In what could be considered a boon for both companies, and further indication of the validity and growing influence of the secondary ticket market, StubHub and viagogo will be the official secondary ticketing companies for Madonna’s upcoming Sticky & Sweet world tour.
The tour, which is in support of Madonna’s new hit album “Hard Candy,” will likely be one of the top concert draws of the year, and in fact the tour is already the 10th most popular overall ticket event, according to TicketNews’s exclusive weekly ranking. StubHub is the official “fan-to-fan” ticket exchange, while UK-based viagogo is the official premium seat and secondary ticketer for the British and European markets, except in Germany and Italy. The tour is the first one under the singer’s landmark 10-year, $120 million deal with Live Nation.
StubHub spokesperson Sean Pate told TicketNews that the deal is the largest music deal the company has ever done. Madonna and StubHub worked together a few years to promote a charity event, and the company has done that with other artists. Last year, StubHub was sued by Ticketmaster when the Rowdy Frynds tour used StubHub to sell premium tickets, but under the Madonna deal, she is not selling tickets through StubHub, according to Pate. StubHub is a tour sponsor and has received her endorsement.
“We’re obviously pretty excited by the arrangement,” Pate said. “It’s a big stamp of approval from a major artist that will hopefully lead to more partnership with the music industry and less resistance. Madonna has always been a trend-setting artist and business person so it’s no surprise that her team would be willing to get this deal done.”
The move to StubHub and viagogo would appear to trump Ticketmaster and its new secondary ticket division TicketsNow, which are in a pitched battle with StubHub, viagogo and other secondary ticket brokers for market dominance. Ticketmaster is a primary ticket seller for the tour, and brokers can still resell Madonna tickets through TicketsNow, but the companies are not the ones authorized by the artist for secondary sales.
Eric Baker, founder and CEO of viagogo, told TicketNews that the unprecedented deal marks a triumph for the company. “Madonna and Live Nation are remaking the music scene, and we’re thrilled to be working with them.” Last year, viagogo and Live Nation signed a deal in the Netherlands for viagogo to be the company’s official secondary ticket seller in that country.
“This is the first time a major artist is publicly endorsing a company as a premium and secondary ticket seller for a worldwide tour. And when Madonna is first with something, as she so often has been over the course of her career, she is never the last. This could have big repercussions for the industry,” Baker said.
Last Updated on May 13, 2008
3 Comments
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If Madonna signed with Live Nation then didnt Live nation strike the deal with Stub Hub?????
I think this is another case of deceiving the public. It seems as though the promoter (Live Nation) is putting inventory directly on StubHub or StubHub paid “marketing dollars” to acquire inventory which they are selling on their site directly to fans at marked up prices. The “fan to fan” marketplace is a vail for selling acquired “sponsorship inventory” tickets at marked up prices.
There has been a few fan club presales for Madonna at the time and date of me writing this comment and yet StubHub is full of inventory at inflated prices. No other ticket website is…fishy, fishy.
It just so happens that Mr. Ebay Ticket, Greg Bettinelli who “architected” the Ebay acquisition of StubHub left Ebay & StubHub to go to Live Nation as EVP of Tickets earlier this year. ON his way out, he probably whispered a sweet nothing into Chris Tsakalakis’s ear about making them the “OFFICIAL” vail of concert promoters. Which abandons StubHub’s whole philosphiy as a FAN to FAN exhange. StubHub and Live Nation are in bed together and they are screwing the fan! No more cheap good seats. If you were trying to get a decent seat at a fair price before you had a chance of beating a ticketbroker with a presale. Now, you have no chance because the presales are shenanigans and they will lead you straight to stubhub.
I think this is another case of deceiving the public. It seems as though the promoter (Live Nation) is putting inventory directly on StubHub or StubHub paid “marketing dollars” to acquire inventory which they are selling on their site directly to fans at marked up prices. The “fan to fan” marketplace is a vail for selling acquired “sponsorship inventory” tickets at marked up prices.
There has been a few fan club presales for Madonna at the time and date of me writing this comment and yet StubHub is full of inventory at inflated prices. No other ticket website is…fishy, fishy.
It just so happens that Mr. Ebay Ticket, Greg Bettinelli who “architected” the Ebay acquisition of StubHub left Ebay & StubHub to go to Live Nation as EVP of Tickets earlier this year. ON his way out, he probably whispered a sweet nothing into Chris Tsakalakis’s ear about making them the “OFFICIAL” vail of concert promoters. Which abandons StubHub’s whole philosphiy as a FAN to FAN exhange. StubHub and Live Nation are in bed together and they are screwing the fan! No more cheap good seats. If you were trying to get a decent seat at a fair price before you had a chance of beating a ticketbroker with a presale. Now, you have no chance because the presales are shenanigans and they will lead you straight to stubhub.