry and supports the introduction of the industry led levy on arena and stadium tickets to support grassroots music. The Committee calls upon companies such as Live Nation to move to adopt this levy as a priority. (Conclusion, Paragraph 36) 22