Mobile tickets in Canada by Live Nation

Rogers Wireless, Canada’s top cell phone company, recently announced an exclusive partnership with Live Nation to bring mobile ticketing to concerts in Canada. Rogers Wireless allows users with cell phones that support WAP 2.0 browsers to enter credit card information and purchase tickets through their phones anywhere within the country. After a successful purchase, the tickets will be sent to the purchaser via SMS and MMS. (Ticket News)

SXSW: Ticketmaster CEO on service fees, dynamic pricing

Ticketmaster CEO Sean Moriarty said the ticketing business is likely to move more and more to a dynamic pricing structure, and defended the company's service fees that are added to the cost of a ticket at a Friday afternoon panel at the South by Southwest Music Conference (SXSW) in Austin, Texas. (LA Times)

Ticketmaster’s fee structure questioned

A motion has been filed in the UK House of Commons that would ask the company to more clearly advertise the fee structure, because some members of Parliament said some customers complained of not being aware some of the fees Ticketmaster charges. Separately, some theaters in the Minneapolis-St. Paul region in Minnesota are reportedly balking at a move by discount ticketer TC Tix to merge with Ticketmaster. (Ticket News)

Ticketmaster proceeds gingerly as resale competitors swarm

In the 1990s, when Garth Brooks and Michael Jordan filled arenas, the only way to see them live was to go through Ticketmaster, or a scalper. Today, finding a ticket for a Green Bay Packers playoff game or a Rascal Flatts concert is a click away on StubHub.com or other Internet resale sites. (The Columbus Dispatch)

Fan-to-fan ticket exchange Seatwave Secures $25 Million in Series C Funding

Seatwave, Europe’s largest fan-to-fan ticket exchange - an online marketplace for buying and selling tickets for theatre, sports, music and other live events - today announced it has raised $25 million in Series C funding led by Fidelity Ventures. They are joined by existing investors Atlas Venture, Mangrove Capital Partners and Adinvest. (PR)

Live Nation’s Stock Continues to Struggle

Live Nation this week saw its stock price hit a 52 week low as the stock market as a whole has taken a drubbing recently on fears of a looming recession. However, Live Nation’s drop was also influenced by recent news. Analysts at investment bank Morgan Joseph maintained their buy rating on Live Nation, but downgraded their earnings expectation on January 14. Also contributing to Live Nation’s stock situation was news of Ticketmaster’s plan to purchase TicketsNow, which will instantly make Ticketmaster the second largest player on the secondary ticket market. (Ticketnews)

Live Nation Ticketing conference call transcript

"Through www.LiveNation.com we expect to sell more than 20 million tickets annually directly to music fans around the world. Through this activity we expect to strengthen the relationship we have with our customers, develop brand new revenue streams, maximize attendance at our events and build new alliance with corporate partners that have never been before possible", said Michael Rapino – President, Chief Executive Officer & Director. (Transcript)

Ticketmaster/TicketsNow: After the Deal

With the announcement earlier today that Ticketmaster was buying TicketsNow for an estimated $265 million, one thing is certain, the secondary ticket market is clearly where the action is. Ticketmaster, which has dominated the primary ticket market for years, had watched as StubHub! and a host of other companies gobbled up portions of the secondary market, making it a more engaging marketplace for consumers who not only easily found tickets to sold out events but also often found bargains in the process. The ticketing giant tried suing some of its rivals, such as StubHub!, and tried fighting against state legislation to legalize ticket reselling, but ultimately realized that it couldn’t stop progress. (TicketNews)

Ticketmaster Buys Major Reseller

In a bid to fend off competition on multiple fronts, IAC/InterActiveCorp's Ticketmaster has agreed to pay about $265 million for TicketsNow Inc., the country's second-largest Web site for reselling tickets to concerts and sports events, the companies said. The move is designed to let Ticketmaster and its clients tap the explosive growth of the so-called secondary ticket market, which is led by eBay Inc.'s StubHub site. The cash offer also comes after Ticketmaster's largest client, concert promoter Live Nation Inc., said it plans to stop doing business with Ticketmaster at the end of this year. (Wall Street Journal)

Live Nation to launch tickets business in '09

Concert promoter Live Nation said on Friday it will launch its own ticketing business next year after it ends a relationship with Ticketmaster, the dominant box office service. The announcement is part of a strategy shift by Live Nation to provide a complete pipeline of marketing, ticketing and merchandising services for artists and events, creating new competition for Ticketmaster and music labels alike. It will sell tickets for its own concerts and for third-party events. "We will have a fully operational new ticketing company and reach a new milestone in this journey," Live Nation Chief Executive Michael Rapino said on a conference call. (Reuters)