Ticketmaster Entertainment Inc. and Live Nation Inc. are said to merge as soon as this week, creating a music industry powerhouse with a combined market value of over $700 million, a source briefed on the talks told the press on Tuesday. The combined worldwide ticketing company (which also manages music artists) and the major concert promoter would be called Live Nation Ticketmaster, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.

Since the companies are dealing in an all-stock merger, it’s on the fast track toward actually happening. While the boards of both companies have yet to approve the merger, it could be final as early as next week, thus distressing news for Phish and Bruce Springsteen fans, who both experienced major troubles with the two ticketing services in the past seven days.

Fans unable to get tickets posted blistering reports online, but Live Nation Ticketing executives point to overwhelming demand and the simple reality that exponentially more fans wanted tickets than were available.

Should Live Nation Ticketmaster becomes a reality, the live music behemoth would control more than 200 artists, including U2, Nickelback and Jay-Z, as well as have even more power over venues, tickets and, of course, those beloved service changes. 

Live Nation has been trying to boost its thin concert- promoter margins by diversifying into adjacent businesses such as ticketing, which has margins as high as 25 percent versus an average 4 percent from concert promotion. In December, the firm said it expected no further growth in 2009 in the midst of a recession, even though it forecast fan attendance would rise 10 percent.