Coalition of artists and consumer groups oppose the acquisition of iHeartMedia by Liberty Media

By Emmanuel Legrand

A coalition of artist organisations and consumer groups has written a letter to the US Department of Justice and the House and Senate Judiciary Committees, opposing to the potential acquisition of iHeartMedia, the largest radio group in America, by Liberty Media, already owner of satellite-delivered radio platform SiriusXM and music streaming service Pandora. 

Liberty also owns a 33% stake in Ticketmaster/LiveNation, respectively the largest ticketing company in the US and the world's biggest concert promoter and venue owner.

  The signatories argued that Liberty Media already has far too much control over the music ecosystem and urged the DoJ to put the brakes on the transaction.

  "On behalf of musicians, songwriters, and performers and groups that oppose corporate concentration, we urge you to reject this massively overreaching effort to monopolise music radio in this country," read the letter, sent to Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim, who is in charge of the DoJ's antitrust division. 

Anti-competitive practices

 To highlight their point about the dominant position that Liberty Media would acquire after the transaction, the signatories pointed out to "the anti-competitive practices of the events/ticketing portion of Liberty’s business, having just settled substantial antitrust claims based on the company’s forcing concert venues into using its ticketing product and other apparent violations." Such anti-competitive practices could only increase after the integration of iHeart into Liberty.

  "In sum, with its current holdings, Liberty already has amassed monopoly control of the satellite radio market, substantial control over the concert/live performance market, and ownership of one of the top three music streaming companies," they wrote. "Now, Liberty has expressed interest in acquiring iHeartMedia which is, among other things, the single biggest AM/FM radio broadcaster and a massive nationwide streaming competitor as well."

  They warned that the potential impact on radio markets would be "evident and likely catastrophic, removing competitive discipline across multiple market segments," in the same way the merger of Sirius and XM "removed one vector of potential competition."

Fewer options and less diversity

  They added: "For listeners, it will almost certainly mean fewer options, less diversity, and higher prices. It’s easy to see ticketing offers and exclusives steered to Liberty’s radio channels, shutting out non-Liberty listeners and further undermining competition on the radio subscription side. And will Liberty even continue to invest in its free-to-listeners AM/FM product when that is competing with its lucrative satellite and streaming businesses?"

  The impact of such integration will be felt by new talent that will have lesser opportunities to crack the radio market, and would be "a setback in the struggle for fair economics for music distribution, as the new conglomerate uses its massive power to demand cut-rate, below-market royalty rates at the pain of being shut out across these major platforms altogether." 

What would happen, they asked, is artists, songwriters, record companies, and performance rights organisations refuse to give in to Liberty’s demands on royalty rates" Would they "find themselves shut out of access to Live Nation venues and Ticketmaster promotion?"

Artists at a disadvantage

 They concluded: "Independent artists and diverse new voices are already struggling in a consolidated industry, and this will only narrow their opportunities to be heard. This unacceptable new proposal will put a broad array of music creators at a massive disadvantage in an arena that is already massively stacked against them. Please reject Liberty Media's bid to acquire any meaningful portion of iHeartMedia."

  Signatories include American Economic Liberties Project, Artist Rights Alliance, Center for Digital Democracy, Institute for Local Self-Reliance, Open Markets Institute and Public Citizen. The letter was also went to Jerrold Nadler and Jim Jordan, respectively Chairman and Ranking Member of the Committee on the Judiciary at the House of Representatives, and to Lindsey Graham and Dianne Feinstein, their counterparts at the Senate Committee on the Judiciary.