Friendly competition has seemingly gone out the window for major venue operators Azoff-MSG Entertainment and AEG Live, who have recently gotten into what seems like a turf war over world-famous concert venues like the Forum in Los Angeles and New York’s Madison Square Garden.
Earlier this month AEG made a rule that said artists couldn’t play London’s O2 Arena if they performed at MSG’s The Forum. The new policy came after MSG wouldn’t book artists for Madison Square Garden because they booked AEG’s Staples Center instead of The Forum. The egotistical feud has caused several artists like Chance the Rapper, Hall and Oates, Tom Petty, and Roger Waters to book Queens Forest Hill Stadium instead of the Garden just because they performed at the Staples Center instead of the Forum. Some were told that they were banned from performing at The Garden for any future shows.
Live Nation, major concert promoter, is already fed up with the feud, and is arguing that the new rule violates antitrust policies. AEG isn’t backing down, however, and are sure they’re within the parameters of the law so there’s no end in sight as of yet for the AEG/MSG turf war.
They released a statement backing up their decision which said, “AEG always places artists and fans first and believes that artists should be free to play whatever venue they choose. However, MSG Entertainment’s aggressive practice of requiring artists to perform at the LA Forum in order to secure dates at Madison Square Garden is eliminating that choice, which serves neither the interests of artists nor fans. After exhausting all avenues, our hand has been forced by MSG’s actions and AEG will now coordinate bookings between The O2 arena and Staples Center to level the playing field for all.”
Check out AEG’s whole statement here.
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