It’s official. The Department of Justice is approving the merger of ticket king Ticketmaster and concert promotions giant Live Nation. The joining of the two companies was announced last February, but has caused concerns that the combination would have a near-monpoloy on the booking, ticket and merchandise sales of major artists. Several concessions had to be met before the merger was allowed including Ticketmaster selling Paciolan, a ticketing company they bought a few years back to Comcast-Spectacor or another firm and licensing ticket software to Live Nation’s biggest competitor AEG Live.

Full story at NYtimes