“I think we will make each other better,” Tim Leiweke, chief executive of AEG Live, is quoted in The Wall Street Journal saying in relation to the launching of Axs Ticketing on August 27.

The “other,” as you might expect, is Ticketmaster.

One can only assume that expectations need not be particularly high vis-à-vis the improvement that Leiweke seems to be expecting. Or one might ask who it will be “better” for? The ticket buyer, who is essentially getting pole axed every time s/he sources a ticket, or for the so-called “service” that is selling them. Check the fees that you end up paying even though you do the ordering work, and you can get your answer.

And here’s an interesting passage from the WSJ story by Ethan Smith: “AEG, together with start-up Outbox Enterprises Inc., has spent nearly 18 months building the new service.” That’s good.

Probably. But Smith continues, “AEG, also a partial owner of Outbox, is the second-largest concert promoter in the world, behind Live Nation.”

That’s “Live Nation” as in “Live Nation Entertainment Inc.” which is a part of. . .Ticketmaster.

Swell. Ticketmaster owns #1 and AEG has a piece of #2.

Somehow this whole “better” thing is sounding less good.