The music tycoon behind the company blamed for Oasis ticketing scandal lives a fabulously rich lifestyle and has likened soaring profits from live performances to ‘cocaine money’.
Ticketmaster boss Michael Rapino has been branded the ‘Mr Big’ of the controversial business strategy which has led to a furious row over rip-off ticket prices.
The Canadian-born mogul unashamedly admits he set out on a mission of world domination in the live entertainment industry.
And he’s boasted of plans to globally expand the so-called ‘dynamic pricing’ model which has led to record profits but left Oasis fans complaining they have been victims of ‘a greedy scam’.
Dynamic pricing – which is common at large events in the US – sees an undisclosed number of tickets go on sale at face value.
Michael Rapino (pictured left) is the music mogul behind Ticketmaster’s dynamic pricing strategy that proved controversial last weekend when fans were left paying inflated prices for Oasis tickets. Here he is pictured with US singer Usher and Rapino’s wife Jolene Blalock (right)
Fans of Oasis were left frustrated on Saturday as they logged onto to computers for the desperate scramble to see the reunion of the Gallagher brothers (pictured) next summer
Ticketmaster introduced dynamic pricing for the Oasis concerts which sees an undisclosed number of tickets go on sale at face value. Once they have sold out, more tickets are released at a higher price. it meant that fans were asked to pay higher than expected prices
Once they have sold out, more tickets are released at a higher price agreed in advance by an artist’s management and promoters.
After Liam and Noel Gallagher announced their Brit Pop band’s first tour in 16 years, furious fans complained that prices of tickets had more than doubled during the hours they spent queuing online.
Many ended up paying more than £350 for tickets – significantly inflated prices from those being advertised.
Some were left heartbroken after being forced to walk away when the cost soared beyond their reach.
The model is similar to that used by airlines and hotels which increase prices when there is greater demand but fans have complained about a lack of transparency over the ticket sales and claimed they were railroaded into paying ‘extortionate’ prices.
In February Rapino – who is president and chief executive of Live Nation which owns Ticketmaster – insisted music fans across the globe should expect the future to be shaped by dynamic pricing.
Unveiling a 36 per cent increase in annual revenues to £17.3 billion he said: ‘We’re just rolling this out around the world.
‘So that’s the great growth opportunity. We’ve had it in Europe but still in infancy stages. We’re going to expand it down to South America, Australia.’
He added: ‘Promoters are anxious for it. Artists are anxious for it.’
Rapino, 59, has insisted that ‘concerts are a very special moment’ in fans’ lives adding ‘and they will pay for it’.
Forecasting how his big plans would pan out he said in 2016: ‘My business will do very well if we figure out how to super-serve 73 million fans. Artists make money when they go on the road.
‘It’s an $8billion (£5.6billion) industry. That’s like cocaine money. That’s going to attract a lot of good people.’
Rapino (pictured left with Rihanna in 2015) is president and chief executive of Live Nation which owns Ticketmaster. The company has seen a 36 per cent rise in revenues to £17.3billion
Rapino is pictured here (right) with Steve Tyler (left). Rapino forecasting his plans for the future discussed the music industry. He said: ‘It’s an $8billion industry. That’s like cocaine money.’
Rapino’s Instagram profile is full of photos of him with music royalty like U2 frontman, Bono
Rapino, who reportedly leaves in an £11million beachfront mansion overlooking Malibu beach, is pictured here with US rapper Kendrick Lamar
Rapino posted this pic on Instagram with his wife and Justin Trudeau with the caption: Prime Minister @justinpjtrudeau of Canada is a visionary leader. Proud to be a Canadian
The Canadian music mogul also posted this photo of himself with Barak Obama
Rapino has defended surge pricing insisting it makes it less easy for ticket touts cashing in on demand for tickets to see the world’s top performers.
He has said artists ‘look at the grosses and say, ‘Wow, we’re leaving too much on the table for the scalpers. Let’s price this better’.
It’s certainly helped boost the personal fortune of the man widely regarded as the most powerful figure in global music, whose client roster includes such megastars as Taylor Swift and Beyoncé.
Rapino, 59, is known for his ‘rock star’ pay deals which saw him earn £105 million in 2022.
He is worth an estimated £300 million and reportedly lives among A-list celebrities in an £11million mansion on Malibu Beach, California.
He is said to have bought the four-bedroomed Moroccan-inspired property which has its own beach access from actor John Cusack in 2021 as well as owning two houses in the upmarket LA suburb of Brentwood worth around £12 million.
