Item 1. BUSINESS

Our Company

We believe that we are the largest live entertainment company in the world, connecting nearly 519 million fans across all of our platforms in 33 countries in 2014.

We believe we are the largest producer of live music concerts in the world, based on total fans that attend Live Nation events as compared to events of other promoters, connecting nearly 59 million fans to almost 23,000 events for over 2,700 artists in 2014. Live Nation owns, operates, has exclusive booking rights for or has an equity interest in 158 venues, including House of Blues ® music venues and prestigious locations such as The Fillmore in San Francisco, the Hollywood Palladium, the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam and 3Arena in Ireland.

We believe we are the world’s leading live entertainment ticketing sales and marketing company, based on the number of tickets we sell. Ticketmaster provides ticket sales, ticket resale services and marketing and distribution globally through www.ticketmaster.com and www.livenation.com, numerous retail outlets and call centers. Ticketmaster serves clients worldwide across multiple event categories, providing ticketing services for leading arenas, stadiums, professional sports franchises and leagues, college sports teams, performing arts venues, museums and theaters.

We believe we are one of the world’s leading artist management companies based on the number of artists represented. Our artist management companies manage musical artists and acts across all music genres. As of December 31, 2014, we had over 60 managers providing services to approximately 280 artists.

We believe our global network is the world’s largest music marketing network for corporate brands and includes one of the world’s leading ecommerce websites, based on a comparison of gross sales of top internet retailers. In 2014, we had over 130 million customers in our database based on visitors to www.livenation.com and www.ticketmaster.com and our other online properties.

Our principal executive offices are located at 9348 Civic Center Drive, Beverly Hills, California 90210 (telephone: 310-867-7000). Our principal website is www.livenationentertainment.com. Live Nation is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, trading under the symbol “LYV.”

Our Strategy

Our strategy is to leverage our leadership position in live entertainment and our relationships with fans, venues, artists and advertisers to sell more tickets and grow our revenue, earnings and cash flow. We pay artists, venues and teams to secure

content and tickets; we invest in technology to build innovative products which advance our ticketing, advertising and mobile platforms; and we are paid by sponsors and advertisers that want to connect their brands with our passionate fan base.

Our core businesses surrounding the promotion of live events include ticketing, sponsorship and advertising, and artist management. We believe our focus on growing these businesses will increase shareholder value as we continue to enhance our revenue streams and achieve economies of scale with our global platforms. We also continue to strengthen our core operations, further expanding into additional global markets and optimizing our cost structure. Our strategy is to grow and innovate through the initiatives listed below.

•	Expand our Concert Platform. We will grow our fan base and increase our ticket sales by continuing to build our portfolio of festivals globally, expanding our business into select additional top global music markets, and further building our presence in existing markets.

•	Drive Conversion of Ticket Sales through Development of Innovative Products. We are focused on selling tickets through a wide set of sales channels, including mobile and online, and leveraging our extensive fan database to better reach consumers. We will continue to focus on developing innovative products to build fan traffic to our sales channels and drive increased ticket sales.

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Grow Sponsorship and Advertising. Our goal is to continue to drive growth in this area and capture a larger share of the music sponsorship market. We will focus on expanding and developing new relationships with corporate sponsors to provide them with targeted strategic programs through our unique relationship with fans and artists, our network of venues and our extensive ticketing operations and online presence. In addition, we have established one of the few ecommerce sites that has a substantial and growing online advertising platform.

•	Sell more Tickets and Drive Reductions in the Cost to Sell a Ticket. We will continue to invest in our ticketing platforms and related venue and fan products to strengthen the functionality of our system and drive additional ticket sales through an improved user experience while also creating a more efficient system.

•	Grow Secondary Ticket Volume. We will continue to grow the volume of secondary tickets sold in partnership with content owners through a trusted environment for fan ticket exchanges. We will expand globally the availability of secondary tickets, allowing our fans to have a dependable, secure destination for all events.

•	Drive Artist Management through our Other Core Businesses. We believe that effective artist management provides further connections to our concert platform, supporting its growth. By delivering strong and consistent services to our artist managers and their clients, we believe we can continue to build our market share in both artist management and concert promotion.

Our Assets

We believe we have a unique portfolio of assets that is unmatched in the live entertainment industry.

•	Fans. During 2014, our events were attended by nearly 59 million live music fans. Our database of our fans and their interests provides us with the means to efficiently market our shows to them as well as to offer other music-related products and services. This fan database is an invaluable asset that we are able to use to provide unique services to our artists and corporate clients.

