Billboard_Magazine_September_2_2017

ILLUSTR ATION BY REMIE GEOFFROI

JOEL: MYRNA M. SUAREZ/GETTY IMAGES. MYSTIKAL: DANIEL ZUCHNIK/GETTY IMAGES. TYLER: TRISTAR MEDIA/GETTY IMAGES.

T

WO YEARS AGO,

Amazon set out to

shake up one of the few

businesses it had yet to

disrupt: the concert-ticket industry.

After first testing its proprietary

ticketing technology in Europe — a

more open market where customers

could buy seats directly through

Amazon due to the continent’s lack

of exclusive ticket-venue

contracts — the e-retailer easily sold

shows for Elton John and theatrical

performances like Wicked and The

Book of Mormon. Encouraged, it

began to hire a U.S. ticketing team

in late 2016.

“Our vision goes

beyond selling

tickets as we aim to

disrupt the entire

live- entertainment

experience, including what happens

before, during and after the show,”

read a job posting for the team led

by Amazon vp Ian Freed. “The

ticket business is ripe for innovation

and improvement, as much of the

industry has not fundamentally

changed since the 1970s.”

But the U.S. ticket market has

BY DAVE BROOKS

Amazon Meets Its Match: Ticketmaster

With little leverage besides its huge customer base, the online retail behemoth is finding that

disrupting the U.S. ticketing market won’t be as easy as throwing its weight around

proven to be a much larger headache,

and nine months after entering

talks to become a distributor for

Live Nation’s Ticketmaster — which

controls 80 percent of the major

concerts in the United States —

Amazon has found itself without

much leverage. It’s unfamiliar

territory for the Seattle behemoth,

which has upended industries from

books to groceries and is making

waves in the recorded-music market

with its voice-activated Echo

speakers and an on-demand music

service that Echo users can subscribe

to for just $3.99 a month.

Amazon’s potential

entry into ticketing could

be groundbreaking.

The company has

discussed a pricing

model that could slash

typical service fees in exchange for

an annual membership fee, sources

tell Billboard, a move that could

impact promoters, venues and artists

who rely on such charges and rebates

as a revenue stream.

Building a service to compete

with Ticketmaster was never really

in the cards. A source at Amazon

says the company’s North American

ticketing team — including former

Warner Music Group executive

Lawrence Peryer, former Hard

Rock International director

Matthew Watts and former MTV

attorney Cindy Charles — realized

early on that they would have to

work with Ticketmaster to build a

distribution system that tied into its

API, since Ticketmaster is spending

$4 billion this year to secure its

exclusive relationships with artists

and venues.

“This has always been about doing

deals with all [ticketing] platforms

to pull inventory and help content

owners allocate tickets,” says one

source familiar with Amazon’s

efforts. “It’s not about building a box-

office software suite.”

Still, even a ticket distribution

deal could help Amazon grow its

profitable Prime program by offering

members access to sought-after

shows along with the other perks

Prime members get for $99 a year.

But Live Nation isn’t a company

Amazon can simply beat through

efficiency; in 2016, its Ticketmaster

unit generated $28 billion in sales

Streaming’s

CEO Shakeups

pg.

Is the VR

Craze Over?

pg.

The Therapist

to the Stars

pg.

Topline

THE OVER UNDER

A rare solar eclipse boosts digital

downloads of Bonnie Tyler’s “Total

Eclipse of the Heart” 503 percent

for the week ending Aug. 20.

Amid neo-Nazi protests in

America, Billy Joel wears a yellow

Star of David on his jacket during a

show at Madison Square Garden.

New Orleans rapper Mystikal turns

himself in to Louisiana police on

rape charges after a warrant was

issued for his arrest on Aug. 18.

$28B

Amount of money Live

Nation’s Ticketmaster unit

generated in sales in 2016

SEPTEMBER 2, 2017 | WWW.BILLBOARD.COM 17