Pandora bought Ticketfly

Ticketfly, a ticketing company for several venues in the US and Canada, has been purchased by Pandora. The NY Times reports:

Pandora announced early Wednesday that it would acquire Ticketfly for $450 million, in a mix of cash and stock. The deal further expands Pandora’s interests in providing services to artists. Last year, it introduced a data system, the Artist Marketing Platform, or AMP, that shows musicians which songs are most popular on the service and where. And in May, Pandora bought Next Big Sound, another data service, which studies the listening and online searching patterns of streaming music customers.

The Times also points out that this could be a threat to Ticketmaster/Live Nation:

Pandora’s control of Ticketfly could pose a challenge to Ticketmaster, particularly given Pandora’s history of using its user data for marketing. The company, which derives about 80 percent of its revenue from ad sales, has long pitched advertisers on its ability to identify its users based on their demographic data and listening habits — even going so far as to say it can predict its listeners’ political affiliation.

“The combination of Ticketfly and Pandora will be a marketing and event discovery powerhouse,” said Andrew Dreskin, Ticketfly’s chief executive and co-founder, “giving venues and promoters unprecedented access to a massive and targeted audience of nearly 80 million music fans.”

If you live in NYC, you’ve probably used Ticketfly to get tickets for shows at The Bell House, Saint Vitus, Acheron, Baby’s All Right, Cake Shop, Union Pool, Union Hall or many others.

Pandora issued an official statement, which you can read in full below…

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PANDORA’S STATEMENT
OAKLAND, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Oct. 7, 2015– Pandora (NYSE:P), the world’s most powerful music discovery platform, today announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire Ticketfly, Inc., a leading live events technology company, to create the definitive music platform for connecting fans, artists and event promoters. The move is the latest step toward achieving Pandora’s mission to help artists find their audience and help listeners find the music they love–whether it’s coming through their earbuds or live on stage. Ticketfly provides ticketing and marketing software for approximately 1,200 leading venues and event promoters across North America and makes it easy for fans to find and purchase tickets to events.

The transaction is valued at approximately $450 million, subject to certain purchase price adjustments, with a nearly equal balance of cash and stock.

The combination of Pandora and Ticketfly will solve the longstanding problem of event discovery by seamlessly connecting Pandora’s nearly 80 million monthly active music fans to events they’ll love. This will enable artists and promoters to sell out more shows and will strengthen the bond between artists and their fans. The companies will also harness the power of their combined data to create new tools for music makers to increase their revenue and improve recommendations for fans to enhance their overall music experience.

“This is a game-changer for Pandora – and much more importantly – a game-changer for music,” said Brian McAndrews, chief executive officer at Pandora. “Over the past 10 years, we have amassed the largest, most engaged audience in streaming music history. With Ticketfly, we will thrill music lovers and lift ticket sales for artists as the most effective marketplace for connecting music makers and fans.”

Ticketfly was founded in 2008 by the team that pioneered online ticket sales and has become a major force in the live events industry. This year, Ticketfly was named one of Fast Company’s “Most Innovative Companies in Music.”

* In 2014, Ticketfly sold 16 million tickets to more than 90,000 live events, generating more than $500 million in transaction volume and crossing the $1 billion mark in cumulative transaction volume.

* Ticketfly powers more than 600 websites on behalf of its clients making it the leading provider of website technology to the live events industry.

* An average of 14 million people visit Ticketfly.com and its network of client sites each month.
Ticketfly works with a marquee roster of tastemaker venues and promoters, including: the famed 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C., the 19,000-capacity Merriweather Post Pavilion in Maryland, Burning Man and the Pitchfork Music Festival.

* Moving forward, Ticketfly will continue to support its music and non-music clients alike.

Pandora’s acquisition of Ticketfly takes the company beyond its Internet radio roots and builds on its progress to become an indispensable partner to music makers and create the leading data-enabled marketplace for artists and fans.

* A year ago, Pandora launched its Artist Marketing Platform (AMP), a suite of tools to allow artists to understand, engage with and market to their fans.

* Earlier this year, Pandora rolled out Artist Audio Messages, giving artists the opportunity to speak directly to fans through recorded messages.

* Pandora also acquired Next Big Sound to generate even more insights into artists, their fans and music trends.

* Recently, Pandora has increased its focus on live music, helping bands like the Rolling Stones and ODESZA to sell out shows. With its ability to identify and connect with fans, Pandora sold out tickets for the recent Rolling Stones tour in record time. Demand for ODESZA was so great that additional shows had to be added to the tour.

“Pandora’s entry into live events is a watershed moment for the music industry and will forever change the landscape for artists, promoters and fans,” said Andrew Dreskin, co-founder and chief executive officer of Ticketfly. “Ticketfly and Pandora are a perfect fit: two companies that are extraordinarily passionate about music and improving the experience for the entire ecosystem. The combination of Ticketfly and Pandora will be a marketing and event discovery powerhouse, giving venues and promoters unprecedented access to a massive and targeted audience of nearly 80 million music fans.”

Live events are growing at a rapid pace:

* Top artists currently earn 80 percent of their revenue through touring.

* Per capita spend on live music grew 65 percent from $29 in 2008 to $48 in 2014.[1]

* North American concert ticket sales grew 22 percent since last year, fueling a rapidly growing industry now estimated at $6.2 billion.[2]

* Music lovers often don’t know their favorite musician is in town. 40 percent of live event tickets go unsold, primarily due to lack of awareness.

“Live music is booming, and we can grow the number of shows being staged and tickets being sold,” added McAndrews. “Attending a live show is powerful, and we want to make it easier for all music fans to enjoy live music. By acquiring Ticketfly, we will bring live events more fully into the fold, enhancing the Pandora experience.”