Pandora to help users find live events by acquiring Ticketfly

In the latest battlein the music streaming service war, Pandora has acquired live events technology company Ticketfly for US$450 million.

The move will provide a service that Pandora’s rivals don’t – help users find live music events and directly sell more tickets. It also positions the company even more as a prime music discovery platform than its internet radio roots – not only through headphones (an average Pandora user spends 25 minutes a day on its service) but now live on stage.

“This is a game-changer for Pandora – and much more importantly – a game-changer for music,” said Pandora CEO Brian McAndrews. “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.”

Added Ticketfly’s co-founder and CEO Andrew Dreskin, “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. 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.”

A Pandora representative has told TMN the company will, along with Ticketfly, expand into international markets.

"We are excited about the international opportunity and the possibility of bringing Pandora and Ticketfly to billions more fans and music makers outside of the companies’ current geographies,” the Pandora rep told TMN.“Expanding into international markets was a priority for both companies before this acquisition and we plan to continue taking steps toward expanding our global footprint."

Pandora is available in the US, Australia and New Zealand.

Ticketfly provides ticketing and marketing software to 1,200 venues and music/sports event promoters in North America. Last year it sold 16 million tickets to 90,000 love events, generating $500 million in transaction volume and crossing the $1 billion mark in cumulative transaction volume.

It powers over 600 websites on behalf of its clients, and estimates an average of 14 million people visit Ticketfly.com and its network of client sites each month. Ticketfly was founded in 2008 by the team that pioneered online ticket sales and this year was named one of Fast Company’s “Most Innovative Companies In Music.”

Pandora will obviously use the 175 million US users on its own database (as of last October, 250 million users worldwide and 81.5 million active listeners) to sell tickets via Ticketfly to events it knows its listeners will like through their personal listening habits. It used this strategy to help sell more tickets this year for The Rolling Stones and ODESZA.

In the last 12 months, Pandora introduced its Artist Marketing Platform (AMP) to allow artists to engage directly with their fans, and Artist Audio Messages allowing artists the opportunity to speak directly to fans through recorded messages. It also acquired Next Big Sound to generate more insights into artists, their fans and music trends.

The North American concert ticket sales industry is worth $6.2 billion after growing 22% last year. Per capita spend on live music grew 65% from $29 in 2008 to $48 in 2014. It is claimed that up to 40% of live music events got unsold because fans don’t realise their fave acts are in town.