Live Nation and Ticketmaster to merge?

Reuters is reporting a possible merge between the nation's largest concert promoter and the nation's largest ticket seller here. Granted, one of my New Years wishes was that places like The Showbox would stop using Ticketmaster.... The Showbox is owned by corporate giant AEG, Live Nation's only real competitor, a merger would likely force them to use a different ticket vendor... but this will only further consolidate the corporate music industry network into the hands of just a few controlling companies. In the short run, AEG-owned or associated venues like The Showbox, Bumbershoot and WAMU Theater might be forced into using another vendor with lesser fees than Ticketmaster, but in the long run the results will probably be worse for music fans. It would be cool if The Seattle Center ticket office moved to Brown Paper Tickets from Ticketmaster, then I could get tickets for rollerderby at Key Arena without all the insane Ticketmaster fees!