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Artists. We have extensive relationships with artists ranging from those acts that are just beginning their careers to established superstars. In 2014, we promoted shows or tours for over 2,700 artists globally. In addition, through our artist management companies, we manage approximately 280 artists. We believe our artist relationships are a competitive advantage and will help us pursue our strategy to develop additional ancillary revenue streams around the ticket purchase, live event and the artists themselves.

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Online Services and Ticketing. We own and operate various branded websites, both in the United States and abroad, which are customized to reflect services offered in each jurisdiction. Our primary online websites, www.livenation.com and www.ticketmaster.com, together with our other branded ticketing websites, are designed to promote ticket sales for live events and to disseminate event and related merchandise information online. Fans can access www.livenation.com and www.ticketmaster.com directly, from affiliated websites and through numerous direct links from banners and event profiles hosted by approved third-party websites. We also have both Live Nation and Ticketmaster mobile apps that our fans can use to access event information and buy tickets.

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Distribution Network. We believe that our global distribution network of promoters, venues and festivals provides us with a strong position in the live concert industry. We believe we have one of the largest global networks of live entertainment businesses in the world, with offices in 76 cities in North America and 27 countries worldwide. In addition, we own, operate, have exclusive booking rights or have an equity interest in 158 venues located across six countries as of the end of 2014, making us, we believe, the second largest operator of music venues in the world. We

also believe that we are one of the largest music festival producers in the world with more than 60 festivals globally. In addition, we believe that our global ticketing distribution network, with one of the largest ecommerce sites on the internet, approximately 8,400 sales outlets and 16 call centers serving more than 12,000 clients worldwide, makes us the largest ticketing network in the industry.

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Sponsors. We employ a sales force of approximately 230 people that worked with approximately 750 sponsors during 2014, through a combination of local venue-related deals and national deals, both in North America and internationally. Our sponsors include some of the most well-recognized national and global brands including Citi, American Express, Carlsberg, O2, Anheuser-Busch, Red Bull, Pepsi and SAP (each of these brands is a registered trademark of the sponsor).

•	Employees. At December 31, 2014, we employed approximately 7,900 full-time employees who are dedicated to providing first-class service to our artists, fans, ticketing clients and corporate sponsors. Many of our employees have decades of experience in promoting and producing live concerts, ticketing operations, sales and marketing, artist management and venue management.

Our History

We were incorporated in Delaware on August 2, 2005 in preparation for the contribution and transfer by Clear Channel of substantially all of its entertainment assets and liabilities to us. We completed the Separation on December 21, 2005, and became a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange trading under the symbol “LYV.”

On January 25, 2010, we merged with Ticketmaster and it became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Live Nation. Effective with the merger Live Nation, Inc. changed its name to Live Nation Entertainment, Inc.

Our Industry

We operate in five main industries within the live entertainment business, including live music events, venue operations, ticketing services, sponsorship and advertising sales and artist management and services.

The live music industry includes concert promotion and/or production of music events or tours. Typically, to initiate live music events or tours, booking agents directly contract with artists to represent them for defined periods. Booking agents then contact promoters, who will contract with them or directly with artists to arrange events. Booking agents generally receive fixed or percentage fees from artists for their services. Promoters earn revenue primarily from the sale of tickets. Artists are paid by the promoter under one of several different formulas, which may include fixed guarantees and/or a percentage of ticket sales or event profits. In addition, promoters may also reimburse artists for certain costs of production, such as sound and lights. Under guaranteed payment formulas, promoters assume the risks of unprofitable events. Promoters may renegotiate lower guarantees or cancel events because of insufficient ticket sales in order to reduce their losses. Promoters can also reduce the risk of losses by entering into global or national touring agreements with artists and including the right to offset lower performing shows against higher performing shows on the tour in the determination of overall artist fees.

For music tours, two to nine months typically elapse between initially booking artists and the first performances. Promoters, in conjunction with artists, managers and booking agents, set ticket prices and advertise events. Promoters market events, sell tickets, rent or otherwise provide venues and arrange for local production services, such as stages and equipment.

Venue operators typically contract with promoters to rent their venues for specific events on specific dates and receive fixed fees or percentages of ticket sales as rental income. In addition, venue operators provide services such as concessions, parking, security, ushering and ticket-taking, and receive some or all of the revenue from concessions, merchandise, venue sponsorships, parking and premium seating.

Ticketing services include the sale of tickets primarily through online channels but also through phone, mobile devices, outlet and box office channels. Ticketing companies will contract with venues and/or promoters to sell tickets to events over a period of time, generally three to five years. The ticketing company does not set ticket prices or seating charts for events as this information is given to them by the venue and/or promoter in charge of the event. The ticketing company generally gets paid a fixed fee per ticket sold or a percentage of the total ticket service charges. Venues will often also sell tickets through a local box office at the venue using the ticketing company’s technology. The ticketing company will generally not earn a fee on these box office tickets. The ticketing company receives the cash for the ticket sales and related service charges at the time the ticket is sold and periodically remits these receipts to the venue and/or promoter after deducting their fee. As ticket sales increase, related ticketing operating income generally increases as well.

