Musictoday Sold to Clear Channel

By Waldo Jaquith
Clear Channel Entertainment, spun off from Clear Channel earlier this year under the name "LiveNation," has agreed to buy Musictoday. The merchandise and ticket sales business was established in 2000 by Dave Matthews Band management, whose success building DMB's online merchandising infrastructure proved in demand among other musical acts who sought to avoid the expensive existing merchandising channels. Clear Channel invested in Musictoday early on, seeing that the merch company could grow enough to threaten the monopoly's dominance of the American music industry. Given Dave Matthews Band's historic distaste for Clear Channel, it's an ironic end to Musictoday's indie status.