Live Nation pulls FanSnap secondary ticket links following test program

For a period this winter, Live Nation has been quietly dipping its toes into the secondary ticket market through a partnership with ticket search engine FanSnap, but it appears the test has come to an end.

The links allowed fans who were shopping for primary tickets on LiveNation.com to see comparable tickets on the secondary market from sites such as StubHub, RazorGator and Ace Ticket, in an effort “to offer [ticket buyers] as many options as [Live Nation] can in one place.”

Exactly when Live Nation began carrying the links, and subsequently pulled them, is unknown, but it is believed to have started in late November or early December and ended this month.

FanSnap has partnerships with a total of about 60 secondary ticket resellers, including a new deal with TicketsNow, which is now part of the Live Nation Entertainment family of companies, but FanSnap never publicly disclosed its deal with Live Nation. A FanSnap spokesperson told TicketNews that the company had no comment about the relationship, or whether the two companies are considering resuming the linking.

In addition, the spokesperson would not discuss whether there were any financial terms associated with the test. A Live Nation spokesperson did not return a message seeking comment.

Last week, Ticketmaster, which merged with Live Nation late last month to create Live Nation Entertainment, settled a deceptive practices case with the Federal Trade Commission where fans were redirected from Ticketmaster’s Web site to TicketsNow without their knowledge.

The FanSnap/Live Nation deal was different, however, because fans were told upfront where the secondary tickets were coming from, and the FanSnap links were for various companies, none of which were owned by Ticketmaster or Live Nation. The FanSnap/TicketsNow deal was established after Ticketmaster had stopped redirecting fans to TicketsNow.

FanSnap carries information on 17 million tickets to 84,000 separate events around the world.

Jeff Greenberg, owner of ASC Ticket, one of FanSnap’s partner sites, told TicketNews that Live Nation carrying the links was a positive move, and an acknowledgement of the legitimacy of the secondary ticket market.

“Anyone who’s going to get us more traffic, that’s a good thing,” he said.