With Live Nation’s 10-year contract with Ticketmaster coming to a close with the new year, the event promoter has finally launched its own long-expected ticketing company.
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With Live Nation’s 10-year contract with Ticketmaster coming to a close with the new year, the event promoter has finally launched its own long-expected ticketing company. While a number of contracts remain intact between the now contending companies for amphitheater concerts, the bulk of club shows have been transferred into the care of Live Nation for 2009. As a result, CEO Michael Rapino said during a presentation to Live Nation investors yesterday that more than 177,000 tickets have already been sold to 52 of the company’s own venues, and expects 2009 will see about 40 percent of total ticket sales sold directly through Live Nation by the end of the year. Compare that to only 11 percent in 2008.
In effort to cater their promotions to the artist, Live Nation has said it will seek to gain more control over secondary sources of revenue – such as venue merchandising or Web ads – which will, in turn, give fans more options when purchasing tickets. For instance, making a calculated bump in reserved seating can possibly reduce the overall price of lawn tickets; or, much like purchasing a plane ticket, customers can choose their specific seats while viewing the venue layout.
Also, Live Nation has said they will likely convert to an “all-in” pricing approach, which would leave out mentions of added service charges. How that system would reduce total costs is left to be said, especially given the fact that, for now, they’re tacking on a $13.50 vendor’s fee that often equals out to nearly half of the cost of the ticket itself. That’s a jump from a $9.85 fee with Ticketmaster.
As Live Nation ties up the loose threads that have kept the world’s largest music event promoter from becoming entirely self-sufficient, undoubtedly they’ll rake in their fair share of profits. How the company succeeds in utilizing that control to keep prices affordable for fans while varying purchasing options, only time will tell.
