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Live Nation partners with Canadian promoter Evenko

Quebec-based promoter Evenko has entered into a strategic partnership with Live Nation, building on the existing business relationship between the two companies.

The partnership aims to drive and grow entertainment opportunities in Quebec and Atlantic Canada, combining Evenko’s knowledge of the local market with Live Nation’s global reach.

Evenko, which will still operate under the same brand, will continue to oversee all operations of its business, including the promotion of more than 1,500 musical, family and sporting events a year and of festivals including Montreal’s Osheaga Music and Arts Festival (45,000-cap.), EDM festival ÎleSoniq (45,000-cap.) and country music festival Lasso Montréal (65,000-cap.).

The company will also continue to manage and programme venues such as the 21,288-seat Bell Centre, 2,300-capacity Mtelus, 10,000-seat Place Bell and the 753-capacity Corona Theatre.

“This is great news for Evenko and music fans throughout Quebec, who will now enjoy a broader range of concerts and shows”

“This is great news for Evenko and music fans throughout Quebec, who will now enjoy a broader range of concerts and shows, with Montreal becoming a must stop on major international artists’ world tours,” says Jacques Aubé, president and CEO of Evenko.

“This partnership will allow us to benefit from Live Nation’s global promotional strength to promote our festivals and events in Montreal and Quebec, as well as evenko Agency and Spectra Musique artists’ tours outside the province.”

Earlier this year, Live Nation-owned Ticketmaster announced an exclusive ticketing partnership with Evenko parent company Groupe CH, serving as the official primary and resale partner for Evenko venues and festivals.

 


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Ticketmaster signs Evenko parent Groupe CH

Ticketmaster has announced an exclusive ticketing partnership with Montreal-based Groupe CH, one of the largest entertainment and sports businesses in North America.

Live Nation-owned Ticketmaster will serve as the official primary and resale ticketing partner for the Montreal Canadiens, a leading ice-hockey team; Montreal’s 21,288-seat Bell Centre; the 10,000-seat Place Bell in Laval, Quebec; MTelus, a 2,300-cap. performing-arts venue in Montreal; and the Corona Theatre (753-cap.), also in Montreal, as well as several high-profile festivals, including Osheaga, Heavy Montreal and Ile Soniq.

All Groupe CH’s teams, venues and festivals will use Ticketmaster’s Presence platform to offer fans mobile tickets and a personalised event experience, including venue ingress and in-venue offerings.

“Groupe CH has experienced tremendous growth over recent years, and we’re excited to partner with a global leader like Ticketmaster who will not only provide the technology and scale to power the ticketing of our teams, venues and events, but also help us amplify our digital marketing capabilities,” says France Margaret Bélanger, the Montreal Canadiens’ EVP of commercial and corporate affairs.

“We know that Ticketmaster’s scale, coupled with our state-of-the-art products and services, will support Groupe CH’s phenomenal number of events”

“Ticketmaster’s digital entry experience will be of particular interest to our fans based on its success in dramatically reducing fraudulent tickets while also delivering creative fan engagement opportunities.”

Groupe CH’s concert promotion arm, Evenko, was the 16th largest promoter in the world – and the biggest in Canada – in 2018, selling nearly 1.3 million tickets, according to Pollstar.

“We could not be more excited to expand our partnership with Groupe CH, a global leader in sports and entertainment, and to deliver the best experience possible to their millions of fans,” comments Patti-Anne Tarlton, chairman of Ticketmaster Canada. “We know that Ticketmaster’s scale, coupled with our state-of-the-art products and services, will support Groupe CH’s phenomenal number of events while providing fans with a seamless ticketing experience. We’re looking forward to working together as we enter this new era of ticketing.”

Ticketmaster employs over 600 people in Canada, including a 240-strong workforce in its Montreal and Quebec City offices.

 


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Canadian promoter fined for illegal ticket fees

Canadian promoter and ticket agency Evenko has been fined more than C$10,000 for misleadingly pricing concert tickets, Quebec’s consumer protection agency has announced.

L’Aréna des Canadiens, Inc., trading as Evenko, was ordered to pay $10,056 after an investigation by the Office of Consumer Protection (L’Office de la protection du consommateur, OPC) found the company failed to offer a free delivery method for tickets to shows by Charles Aznavour and Enrique Iglesias at the Centre Bell (21,273-cap.) in Montreal in 2014. “In Quebec,” OPC notes, “it is prohibited for any merchant, manufacturer or advertiser to charge a higher price than that advertised.”

According to OPC, Evenko charged $5 to email the tickets or $7 to have them posted, with no option for picking them up for free at the box office.

“In Quebec, it is prohibited for any merchant, manufacturer or advertiser to charge a higher price than that advertised”

The case mirrors similar complaints brought against CTS Eventim – which was resolved in September by the district court of Bremen, Germany, ruling charging fees on print-at-home tickets is unlawful – and Live Nation/Ticketmaster, where plaintiff David Himber is arguing in a New York court that owing to ‘hidden’ booking fees “the advertised price is available to nobody”.

In Quebec, at least, the law is clear: “Traders are compelled to provide an ‘all-inclusive’ price” for tickets, says OPC, “which includes all fees except taxes. For example, in the case of a concert ticket, the price must include the service charge and [any other] fees related to the delivery of the ticket.”

 


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