Having joined forces with Blockbuster last month, the world's largest concert promoter Live Nation have now launched their in-house ticketing company Live Nation Ticketing after the bulk of their ten-year contract with Ticketmaster came to an end.
A majority of the events that transferred from Ticketmaster to livenation.com are club shows due to remaining ticketing contracts with most of the larger indoor venues. Thus far things appear to be running smoothly for the promotion giants. "What we went live with was our own venues, and no amphitheater shows are up yet," Live Nation CEO of global music Jason Garner pointed out to Billboard. "So it was a bunch of small club shows, which in many ways is more difficult because of the volume."
As things progress Garner stated that the main purpose of Live Nation having control over its own inventory is flexibility. "Our goal is always to have a system built around being able to satisfy what the artists and fans want," he said. "We realize in this economy the guy that gets creative and thinks outside the box on ways to create new revenue is going to win. It's about creating new music products for the fan."
Live Nation's ticketing company is also looking to make inroads with the secondary market of live music as the amphitheater season gets closer by working at lowering ticket prices. "We're now able to really work with artists to go out and capture secondary revenue and put it in the gross by controlling revenue. That can offset a lawn ticket going from $25 down to $20. We're uniquely positioned in our amphitheaters because we own them and have access to so many different sources of revenue. That alone, with our own ticketing system, has given us a real flexible ability to meet the needs of this economy."
A majority of the events that transferred from Ticketmaster to livenation.com are club shows due to remaining ticketing contracts with most of the larger indoor venues. Thus far things appear to be running smoothly for the promotion giants. "What we went live with was our own venues, and no amphitheater shows are up yet," Live Nation CEO of global music Jason Garner pointed out to Billboard. "So it was a bunch of small club shows, which in many ways is more difficult because of the volume."
As things progress Garner stated that the main purpose of Live Nation having control over its own inventory is flexibility. "Our goal is always to have a system built around being able to satisfy what the artists and fans want," he said. "We realize in this economy the guy that gets creative and thinks outside the box on ways to create new revenue is going to win. It's about creating new music products for the fan."
Live Nation's ticketing company is also looking to make inroads with the secondary market of live music as the amphitheater season gets closer by working at lowering ticket prices. "We're now able to really work with artists to go out and capture secondary revenue and put it in the gross by controlling revenue. That can offset a lawn ticket going from $25 down to $20. We're uniquely positioned in our amphitheaters because we own them and have access to so many different sources of revenue. That alone, with our own ticketing system, has given us a real flexible ability to meet the needs of this economy."