Competition Protection Commission initiated a case over Snoop Dogg’s failed concert
The Commission for Protection of Competition initiated a case regarding the financing of Snoop Dogg’s concert, which did not take place. The decision was discussed during the committee’s deliberations held on September 3. In particular, the commission received a report from the department of concentration and evaluation of state aid that the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports had provided explicitly prohibited state aid.
The Ministry of Education and Culture gave Doping Space about $6 million in grants to organize Snoop Dogg’s concert in August 2023. In addition, the rapper also received a full honorarium, which he never returned.
MSU noted that there was selectivity in the assistance. The implementation of the project was entrusted to only one organization, which was selected in a non-competitive manner.
In addition, the revenue generated from ticket sales will be fully managed only by the business entity implementing the event. According to the MSU decision, the public funding provided to Doping Space is public assistance within the meaning of the law, which could conceivably contain indicia of prohibited public assistance. That is why the Commission considers it necessary to initiate proceedings to clarify the circumstances of the granting of state aid prohibited in the field of economic competition.
On September 13, Minister Zhanna Andreasyan spoke about the concert at a press conference and noted that she had asked the “Doping Space” company to provide approximate dates for the concert.
“Negotiations and organization of the concert are fully taken care of by the organizing company. We have asked them to inform the possible dates of the concert stipulated in the contract. We are waiting for their answer. There can be two ways out: either they will agree on a day and the concert will take place. If they don’t agree and the concert doesn’t take place, the whole contract will be canceled and all the money will be returned.
“Negotiations and organization of the concert are completely taken care of by the organizing company. We have asked them to inform us about possible dates of the concert stipulated in the contract. We are waiting for their response. There can be two ways out: either they will agree on a day and the concert will take place. If they don’t agree and the concert doesn’t take place, the whole contract will be canceled and all the money will be returned՛՛․
The concert of rapper Snoop Dogg was supposed to take place on September 23, 2023. However, after the September ethnic cleansing in Artsakh, the concert was postponed indefinitely.