The father-of-three is married to actress Jolene Blalock, 49, who played Vulcan science officer T’Pol in the TV series Star Trek: Enterprise.
The pair met when Rapino worked for the Canadian brewer Labatt where he began as a salesman then went on to cast Blalock in a TV commercial he was shooting in Los Angeles.
Rapino’s career in the music business started when he bagan promoting bands in local bars and signed his first artist, a blind blues rocker, while studying for a degree in business administration at Lakehead University in his hometown of Thunder Bay, Ontario.
He has told how aged just 21 he jotted down his ambitions on a napkin setting out how he planned to run the largest live entertainment company in the world by the age of 40. He is said to still have the napkin to this day.
According to the firm’s website, Rapino led the transformation of Live Nation into the number one live music brand in the world with operations in more than 40 countries.
Comprised of three market leading divisions – Ticketmaster, Live Nation Concerts, Live Nation Sponsorship – Live Nation annually issues over 500 million tickets, promotes more than 35,000 events, partners with over 1,000 sponsors and manages the careers of more than 500 artists.
Its e-commerce sites average 80 million unique monthly users.
Ticketmaster is now the world’s biggest ticket retailer with an estimated 70 per cent share of the live entertainment market.
The furore surrounding Oasis has shone a spotlight around its operations in Britain prompting an investigation by the UK competition regulator while the Government announced it will include ‘dynamic pricing’ in its review of live entertainment ticket sales and the Advertising Standards Agency is assessing hundreds of complaints over how ticket prices were advertised.
Accounts for Ticketmaster UK show its revenues jumped from £99 million to £126 million in 2022.
The controversial system of dynamic pricing, which is used in the hotel and airline industries has only come to light in the scramle for Oasis tickets. Pictured the band in Manchester in 1993
Its UK managing director Andrew Parsons, 48, has not commented since the furore erupted while former UK boss and now international chairman Chris Edmonds, 65, has also seemingly kept a low profile.
Edmonds’ only presence on social media is a private Instagram account with just 29 followers.
He seems to be distancing himself from the fiasco posting lyrics from the David Bowie song Suffragette City on his Instagram account saying: ‘Don’t lean on me man, ’cause you can’t afford the ticket.’
Concerns have been raised over Live Nation’s overarching influence within the industry and the Oasis gigs scheduled for next summer in the UK and Ireland.
While Ticketmaster insists ticket pricing is set by artists and promoters, the three companies promoting the Oasis gigs – which are set to bring in revenues of more than £400 million – all have links to Live Nation.
As well as managing artists, the firm also has links to a number of merchandising companies and security as well as interest in UK venues including the Cardiff Arena as well as the O2 Academy Brixton, O2 Shepherds Bush Empire and the O2 Academy Glasgow.
The company is no stranger to controversy and has faced a series of lawsuits alleging ticket price fixing, hidden fees and anti-competitive practices.
In May, the US Department of Justice said it was suing Live Nation and Ticketmaster over what one lawmaker described as their ‘stranglehold’ over the live entertainment sector.
It wants the break-up of Ticketmaster and Live Nation, alleging the companies were exercising a monopoly.
Live Nation dismissed the allegations as ‘baseless’ and insisted it would use the ‘opportunity to shed light on the industry and continue to push for reforms that truly protect consumers and artists’.
The official Oasis account on X announced on Saturday evening that all the reunion concerts had now sold out. However this week they announced two new concerts at Wembley
Fans found themselves in queues of up to 11 hours when tickets went on sale on Saturday
Live Nation is also embroiled in civil lawsuits brought by people injured in a crush that killed 10 at the Astroworld Festival in Texas in 2021, which it managed.
In January last year, Ticketmaster apologised to Taylor Swift and her fans during a US Senate hearing.
It came after its system became overwhelmed by demand for the superstar singer’s ongoing Eras Tour and thousands of so-called ‘Swifties’ were unable to buy seats.
Amid the growing backlash, Oasis sought to distance themselves from the pricing row – claiming they were ‘not aware’ the controversial price-setting scheme would be used during their reunion tour.
They insisted they had left pricing decisions up to promoters and management and announced two additional Wembley dates with tickets sold via an invitation-only ballot.
Announcing its investigation on Thursday the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it will probe whether Ticketmaster breached consumer protection law.
It is examining whether the firm engaged in unfair commercial practices as well as exploring whether buyers were given clear information to explain that tickets could be subject to price rices and if people were put under pressure to buy tickets within a short period of time.
Ticketmaster insists its ‘In-demand pricing’ is a practice ‘driven by supply and demand’.