Live Nation bakes in more fees

Having cut service fees but not parking and venue fees for its weekly Wednesday sale, concert promoter Live Nation Inc. decided to bundle them together with an "all-in" discounted price on amphitheater lawn tickets this week.

The company is offering lawn tickets for $24.99 at its amphitheater concerts this summer _ cutting out the add-on fees that have annoyed fans _ in its third 24-hour sale on Wednesday.

A lawn ticket bought Wednesday for the Def Leppard concert at the Comcast Center in Boston on June 30 would save the buyer $23.61. Normally, that lawn ticket costs $29.50 with a service fee of $12.10 and venue fee of $7.

The company, which plans to merge with Ticketmaster Entertainment Inc. later this year, is taking advantage of its months-old ticketing platform to cut fees. That's because it also made an average $18.25 per fan in North America last year on sales of things such as beer, hot dogs and parking at its venues.

Live Nation is aiming to make up for lost fee revenue this summer by putting more people into its amphitheaters, which often see more than half of the lawn tickets go unsold.