Ticketing resale services refers to the sale of tickets by a holder who originally purchased the tickets from a venue, promoter or other entity, or a ticketing services provider selling on behalf of a venue, promoter or other entity. Resale tickets are also referred to as secondary tickets. Generally, the ticket reseller is paid a service charge when the ticket is resold and the negotiated ticket value is paid to the holder.

Artist managers primarily provide services to music recording artists to manage their careers. The artist manager negotiates on behalf of the artist and is paid a fee, generally as a percentage of the artist’s earnings. Artist services creates and sells merchandise for music artists at live performances, to retailers and directly to consumers via the internet, and also connects artists to corporate clients for events, and generally are paid a percentage of the artist’s earnings.

The sponsorship and advertising industry within the live entertainment business involves the sale of international, national, regional and local advertising campaigns and promotional programs to a variety of companies to advertise or promote their brand or product. The advertising campaigns typically include venue naming rights, on-site venue signage, online banner advertisements and exclusive partner rights in various categories such as beverage, hotel and telecommunications. These promotional programs may include event pre-sales and on-site product activation.

Our Business

Our reportable segments are Concerts, Ticketing, Artist Nation and Sponsorship & Advertising.

Concerts. Our Concerts segment principally involves the global promotion of live music events in our owned or operated venues and in rented third-party venues, the operation and management of music venues and the production of music festivals across the world. During 2014, our Concerts business generated approximately $4.7 billion, or 68.8%, of our total revenue. We promoted 22,800 live music events in 2014, including artists such as One Direction, Jay-Z & Beyonce, Justin Timberlake, Luke Bryan, Jason Aldean and Lady Gaga and through festivals such as Electric Daisy Carnival, Rock Werchter, Reading and T in the Park. While our Concerts segment operates year-round, we generally experience higher revenue during the second and third quarters due to the seasonal nature of shows at our outdoor amphitheaters and festivals, which primarily occur from May through September.

As a promoter, we earn revenue primarily from the sale of tickets and pay artists under one of several formulas, including a fixed guaranteed amount and/or a percentage of ticket sales or event profits. For each event, we either use a venue we own or operate, or rent a third-party venue. Revenue is generally impacted by the number of events, volume of ticket sales and ticket prices. Event costs such as artist fees and production service expenses are included in direct operating expenses and are typically substantial in relation to the revenue. As a result, significant increases or decreases in promotion revenue do not typically result in comparable changes to operating income.

As a venue operator, we generate revenue primarily from the sale of concessions, parking, premium seating, rental income, venue sponsorships and ticket rebates or service charges earned on tickets sold through our internal ticketing operations or by third parties under ticketing agreements. In our amphitheaters, the sale of concessions is outsourced and we receive a share of the net revenue from the concessionaire, which is recorded in revenue with no significant direct operating expenses associated with it. Revenue generated from venue operations typically has a higher margin than promotion revenue and therefore typically has a more direct relationship to changes in operating income.

As a festival producer, we typically book artists, secure festival sites, provide for third-party production services, sell tickets and advertise events to attract fans. We also provide or arrange for third-parties to provide operational services as needed such as concessions, merchandising and security. We earn revenue from the sale of tickets and typically pay artists a fixed guaranteed amount. We also earn revenue from the sale of concessions, camping fees, festival sponsorships and ticket rebates or service charges earned on tickets sold. For each event, we either use a festival site we own or rent a third-party festival site. Revenue is generally impacted by the number of events, volume of ticket sales and ticket prices. Event costs such as artist fees and production service expenses are included in direct operating expenses and are typically substantial in relation to the revenue. Since the artist fees are typically fixed guarantees for these events, significant increases or decreases in festival promotion revenue will generally result in comparable changes to operating income.

Ticketing. Our Ticketing segment is primarily an agency business that sells tickets for events on behalf of its clients and retains a fixed fee or a percentage of the total convenience charge and order processing fee for its services. We sell tickets for our events and also for third-party clients across multiple live event categories, providing ticketing services for leading arenas, stadiums, amphitheaters, music clubs, concert promoters, professional sports franchises and leagues, college sports teams, performing arts venues, museums and theaters. We sell tickets through websites, mobile apps, ticket outlets and telephone call centers. During the year ended December 31, 2014, we sold 69%, 18%, 9% and 4% of primary tickets through these channels, respectively. Our Ticketing segment also manages our online activities including enhancements to our websites and bundled product offerings. During 2014, our Ticketing business generated approximately $1.6 billion, or 22.7%, of our total revenue, which excludes the face value of tickets sold. Through all of our ticketing services, we sold 154 million tickets in 2014 on which we were paid fees for our services. In addition, approximately 300 million tickets in total were sold using our Ticketmaster systems, through season seat packages and our venue clients’ box offices, for which we do not receive a fee. Our ticketing sales are impacted by fluctuations in the availability of events for sale to the public, which may vary depending upon event scheduling by our clients.

