Investigation Opened Regarding Funding of Snoop Dogg's Canceled Concert

The Competition Protection Commission of Armenia has initiated an investigation concerning the funding of the concert by renowned rapper Snoop Dogg, which was scheduled for September of last year but ultimately did not take place. This information was reported by the Commission.

It was noted that the question of whether to initiate proceedings regarding violations in the field of economic competition by the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture, and Sport was discussed at the Commission's session on September 3. During the meeting, the Commission presented a report from its Department of Concentrations and State Aid Assessment, dated August 29, 2024, which pertained to the potential provision of prohibited state aid to the company ‘Doping Space’, created in 2023, for organizing Snoop Dogg's concert in Armenia as part of the ‘World Star’s Armenian Tour’ project.

According to Ani Smbatyan, the spokesperson for the Commission, “State aid providing bodies send all cases of state aid to the Competition Protection Commission for assessment.”

The Commission noted that the provision of support to ‘Doping Space’ for organizing Snoop Dogg's concert showed selectivity, as the implementation of the project has been entrusted to a single economic operator without a competitive process. There are no clear mechanisms in place regarding the distribution of revenues generated from ticket sales; the entire proceeds from ticket sales were to be managed by the sole economic operator.

Incidentally, according to a decision by the Armenian government on August 11, 2023, ‘Doping Space’ was allocated 2 billion 318 million 596 thousand 800 drams for organizing Snoop Dogg’s concert in Armenia as part of the ‘World Star’s Armenian Tour’ music project. The funding was provided in the form of a grant, as stipulated in the contract between the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture, and Sport and the company.