Tixel announces Kilimanjaro Live partnership

Ticketing platform Tixel has expanded its UK footprint, announcing a new partnership with leading UK promoter Kilimanjaro Live.

The self-styled “honest resale marketplace” has previously linked up with the likes of 2000Trees, Bloodstock, Shambala and Team Love, and says it is bidding to empower promoters with tools “that not only enhance transparency and fairness, but offer valuable data-led insights into their customer-base”.

The partnership kicked off with Kilimanjaro’s outdoor shows, including Kew The Music and Belladrum.

“We are thrilled to announce Tixel as our partner on a number of KMJ shows,” says Elliott Brough, head of partnerships at Kili’s parent company KMJ Entertainment. “This collaboration marks our first steps towards offering safe ticket resale for fans who can’t attend and ensuring that live music enthusiasts are not exploited by touts.

“Partnering with Tixel not only provides us with valuable data but also opens up opportunities to develop unique strategies for our future events”

“Partnering with Tixel not only provides us with valuable data but also opens up opportunities to develop unique strategies for our future events. By teaming up with Tixel across Kew The Music, Belladrum Tartan Heart and our UK Live series of events, we are excited to offer a secure resale platform for our fans and for the journey ahead.”

Kili and its founder Stuart Galbraith are longtime opponents of industrial-scale online ticket touting, and Tixel, which was founded in Australia in 2018 and launched its UK operation in 2021, pledges to address challenges in the ticketing market “head-on”.

“We’ve admired the work of Kilimanjaro Live for years, they’re industry leaders and absolutely top of their game in the live entertainment sphere. So it’s massively exciting for us to be partnering with them, starting this summer on a phenomenal portfolio of shows,” says Tixel’s head of UK and Europe Matt Kaplan.

“As a team, we’re incredibly passionate about the UK market where there’s such a broad and diverse range of live events through the summer months and beyond – and that diversity shines through in Kilimanjaro’s calendar of shows. It goes without saying, we are delighted to be collaborating with them to bring added value to ticketing strategy, and a secure and trusted place for fans to resell tickets.”

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Kili parent KMJ Entertainment acquires ShowPlanr

Kilimanjaro Live’s umbrella company KMJ Entertainment has acquired a majority stake in live promoter and producer ShowPlanr.

The deal will increase DEAG-owned KMJ’s entertainment output and add 250,000 tickets to its inventory as it works alongside the group’s theatre brand, Flying Music.

Formed as MRC Presents in 2010, ShowPlanr has grown to be one of the leading independent event promoters in the UK, working with theatres, concert halls, arenas and open air venues to produce and promote hundreds of live experiences.

“Our goal is to always deliver the absolute best shows across UK performance stages, and joining forces with ShowPlanr is a smart way to evolve and improve, to give the best possible experiences for our audiences,” says KMJ Entertainment, CEO Stuart Galbraith. “We’re delighted to welcome ShowPlanr to the KMJ Entertainment family, and are excited for what the future holds.”

ShowPlanr’s touring shows and co-promotions include London Symphonic Rock Orchestra, Michael Starring Ben, Killer Queen, Dreamboys, Rhythm of the Dance, Psychic Sally, ELO Again, Bowie Experience, Beyond the Barricade, Daniel O’Donnell, Waterloo A Tribute to Abba, Country Superstars, Forbidden Nights, Defying Gravity, Tiny Dancer The Music of Elton John, Back Into Hell, The Rolling Stones Story, Jive Talkin’, The Roy Orbison Story, The Chicago Blues Brothers and Uptown Joel.

This year, ShowPlanr will also present reimagined productions of Flying Music’s The Rat Pack Live In Concert and Dancing In The Streets. Meanwhile, its consumer listings site showplanr.com offers a bespoke event management, sales forecasting and reporting system behind the scenes – with plans to introduce ticketing fulfilment in the coming months.

“KMJ and DEAG are strongly aligned with ShowPlanr’s own values and I look forward to this exciting new chapter”

“I’m delighted to be joining forces with DEAG and the KMJ family,” says ShowPlanr founder Chris Jenkins. “The opportunities that this partnership will unlock for the ShowPlanr team, our performers, crew and partners in the UK and internationally are incredibly exciting.

“Following a successful recovery post-Covid we’ve enjoyed record ticket sales and in 2024 we have launched more new tours than ever before; becoming part of KMJ and DEAG will allow us to build on this success and accelerate some really exciting new projects in collaboration with other companies across the group.

“Most importantly KMJ and DEAG are strongly aligned with ShowPlanr’s own values and I look forward to this exciting new chapter as we continue with our mission to elevate the population’s happiness through live experiences.”

UK promoter Kilimanjaro Live launched KMJ last month to support its “major expansion”. The company’s 16 live entertainment brands now operate under the new umbrella company, delivering a wide range of events, including music tours, in-conversation shows, theatrical productions, comedy, and family attractions.

The group also has its own ticketing platforms and owns and operates the Arches at London Bridge exhibition and event space in central London.

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Kilimanjaro Live launches new parent company

UK promoter Kilimanjaro Live has launched a new parent company to support its “major expansion”.

The company’s 16 live entertainment brands will now operate under the new umbrella company KMJ Entertainment, owned by parent group DEAG.

KMJ companies deliver a wide range of events, including music tours, in-conversation shows, theatrical productions, comedy, and family attractions.

The group also has its own ticketing platforms and owns and operates the Arches at London Bridge exhibition and event space in central London.

The establishment of KMJ Entertainment will allow its brands to continue to reach new heights, according to a release.

“Expansion became a natural and healthy evolution for Kilimanjaro Live”

The news comes after a prolonged period of rapid growth for Kilimanjaro Live in the entertainment sector following the pandemic and expansion into new ventures such as ticketing, festivals, spoken word, immersive experiences and theatrical.

Stuart Galbraith, CEO of KMJ Entertainment, says: “Expansion became a natural and healthy evolution for Kilimanjaro Live as we stepped out of the pandemic and into a new landscape of live entertainment.

“Kilimanjaro Live was originally formed to provide the best live rock and pop entertainment across the UK, but as a group, we’ve now expanded into new areas and needed an umbrella name that represents and supports our growing family of companies across the live entertainment world. I’m very proud to see our evolution into KMJ Entertainment, with the support of our parent company, DEAG.”

Brands that will now operate under KMJ Entertainment are live music promoters Kilimanjaro Live, Regular Music, FORM and Singular Artists; spoken word producers Fane and How To Academy; theatrical companies Flying Music and JAS Theatricals; ticket companies Gigantic, Myticket and Tickets.ie; festivals Belladrum Tartan Heart, Let’s Rock and Pennfest; exhibition venue Arches London Bridge and production company Kontour.

KMJ’s brands operate across the UK, Ireland and beyond and sell four million tickets per year.

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