Clear Channel assailed for ticket prices, stifling the Boss :: Music News :: Articles

Paste, in some ways, owes its existence to the rise of Clear Channel Communications. After all, it wouldn't be so challenging (and rewarding) to seek out signs of life in music and culture had Clear Channel not developed the machinery necessary to sterilize and neuter the radio landscape. It wasn't the first corporation to try, but Clear Channel has succeeded more wildly than anyone could have anticipated.

"We're not in the business of providing news and information," ex-Clear Channel CEO (now retired) Lowry Mays told Fortune in 2003. "We're not in the business of providing well-researched music. We're simply in the business of selling our customers products."

Shudder...

Lowry's son Mark now runs the Clear Channel schooner, and while the company still dominates the radio and concert promotion industry (the latter with spin-off company, Live Nation), the seas are getting a bit more choppy these days.

Most notably, the company now faces a serious lawsuit filed on behalf of concert-goers nationwide. As CNN reports, a U.S. District Court judge bundled five separate lawsuits filed against the entertainment behemoth together into a class-action package. The gist of these suits: Clear Channel uses its stranglehold on the concert market to disproportionately drive up ticket prices and discourage competition.

"We intend to show that Clear Channel bullies groups into using Clear Channel's facilities for concerts through its market dominance of the airwaves," prosecuting attorney Beth Fegan said. "The upshot is that if bands don't use Clear Channel venues, they will be playing to empty houses."

The suit incorporates plaintiffs from 23 different regions in the United States. These folks had to stomach some ridiculous price tags for attending shows by artists like Madonna (now with Live Nation for life), The Who, Elvis Costello and Bruce Springsteen.

Ironically, some people out there are also alleging that Clear Channel is actively working to stamp out material from Springsteen's new album from its airwaves. Roger Friedman of FoxNews.com alleges that Clear Channel won't play singles from Magic, the new Springsteen disc, because the Boss is simply "too old to be played on rock stations." This, despite the fact that Magic is well on its way to platinum status (and on a side note, has become a Paste office favorite).

Friedman isn't alone, either. Philadelphia's Daily Examiner notes that Philly blogger Will Bunch has ascribed a political motivation to Clear Channel's Springsteen boycott. Springsteen is staunchly anti-war; Clear Channel's bosses are closely tied to the Bush administration and its agenda, so perhaps this is no coincidence? In response, Bunch is calling for a boycott of his own:

"If you care about what’s been going in on this country — and happen to love Bruce Springsteen, as I do," writes Bunch, "then this should ensure that you never listen to Clear Channel ever again."

Bunch's rant was inspired by DownWithTyranny!, a blog which has a lengthy discussion of the Springsteen/Clear Channel fuss. Included at the bottom is an update on Clear Channel's campaign contributions, although the blog doesn't site any sources for its figures.

Let's give Clear Channel the final say, however, since the company is so rarely afforded that opportunity. Straight from the corporation's "know the facts" web page:

MYTH: Clear Channel Radio directed its stations not to play music from Bruce Springsteen’s Magic CD.

FACT: Although Clear Channel owns only 8% of the radio stations in the U.S., in the first days after the CD's release, airplay of music from the disc on Clear Channel Radio stations represented a full 21% of the total radio airplay in the U.S., including airplay from satellite radio. That's according to airplay stats from Mediabse. Further, Clear Channel Radio stations played music from the CD more than twice as much as the nearest radio broadcaster, which came in at less than 10% of total U.S. airplay.

Thanks again to The Daily Swarm for hipping us to the Springsteen controversy.

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