The AXS ticketing platform is reportedly planning to open an office in Australia next month. The new venture gives AEG (Anschutz Entertainment Group), the owner of AXS, an opportunity to link its ticketing operations with venues in this vast country, such as Qudos Bank Arena, Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Suncorp Stadium, and more to count, all of which are related to AEG Ogden, now known as ASM Global.
Bryan Perez, the CEO of the U.S.-based ticketing platform, believes there’s a new and better business model out there, “where ticketing may be a little bit more non-exclusive and open”, in his own words, in a statement he makes to The Australian.
AXS’s Australia launch will make it one of the three big actors in the market, which is now led by Live Nation’s Ticketmaster and TEG’s Ticketek.
“We feel like there’s an opportunity for a third major player to come in, but we don’t want to just come in and do business the same old way,” Perez adds.
AXS was established in 2011, and its owner AEG is considered the world’s second largest presenter of live events after Live Nation. Since its foundation, AXS has partnered over 350 teams, arenas, theaters, clubs, and colleges across the world. Apart from its upcoming venture in Australia, the ticketing company operates in Sweden and UK as well as in Los Angeles, Charlotte, Cleveland, Dallas and Denver in the U.S.
“We’ve been frustrated by the ticketing landscape for probably five or six years,” says Frontier CEO Dion Brant. “We think the time is right to help AXS come into Australia and, if nothing else, shake it up.”
AEG merged its operations with and Frontier Touring, one of the biggest event promoters in Australia and New Zealand, in these two countries in 2019.
