Michael Coppel Responds to ABCs Live Nation Expose [Video]

Avis gave a masterclass in marketing back in 1962, with a slogan that resonates with everyone who climbed the corporate mountain, and never quite summited. “We’re no. 2, we try harder.” The leader in the rental car business, Hertz, had a target on its back.

Live Nation, the global leader in the concert promotion business, also wears a target.

In the US and UK, Live Nation, together with its sister company Ticketmaster, has been the subject of regulatory probes. And, on Monday night, ABC fired a shot with a Four Corners episode.

Earlier this year, an antitrust lawsuit was filed by the Department of Justice and 30 state attorneys general, accusing the live entertainment giant of achieving its dominant position in the world’s biggest market through abuses of market power and dubious exclusive ticketing contracts.

The DOJ alleged that Live Nation “controls” the live entertainment industry in the US “because it is breaking …