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Rapino rules out streaming-based marketing

Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino has poured doubt on the Pandora/Ticketfly model, saying social media platforms provide a better chance for driving fans to ticket sites

By IQ on 19 Sep 2016

Michael Rapino, Live Nation

Live Nation's CEO, Michael Rapino


Don’t expect to see Ticketmaster recommending concerts on music streaming services any time soon.

In contrast to Pandora, which announced in July it would begin pushing concert tickets via Ticketfly to its nearly 80m listeners, Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino says his company is instead focusing on social media and other data-rich internet channels, with over 80% of the company’s advertising spend now online.

“We want to be where the customer is already active,” Rapino tells CNBC’s Julia Boorstin. “Facebook [is] one of the best converters for us, as well as Instagram. If you’ve already liked Rihanna on Instagram and you’re following her, we use that data feed.”

“With Pandora or a radio station, there is a real [chance] you’re not going to really nail that fan that day”

He says Live Nation/Ticketmaster’s approach is “much more sharpshooting: […] we can go where you are and where Rihanna is and drive conversion there”, as opposed to “Pandora or a radio station, [where there] is a real shot that you’re not going to really nail that Rihanna fan over that day”.

In July, Liberty Media Corporation CEO Greg Maffei – who sits on Live Nation’s board of directors – reportedly offered US$3.4 billion for Pandora, which could, with Live Nation, offer a “powerful end-to-end music distribution platform from live music to streaming music and radio”, said analyst Brandon Ross.

 


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