Not too many positive things come to mind when thinking about Live Nation. Actually, I can’t really think of any. But that all changed Tuesday when Apple launched the “Live Nation presents” section in iTunes. Live Nation, the largest concert promotion company out there, puts on around some 22,000 concerts a year. In roughly 80 of their venues, they have wired them to be “next-generation wired live recording studios”. The partnership will bring fans not only music from Live Nation concerts, but footage as well. The selection is small, with only a handful of concerts available to download from artists like Duffy, OK Go, and Ziggy Marley but the two plan on greatly expanding their collection by the end of the year.

Live Music is not a new thing for Apple. For the past couple of years they have been offering 4 or 5 song EPs from artists; dubbing the series “Live from SoHo”. The range of artists is from acts like Santigold and the Rapture to bigger stars like Kanye’s Taylor Swift and Kings of Leon. There’s also the live albums that artists put out as well.

I’m happy to see a concert promoter start selling concerts. For the longest time I wondered why venues and promoters did not record and sell their concerts. I cannot think of any downsides for doing so and it would benefit both the venue and the artist. Having said so, I think this is a great move for Live Nation and it makes me hate them a little less. It’s going to be interesting to see what will come of the Live Nation, iTunes partnership. Will they offer every stop on tours or just select ones? And will other promoters follow them? And knowing Live Nation, how are they going to find some way to get every last nickel and dime out of us consumers? I guess only time will tell…

And for a really great, informative article on Live Nation and the Live Nation/Ticketmaster merger, check out Philly Weekly article here.