We sell tickets on behalf of our clients through our ticketing platforms across the world. In order to provide state-of-the-art ticketing technology services, we are currently in the process of re-platforming portions of our Ticketmaster ticketing system which we believe will result in an improved experience for our fans and better tools and information resources for our venue clients. We started this re-platforming for our North America business in 2011 and currently expect to start using the new technology at certain of our venue clients in 2015. In addition to providing improved technology products, we believe that once this re-platforming is complete and rolled out to all our clients it will allow us to improve the efficiency of our ticketing systems and processes and lead to cost reductions.

We generally enter into written agreements with individual clients to provide primary ticketing services for specified multi-year periods, typically ranging from three to five years. Pursuant to these agreements, clients generally determine and then tell us what tickets will be available for sale, when such tickets will go on sale to the public and what the ticket price will be. Agreements with venue clients generally grant us the right to sell tickets for all events presented at the relevant venue for which tickets are made available to the general public. Agreements with promoter clients generally grant us the right to sell tickets for all events presented by a given promoter at any venue, unless that venue is already covered by an existing exclusive agreement with our ticketing business or another ticketing service provider. Where we have exclusive contracts, clients may not utilize, authorize or promote the services of third-party ticketing companies or technologies while under contract with us. While we generally have the right to sell a substantial portion of our clients’ tickets, venue and promoter clients often sell and distribute group sales and season tickets in-house. In addition, under many written agreements between promoters and our clients, the client often allocates certain tickets for artist, promoter, agent and venue use and does not make those tickets available for sale by us. We also generally allow clients to make a certain limited number of tickets available for sale through fan clubs, or other similar arrangements, from which we generally derive no revenue unless selected by the club to facilitate the sales. As a result, we do not sell all of our clients’ tickets and the amount of tickets that we sell varies from client to client and from event to event, and varies as to any single client from year to year.

We currently offer ticket resale services, or secondary ticketing, through our integrated inventory platform, referred to as TM+, TicketsNow (in the United States and Canada), our TicketExchange service (in the United States, Europe and Canada) and GET ME IN! (in the United Kingdom). We enter into listing agreements with ticket resellers to post their ticket inventory for sale at a purchase price equal to a ticket resale price determined by the ticket reseller plus an amount equal to a percentage of the ticket resale price and a pre-determined service fee. We remit the ticket resale price to the ticket resellers and retain the remainder of the purchase price as our fee. While we do not generally acquire tickets for sale on our own behalf, we may do so from time to time on a limited basis. In addition to enabling premium primary ticket sales, the TicketExchange service allows consumers to resell and purchase tickets online for certain events for our venue clients who elect to participate in the TicketExchange service. Sellers and buyers each pay a fee that has been negotiated with the relevant client, a portion of which may be shared with the client.

Artist Nation. Our Artist Nation segment primarily provides management services to music artists in exchange for a commission on the earnings of these artists. Our Artist Nation segment also creates and sells merchandise for music artists at live performances, to retailers and directly to consumers via the internet. During 2014, our Artist Nation business generated approximately $389 million, or 5.7%, of our total revenue. Revenue earned from our Artist Nation segment is impacted to a large degree by the touring schedules of the artists we represent and generally we experience higher revenue during the second and third quarters as the period from May through September tends to be a popular time for touring events.

Sponsorship & Advertising. Our Sponsorship & Advertising segment employs a sales force that creates and maintains relationships with sponsors, through a combination of strategic, international, national and local opportunities that allow businesses to reach customers through our concert, venue, artist relationship and ticketing assets, including advertising on our websites. We work with our corporate clients to help create marketing programs that drive their business goals and connect their brands directly with fans and artists. We also develop, book and produce custom events or programs for our clients’ specific brands which are typically experienced exclusively by the clients’ consumers. These custom events can involve live music events with talent and media, using both online and traditional outlets. During 2014, our Sponsorship & Advertising business generated approximately $300 million, or 4.4%, of our total revenue. We typically experience higher revenue in the second and third quarters as a large portion of sponsorships are typically associated with our outdoor venues and festivals which are primarily used in or occur from May through September.

