U2 signs 12-year deal with Live Nation

U2 has signed a 12-year deal with concert promoter Live Nation, cementing a partnership that began in the late '90s.

The new agreement gives Live Nation global rights to the band’s merchandising, touring, digital and branding areas, the company’s president and CEO Michael Rapino announced this morning. The deal does not include any recording or publishing rights, which fall under the band’s contract with Universal Music Group.

The deal with U2 comes less than six months after Live Nation announced a watershed all-inclusive agreement with Madonna. The artist was rumored to have left Warner Music Group after the label refused to match Live Nation’s offer of $120 million over 10 years. The deal also made the Material Girl the founding artist in the company’s Artist Nation division, which allows artists to manage their rights and provide global distribution and marketing through a partnership with Live Nation.

The deal may give Live Nation an advantage over Ticketmaster in the continuing fight for dominance in concert promotion and ticket sales. The two companies operated as partners until last year, when Ticketmaster CEO Sean Moriarty announced that his company would not extend its contract with Live Nation.

Under Live Nation’s contract with Ticketmaster, which will expire at the end of the year, LiveNation.com can sell a portion of the tickets for the company's concerts. Instead of partnering with another outside ticketing agency when the contract expires, Live Nation seems to be positioning its own website as the primary outlet to buy concert tickets online.

U2 frontman Bono shrugged off the overlying implications of his band’s deal with Live Nation, saying, “We’ve been dating for over 20 years now; it’s about time we tied the knot.”

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