US music-streaming service Pandora has moved into the live music industry with the purchase of a Ticketmaster-rivaling start-up.
The custom radio platform has splashed out a whopping $450m for Ticketfly, in a deal that will allow listeners to grab tickets to see their favourite artists live.
Pandora says its new acquisition will solve the problem of event discovery, by connecting its 80m active monthly users to events based on their listening preferences.
“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’ve amassed the largest, most engaged audience in streaming music history. With Ticketfly, we’ll thrill music lovers and lift ticket sales for artists as the most effective marketplace for connecting music makers and fans.”
Ticketfly sells tickets for 1,200 venues and event promoters across the United States and facilitated the sale of 16 million tickets for 90,000 events in 2014.
SEE ALSO: Best music-streaming service: Which one to download
The hook up is similar to the integration of the Songkick service within Spotify’s API.
SongKick sends users a notification when artists they’ve listened to are coming to their area. However, SongKick sends users to a third-party ticket site in order to snap up tickets.
Pandora’s purchase will bring that process to a single app, instead of three.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
