classic rock

Ticketmaster CEO Irving Azoff: How to Make Money While Music Becomes “Demonetized”

Peter Kafka in D7 on May 27, 2009 at 9:31 am PT

As a longtime music executive and talent manager, Irving Azoff has had to find a way to work with everyone from inebriated rock stars to David Geffen. But he’s never had to placate Washington, D.C. before. But that’s what Azoff needs to do in order to pull off the deal of a lifetime: A merger between his Ticketmaster Entertainment, which dominates the ticketing business, and Live Nation, which dominates the live concert business. When Azoff isn’t busy trying to convince people that the merger doesn’t violate antitrust regulations, or running his ticketing company, he manages the careers of everyone from the Eagles to Christina Aguilera. Note the one thing in the music business he doesn’t spend time on: Selling recorded music.