It was a vast empire that spanned the globe, operated lawlessly, and challenged the US’s government’s attempts to restrain it. Now humbled, it is being rebuilt by a man who saw the vast power it once wielded and has the ambition and the brutal willingness to say or do whatever it takes to create a new empire and bring it back to its past glories.

But has Irving Azoff orchestrated complete control of the new Russia Live Nation? The line from the announcement yesterday is that Michael Rapino remaining as CEO of the new company. Azoff is being billed as “executive chairman,” which is undefined in the stories I’ve read but implies an uber-executive with oversight of both the workings of the company and the board.

Irritatingly, the reporters who’ve interviewed both don’t make this central question clear.

Azoff will also remain president and CEO of Front Line Management, the division of the company that manages artists. (That was his massive management company.)

Jim DeRogatis, in Chicago, interviewed a local executive there, Mark Campana:

According to Campana, the New York Times was incorrect in reporting the exact roles for each of the top executives at the soon to be renamed mega-corporation, Live Nation Entertainment. Barry Diller, the executive who launched the Fox Broadcasting Company and a previous force behind Ticketmaster, will be the new non-executive chairman; Azoff will be Chairman of the Board and CEO of Frontline Management and current Live Nation boss Michael Rapino will be executive chairman and president.

“Rapino will still be running the company,” Campana said, though Azoff clearly will play a major role….

Campana, a regional manager, could simply be mistaken. As I noted yesterday, Billboard, which presumably knows what it’s talking about, reported this:

Sources tell Billboard that Front Line founder/Ticketmaster Entertainment CEO Irving Azoff would be in charge, with Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino reporting to him.

p.s.: Criminy! Azoff has his fingers into everything!

————

Previously in Hitsville:

Thoughts on conflicts of interest
Constantly updated: The Ticketmaster-Live-Nation unholy-matrimony news round-up!
Five arguments against the Live Nation/Ticketmaster merger
Irving Azoff kicks it old school
The music industry’s Putin
Bad merger coverage
WWBD (What would Bono do?)
Billboard’s analysis of the Ticketmaster/Live Nation merger
Springsteen and Landau bash Ticketmaster and Live Nation!
P.S. on Ticketmaster: A case study, starring Bruce Springsteen
Why the potential Live Nation-Ticketmaster merger is a very bad idea
Is Ticketmaster trying to muddle the fees issue?
The Azoff-Ticketmaster deal: Bad news for concert-goers—and the music industry
Why you so seldom read about obscene Ticketmaster-style ticketing charges