We believe that we have a unique opportunity to connect the music fan to corporate sponsors and therefore seek to optimize this relationship through strategic sponsorship programs. We continue to also pursue the sale of national and local sponsorships, both domestically and internationally, and placement of advertising, including signage, online advertising and promotional programs. Many of our venues have venue naming rights sponsorship programs. We believe national and international sponsorships allow us to maximize our network of venues and to arrange multi-venue branding opportunities for advertisers. Our local and venue-focused sponsorships include venue signage, promotional programs, on-site activation, hospitality and tickets, and are derived from a variety of companies across various industry categories.

Live Nation Venue Details

In the live entertainment industry, venue types generally consist of:

•	Stadiums—Stadiums are multi-purpose facilities, often housing local sports teams. Stadiums typically have 30,000 or more seats. Although they are the largest venues available for live music, they are not specifically designed for live music.

•	Amphitheaters—Amphitheaters are generally outdoor venues with between 5,000 and 30,000 seats that are used primarily in the summer season. We believe they are popular because they are designed specifically for concert events, with premium seat packages and better lines of sight and acoustics.

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Arenas—Arenas are indoor venues that are used as multi-purpose facilities, often housing local sports teams. Arenas typically have between 5,000 and 20,000 seats. Because they are indoors, they are able to offer amenities that other similar-sized outdoor venues cannot, such as luxury suites and premium club memberships. As a result, we believe they have become increasingly popular for higher-priced concerts aimed at audiences willing to pay for these amenities.

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Theaters—Theaters are indoor venues that are built primarily for music events but may include theatrical performances. These venues typically have a capacity between 1,000 and 6,500. Because these venues have a smaller capacity than an amphitheater, they do not offer as much economic upside on a per show basis. However, because theaters can be used year-round, unlike most amphitheaters, they can generate annual profits similar to those of an amphitheater. Theaters represent less risk to concert promoters because they have lower fixed costs associated with hosting a concert and may provide a more appropriately-sized venue for developing artists and more artists in general.

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Clubs—Clubs are indoor venues that are built primarily for music events but may also include comedy clubs. These venues typically have a capacity of less than 1,000 and often without full fixed seating. Because of their small size, they do not offer as much economic upside, but they also represent less risk to a concert promoter because they have lower fixed costs associated with hosting a concert and also may provide a more appropriately-sized venue for developing artists. Clubs can also be used year-round and can therefore generate higher profits for the year, even though per show profits are lower.

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House of Blues—House of Blues venues are indoor venues that offer customers an integrated live music and dining experience. The live music halls are specially designed to provide optimum acoustics and typically can accommodate between 1,000 to 2,000 guests. A full-service restaurant and bar is located adjacent to the live music hall. We believe that the high quality of the food, service and unique atmosphere in our restaurants attracts customers to these venues independently from an entertainment event and generates a significant amount of repeat business from local customers.

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Festival Sites—Festival sites are outdoor locations used primarily in the summer season to stage large single-day or multi-day concert events featuring several artists on multiple stages. Depending on the location, festival site capacities can range from 10,000 to 135,000. We believe they are popular because of the value provided to the fan by packaging several artists together for an event. While festival sites only host a few events each year, they can provide higher operating income because we are able to generate income from many different services provided at the event and they have lower costs associated with producing the event and maintaining the site.

The following table summarizes the number of venues by type that we owned, leased, operated, had exclusive booking rights for or had an equity interest in as of December 31, 2014:

Venue Type		Capacity		Owned			Leased			Operated			Exclusive Booking Rights			Equity Interest			Total
Stadium		More than 30,000		—			—			—			1			—			1
Amphitheater		5,000 - 30,000		8			27			6			11			—			52
Arena		5,000 - 20,000		1			3			3			3			—			10
Theater		1,000 - 6,500		7			25			5			15			1			53
Club		Less than 1,000		3			13			—			11			—			27
House of Blues		1,000 - 2,000		2			10			—			—			—			12
Festival Site		N/A		3			—			—			—			—			3
Total venues in operation				24			78			14			41			1			158
Venues currently under construction				—			3			1			—			—			4
Venues not currently in operation				1			3			—			—			—			4
Total venues in operation:
North America				17			70			7			41			1			136
International				7			8			7			—			—			22

Competition

Competition in the live entertainment industry is intense. We believe that we compete primarily on the basis of our ability to deliver quality music events, sell tickets and provide enhanced fan and artist experiences. We believe that our primary strengths include:

•	the quality of service delivered to our artists, fans, ticketing clients and corporate sponsors;

•	our track record in promoting and producing live music events and tours both domestically and internationally;

•	artist relationships;

•	our global footprint;

•	ticketing software and services;

•	our ecommerce site and associated database;

•	distribution platform (venues);

•	the scope and effectiveness in our expertise of marketing and sponsorship programs; and

•	our financial stability.

