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.
Last Updated on February 25, 2010
8 Comments
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We don’t know what it was, when it started, why it existed, or why it stopped. Film at 11.
the most worthless article i’ve ever read.
Here is a story about stuff that we don’t have any info about. It could be this but maybe not or maybe it was that then and this now or maybe we just know nothing at all. ???????
Or if and when it might come back!
With LN/TM getting into the secondary market,what’s going to happen to the tickets they don’t sell? Are their backdoor broker’s comitted to cost or are they on consignment? Will their broker’s disclose where they got them on their P.O.’s and when they don’t sell will see those very tickets finding their way to drops or being available the day off at the box. I doubt these double agent primary seller’s will allow ANY tickets to sell below face and if that happens we will know which tickets were held back, let’s see what happens to transparency then. If you look at most any event, relative to capacity, the ratio of secondary tickets is usually around 3-8%, a drop in the bucket but, in the eyes of the primaries it’s considerable since they only release about 10% to the tickets to the public anyways and that number is generous. Let them try to sell the house at secondary prices and you can kiss the sell outs goodbye. The secondary market caters to entirely different customer but, let them find that out the hard way!!
Well, it is not a completely pointless article. Perhaps it would provide more insight though if we asked other industry professionals why they think LN maybe did this. Maybe because now with the TM deal they are going to drive all their secondary traffic to TicketsNow that they now own? Seems like the most likely reason. I wonder what kind of traffic these broker aggrogators are driving these days anyway as compared to direct hits to the brokers sites? Don, you got any insight for us?
It still amazes me that there are many customers that still think buying from StubHub or other secondary sites is an alternative to TM and not just a secondary broker with good SEO skills.
Either your a hooked up TicketNow broker or you just think that never happens. I’ve worked for a primary, do think when Amex get 5% of the pull it’s free? See what you get on an Amex pre-sale. They hold back for the BIG BOYS, just like a lobbyist. What about the Springsteen/TicketMaster thing, shortly after a TicketNow over sold 3,000. How does a secondary company ever over sell when they’re not a primary. That’s a short sale and someone got stiffed on the tickets. Please tell me the TRUTH then!!
Although timing of this unusually thoughtful article could have been smarter (old news), it sparked the right conversation initially, before the mob burst in.