Live Nation To Start Competing With Ticketmaster In 2009
Live Nation announced today that it has entered into a long-term agreement with CTS Eventim which will enable Live Nation to launch its own ticketing business utilizing the most technologically advanced ticketing platform in the world. Live Nation will exclusively license the Eventim platform in North America, and Eventim will provide back office ticketing services in the UK and ticketing services across Europe. The new agreement will allow Live Nation to begin selling tickets on January 1st, 2009.
Live Nation President and Chief Executive Officer Michael Rapino commented, “This is a monumental step forward in the evolution of Live Nation into a next generation music company. Eventim is the most technologically sophisticated ticketing platform in the world. Live Nation will use its most important asset, the concert ticket, to build artist careers and customer relationships, forge innovative sponsorship deals, create a fan and artist friendly secondary ticketing platform and provide a ticketing alternative for third-party venues. We believe that our partnership with Eventim will allow us to execute on this transformational vision.”
CTS Eventim Chief Executive Officer Klaus-Peter Schulenberg added, “Eventim is at the forefront of ticketing innovation across Europe, and we share Live Nation’s passion for enhancing the fan ticketing experience. We will provide the infrastructure and technology required to reshape how Live Nation consumers access ticket inventory and enable ancillary revenue opportunities, while vastly improving the overall fan ticketing experience.”
The agreement secures for Live Nation a world-class ticketing engine for limited investment, catapulting LiveNation.com into a best-in-class e-commerce site. The new ticketing platform will allow Live Nation to control customer data, to create enhanced ticket-based concert products and to capitalize on expanded distribution channels and sponsorship opportunities.
The Eventim platform has innovative service offerings including interactive seating maps, mobile distribution, integrated primary and secondary ticketing, alternative access models (auctions, lottery, etc.), print-at-home, radio frequency identification (RFID) ticketing and unparalleled customer relationship management (CRM) capabilities.
Live Nation will host an investor call in early January to present the details of the partnership.
(+99 rating, 22 votes)
Will they still have all the gay “service charges” and “facility charges”
if it doesnt lower ticket prices this is POINTLESS to most consumers