Ticketing has been an active segment over the last two years, accounting for nine deals worth about $330 million. Eight of the nine were for companies that deal in the secondary ticketing market.  Only one deal, a venture capital round landed by Showclix, was for a company that offers primary ticketing solutions. Outside of Ticketmaster’s acquisition of TicketsNow, the eight deals – seven venture capital, one debt – averaged $8.9 million.

It seems Wall Street and The City in London smelt the money - and have dug deep over the past few years to enter the Wild West - the online secondary ticketing market - which is clearly proving to be lucrative. But is there change in their air?

It's an interesting mix - as Live Nation Entertainment  (LNE) brass Irving Azoff will certainly make a bold move to dynamic pricing and paperless ticketing, according to USA'S Ticketnews,  in order to stem the money-flow.  But will it be enough? And will LNE lose market share as clients flee for lower service costs and better deals other than Ticketmaster. Ticketing technology is common enough - and there's a slew of primary start-ups in the sluice, albeit without hefty venture capital  lining their pockets it appears. Expect more VC in this space in the future however.

The US Department of Justice clearly locked in anti-retaliation provisions,  when giving the green light for the Ticketmaster Live Nation merger, so that the new LNE can not retaliate against other industry players for making deals with new ticketing companies.

And LNE agreed that it will not retaliate against venue owners who leave to sign up with its rival promoters, ticketing companies or other competitors.

But will they?

During a 1998 speech at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Don Henley of the Eagles said about Azoff, “He may be Satan, but he's our Satan."

As Neil Diamond's manager, Azoff was caught in the media frenzy when the Wall St. Journal revealed that artists - including Neil Diamond, were withholding tickets from the general public in order to sell them at inflated prices on the secondary market.  Azoff and Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino both confirmed this practice during hearings last year.

"It's our job to make our clients aware of every opportunity that exists," Azoff said in an interview last year.

During a hearing before a sub-committee of the U.S. House Of Representatives last year Democratic Rep. Brad Sherman, who represents Azoff's Los Angeles district, got Azoff to boldly admit that 15 to 20 per cent of the tickets are held back - many of which likely end up in secondary broker's hands.

Sherman: If there’s ten thousand seats in the area, are you selling 10,000 tickets?

Azoff: Never. On average we might see 80 or 85 percent of the seats.

Sherman: Are those the good ones or the bad ones you’re not getting?

Azoff: The vast majority of the best seats in the house. They go to building holds, sponsor holds, band holds, record company holds. They go out the door multiple places.

But now Azoff's new tune is a chorus of quotes on how he wants to extinguish the secondary ticket Market. What he plans to do with LNE's secondary ticketing properties is another story. TicketExchange, Ticketsnow and GETMEIN! might end up on the chopping block. But who's actually going to buy them if they do come up for sale?

Quick switch to another tactic, The Miley Cyrus test. After all of the Miley Cyrus paperless tickets seats sold out when Azoff litmus-tested a rock solid block of the secondary ticketing market (tickets weren’t available on the secondary market due to the paperless concept)  the only way to gain access to the shows was through Ticketmaster’s own scalping service, called I Love All Access. Or should we say Azoff's Front Line Touting Services.

To quote Miley's site:

To ensure fans get fair access to seats at face value-the only way to get into the event is with the credit card used to purchase the tickets.

And when they are sold out - you could only buy them at the Front Desk at Front Line.

Last year, I Love All Access was charging over €800 for a ticket to see Van Halen - while regular tickets were a mere €38.00. The 'Five Star' package, included a goodie bag, a wimpy backstage tour (without any glimpse of the band), and a seat within the first nine rows.

It's clear that Azoff is a scrapper and feels that the artists (and his companies) should be the sole winners in the Ticket Stock Market. But will he pull it off with dynamic pricing and paperless ticketing? Will he back down and follow the rules laid down by the USDOJ and not retaliate against the emerging primary ticketing market, which, will without a doubt see the majority of new investment in the sector. 

More from Billboard.biz:

Look for more investments to be made in primary ticketing as the Live Nation-Ticketmaster merger may mark the beginning of a new era for the secondary market. Ticketmaster is already seeking to diminish the spending captured by secondary ticketing sites and brokers. At the same time, the merger is likely to increase competition in the primary marketplace. Just last week, Ticketfly signed an online ticketing and marketing deal with the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Md . (Ticketfly counts Social Leverage among its investors.)

Worst case scenario for LNE is not being able to crush the free market -  the secondary ticket sector - and losing significant market share of the primary market due to competition with no ridiculous service fees. Best case for them is stomping out the Secondary ticket market with technology and absolute control over resale, and fending off the primary market competitors with below-the-radar industry muscle.

Interesting times to come...