Although we believe that our products and services currently compete favorably with respect to such factors, we cannot provide any assurance that we can maintain our competitive position against current and potential competitors, especially those with significantly greater brand recognition, or financial, marketing, support, technical and other resources.

In the markets in which we promote music concerts, we face competition from both promoters and venue operators. We believe that barriers to entry into the promotion services business are low and that certain local promoters are increasingly expanding the geographic scope of their operations.

Some of our competitors in the live music industry are Anschutz Entertainment Group, or AEG, Another Planet Entertainment, Jam Productions, Ltd., I.M.P. and SFX Entertainment, in addition to numerous smaller regional companies and various casinos and venues in North America and Europe. AEG operates under a number of different names including AEG Live, Concerts West, Goldenvoice and The Messina Group. Some of our competitors in the live music industry have a stronger presence in certain markets, have access to other sports and entertainment venues and may have greater financial resources in those markets, which may enable them to gain a greater competitive advantage in relation to us.

In markets where we own or operate a venue, we compete with other venues to serve artists likely to perform in that general region. Consequently, touring artists have various alternatives to our venues when scheduling tours. Our main competitors in venue management include SMG, AEG and The Nederlander Organization, in addition to numerous smaller regional companies in North America and Europe. Some of our competitors in venue management have a greater number of venues in certain markets and may have greater financial resources in those markets.

The ticketing services industry includes the sale of tickets primarily through online channels, but also through telephone, mobile devices and ticket outlets. As online and mobile ticket purchases increase, related ticketing costs generally decrease, which has made it easier for technology-based companies to offer primary ticketing services and standalone, automated ticketing systems that enable venues to perform their own ticketing services or utilize self-ticketing systems. In the online environment, we compete with other websites, online event sites and ticketing companies to provide event information, sell tickets and provide other online services such as fan clubs and artist websites.

We experience competition from other national, regional and local primary ticketing service providers to secure new venues and to reach fans for events. Resale, or secondary, ticketing services and the consolidation of the resale industry, which historically had been more fragmented and consisted of a significant number of local resellers with limited inventory selling through traditional storefronts, has created more aggressive buying of primary tickets whereby brokers are using automated internet “bot” technology to attempt to buy the best tickets when they go on sale. The internet allows fans and other ticket resellers to reach a vastly larger audience through the aggregation of inventory on online resale websites and marketplaces, and provides consumers with more convenient access to tickets for a larger number and greater variety of events. We also face significant and increasing competition from companies that sell self-ticketing systems, as well as from venues that choose to integrate self-ticketing systems into their existing operations or acquire primary ticketing service providers. Our main competitors include primary ticketing companies such as Tickets.com, AXS, Paciolan, Inc., Veritix and CTS Eventim AG, online and event companies such as Eventbrite, eTix and Ticketfly and secondary ticketing companies such as StubHub.

In the artist management business, we compete with other artist managers both at larger talent representation companies, such as Red Light Management, as well as smaller artist management companies and individuals. In the artist services business, we compete with companies typically only involved in one or a few of the services we provide. Some of these competitors include Bravado, Artist Arena and Global Merchandising Services.

Our main competitors at the local market level for sponsorships and advertising dollars include local sports teams, which often offer state-of-the-art venues and strong local media packages, as well as festivals, theme parks and other local events. On the national level, our competitors include the major sports leagues that sell sponsorships combined with significant national media packages.

Government Regulations

We are subject to federal, state and local laws, both domestically and internationally, governing matters such as:

•	construction, renovation and operation of our venues;

•	licensing, permitting and zoning, including noise ordinances;

•	human health, safety and sanitation requirements;

•	the service of food and alcoholic beverages;

•	working conditions, labor, minimum wage and hour, citizenship and employment laws;

•	compliance with the ADA and the DDA;

•	historic landmark rules;

•	compliance with United States Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the United Kingdom Bribery Act 2010 and similar regulations in other countries;

•	hazardous and non-hazardous waste and other environmental protection laws;

•	sales and other taxes and withholding of taxes;

•	privacy laws and protection of personally identifiable information;

•	marketing activities via the telephone and online; and

•	primary ticketing and ticket resale services.

We believe that we are in material compliance with these laws. The regulations relating to our food service in our venues are many and complex. A variety of regulations at various governmental levels relating to the handling, preparation and serving

of food, the cleanliness of food production facilities and the hygiene of food-handling personnel are enforced primarily at the local public health department level.

