As reported by The New York Times, today the news broke that the massive entertainment giant Live Nation has teamed up two renowned independent New York clubs: the Bowery Ballroom and the Mercury Lounge. Michael Swier, founder of both the Bowery Ballroom and the Mercury Lounge, and Live Nation offered a joint announcement today, noting that they’d be creating a new promotion and booking company called Mercury East Presents. Mercury East Presents will see the Bowery and the Mercury aligning with Live Nation’s own Irving Plaza, Gramercy Theater, Warsaw, and Ford Amphitheater at Coney Island Boardwalk, with the multiple venues sharing “expertise and marketing.”
Recently, large-scale entertainment companies such as Live Nation and AEG have been scrambling to consolidate independent venues in local markets. For example, AEG recently bought the Bowery Presents—a partnership that included Terminal 5, the Music Hall of Williamsburg, and a number of other East Coast clubs—as well as joined with the owners of Barclays Center to purchase and renovate Webster Hall. Live Nation, in addition to this recent deal involving Mercury East Presents, has similarly been moving to acquire independents, with 2016 seeing the company purchase the Governors Ball.
AEG’s purchase of Bowery Presents had previously left many wondering the fate of the Bowery Ballroom, considering it was not a part of AEG’s deal. The Bowery Ballroom and the Mercury Lounge’s booking and marketing agreement with Bowery Presents ended on Sunday, which opened the door for Live Nation’s purchase and the announcement today. The Mercury East deal, as told by the New York Times, “also includes support in putting on concerts at major venues like Madison Square Garden and Radio City Music Hall, and in working with the promoters behind the Governors Ball.”
As Mr. Swier, who will retain ownership of the clubs he founded, shared his thoughts on the deal with the New York Times, “The way the landscape has changed these days, with consolidation, this is the counterbalance one would need to exist and compete with the formidable Bowery Presents-AEG alliance. … Going it alone was not an option.” He continued, “They haven’t totally taken away the indie mind-set. … That is my core.”
[H/T NYT]