We also must comply with applicable licensing laws, as well as state and local service laws, commonly called dram shop statutes. Dram shop statutes generally prohibit serving alcoholic beverages to certain persons such as an individual who is intoxicated or a minor. If we violate dram shop laws, we may be liable to third parties for the acts of the customer. Although we generally hire outside vendors to provide these services at our larger operated venues and regularly sponsor training programs designed to minimize the likelihood of such a situation, we cannot guarantee that intoxicated or minor customers will not be served or that liability for their acts will not be imposed on us.

We are also required to comply with the ADA, the DDA and certain state statutes and local ordinances that, among other things, require that places of public accommodation, including both existing and newly-constructed venues, be accessible to customers with disabilities. The ADA and the DDA require that venues be constructed to permit persons with disabilities full use of a live entertainment venue. The ADA and the DDA may also require that certain modifications be made to existing venues to make them accessible to customers and employees who are disabled. In order to comply with the ADA, the DDA and other similar ordinances, we may face substantial capital expenditures in the future.

We are required to comply with the laws of the countries in which we operate and also the United States Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the United Kingdom Bribery Act 2010 regarding anti-bribery regulations. These regulations make it illegal for us to pay, promise to pay or receive money or anything of value to, or from, any government or foreign public official for the purpose of directly or indirectly obtaining or retaining business. This ban on illegal payments and bribes also applies to agents or intermediaries who use funds for purposes prohibited by the statute.

We are required to comply with federal, state and international laws regarding privacy and the storing, sharing, use, disclosure and protection of personally identifiable information and user data. Specifically, personally identifiable information is increasingly subject to legislation and regulations in numerous jurisdictions around the world, the intent of which is to protect the privacy of personal information that is collected, processed and transmitted in or from the governing jurisdiction.

From time to time, governmental bodies have proposed legislation that could have an effect on our business. For example, some legislatures have proposed laws in the past that would impose potential liability on us and other promoters and producers of live music events for entertainment taxes and for incidents that occur at our events, particularly relating to drugs and alcohol. More recently, some jurisdictions have proposed legislation that would restrict ticketing methods, mandate ticket inventory disclosure and attack current policies governing season tickets for sports teams.

In addition, we and our venues are subject to extensive environmental laws and regulations relating to the use, storage, disposal, emission and release of hazardous and non-hazardous substances, as well as zoning and noise level restrictions which may affect, among other things, the hours of operations of and the type of events we can produce at our venues.

Intellectual Property

We create, own and distribute intellectual property worldwide. It is our practice to protect our trademarks, brands, copyrights, patents and other original and acquired works, ancillary goods and services. Our trademarks include, among others, the word marks “Live Nation,” “Ticketmaster,” “House of Blues” and “The Fillmore,” as well as the Live Nation, Ticketmaster, House of Blues and The Fillmore logos. We have registered many of our trademarks in numerous foreign countries. We believe that our trademarks and other proprietary rights have significant value and are important to our brand-building efforts and the marketing of our services. We cannot predict, however, whether steps taken by us to protect our proprietary rights will be adequate to prevent misappropriation of these rights.

Employees

As of December 31, 2014, we had approximately 7,900 full-time employees, including 5,400 in North America and 2,500 international employees, of which approximately 7,700 were employed in our operations departments and approximately 200 were employed in our corporate group.

Our staffing needs vary significantly throughout the year. Therefore, we also employ part-time and/or seasonal employees, primarily for our live music venues. As of December 31, 2014, we employed approximately 6,100 seasonal and/or part-time employees and during peak seasonal periods, particularly in the summer months, we employed as many as 15,500 seasonal employees in 2014. The stagehands at some of our venues and other employees are subject to collective bargaining agreements. Our union agreements typically have a term of three years and thus regularly expire and require negotiation in the course of our business. We believe that we enjoy good relations with our employees and other unionized labor involved in our events, and there have been no significant work stoppages in the past three years. Upon the expiration of any of our collective bargaining agreements, however, we may be unable to renegotiate on terms favorable to us, and our business operations at one or more of our facilities may be interrupted as a result of labor disputes or difficulties and delays in the process of renegotiating our collective bargaining agreements. In addition, our business operations at one or more of our facilities may also be

interrupted as a result of labor disputes by outside unions attempting to unionize a venue even though we do not have unionized labor at that venue currently. A work stoppage at one or more of our owned or operated venues or at our promoted events could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. We cannot predict the effect that a potential work stoppage will have on our results of operations.

Executive Officers

Set forth below are the names, ages and current positions of our executive officers and other significant employees as of February 20, 2015.

Name		Age		Position
Michael Rapino		49		President, Chief Executive Officer and Director
Ron Bension		60		President–HOB Entertainment
Joe Berchtold		50		Chief Operating Officer
Mark Campana		57		Co-President–North America Concerts
Brian Capo		48		Chief Accounting Officer
Arthur Fogel		61		Chairman–Global Music and President–Global Touring
John Hopmans		56		Executive Vice President–Mergers and Acquisitions and Strategic Finance
John Reid		53		President–Live Nation Europe Concerts
Alan Ridgeway		48		President–International and Emerging Markets
Bob Roux		57		Co-President–North America Concerts
Michael Rowles		49		General Counsel and Secretary
Jared Smith		37		President–Ticketmaster North America
Russell Wallach		49		President–North America Sponsorships
Kathy Willard		48		Chief Financial Officer
Mark Yovich		40		President–Ticketmaster International
David Zedeck		50		President–Global Talent and Artist Development

Michael Rapino is our President and Chief Executive Officer and has served in this capacity since August 2005. He has also served on our board of directors since December 2005. Mr. Rapino has worked for us or our predecessors since 1999.

Ron Bension is President of our HOB Entertainment division and has served in this capacity since November 2010. Until November 2010, Mr. Bension served as Chief Executive Officer for TicketsNow, a division of Ticketmaster, since joining us in January 2010.

Joe Berchtold is our Chief Operating Officer and has served in this capacity since joining us in April 2011. Prior to that, Mr. Berchtold was at Technicolor, where he was most recently President of Technicolor Creative Services, after joining them in 2003.

Mark Campana is Co-President of our North America Concerts division and has served in this capacity since October 2010. Prior to that, Mr. Campana served as President of our Midwest Region in North America Concerts. Mr. Campana has worked for us or our predecessors since 1980.

Brian Capo is our Chief Accounting Officer and has served in this capacity since joining us in December 2007.

Arthur Fogel is the Chairman of our Global Music group and President of our Global Touring division and has served in this capacity since 2005. Mr. Fogel has worked for us or our predecessors since 1999.

John Hopmans is our Executive Vice President of Mergers and Acquisitions and Strategic Finance and has served in this capacity since joining us in April 2008.

John Reid is President of our Europe Concerts division and has served in that capacity since joining us in January 2012. Prior to that, Mr. Reid was the Chief Executive Officer of Warner Music Europe and International Marketing from November 2010 to December 2011. From February 2007 to October 2010, Mr. Reid was the Vice Chairman of Warner Music International and President of Warner Music Continental Europe.

Alan Ridgeway is President of our International and Emerging Markets division and has served in this capacity since November 2011. Prior to that, Mr. Ridgeway was Chief Executive Officer of our International divisions from September 2007

to October 2011. From September 2005 to August 2007, Mr. Ridgeway was our Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Ridgeway has worked for us or our predecessors since 2002.

Bob Roux is Co-President of our North America Concerts division and has served in this capacity since October 2010. Prior to that, Mr. Roux served as President of our Southwest Region in North America Concerts. Mr. Roux has worked for us or our predecessors since 1990.

Michael Rowles is our General Counsel and has served in this capacity since joining us in March 2006 and as our Secretary since May 2007.

Jared Smith is President of Ticketmaster’s North America division and has served in this capacity since May 2013. Prior to that, Mr. Smith served as Ticketmaster’s Chief Operating Officer from May 2010 to April 2013 and has worked for us or our predecessors since 2003.

Russell Wallach is President of our North America Sponsorships division and has served in this capacity since July 2006. Mr. Wallach has worked for us or our predecessors since 1996.

Kathy Willard is our Chief Financial Officer and has served in this capacity since September 2007. From September 2005 to August 2007, Ms. Willard was our Chief Accounting Officer. Ms. Willard has worked for us or our predecessors since 1998.

Mark Yovich is President of Ticketmaster’s International division and has served in this capacity since November 2011. Prior to that, Mr. Yovich served as Executive Vice President and General Manager of our International eCommerce division from January 2010 to October 2011. Mr. Yovich has worked for us or our predecessors since 2000.

David Zedeck is President of Global Talent and Artist Development for our Concerts segment and has served in this capacity since joining us in July 2013. Prior to that, Mr. Zedeck was a music agent, most recently spending eight years at Creative Artists Agency.

Available Information

We are required to file annual, quarterly and current reports, proxy statements and other information with the SEC. You may read and copy any materials we have filed with the SEC at the SEC’s Public Reference Room at 100 F Street, NE, Washington, DC 20549. You may obtain information on the operation of the Public Reference Room by calling the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330. Our filings with the SEC are also available to the public through the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.

You can find more information about us online at our investor relations website located at investors.livenationentertainment.com. Our Annual Report on Form 10-K, our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, our Current Reports on Form 8-K and any amendments to those reports are available free of charge on our website as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such material with the SEC. The information posted on or accessible through our website is not incorporated into this annual report on Form 10-K.