Ticketmaster to sell tickets directly on Facebook

One of the biggest hurdles faced by customers trying to get hold of concert tickets is the fact that - having seen a friend share the event on Facebook or other social media sites - they then have to click on a link deal with the ticket seller’s usually sub-par buying experience. 

Songkick has tried for years to integrate direct purchase from the biggest ticket sellers into into its site and app, however this never quite happened in the way it should have. In addition, its current legal battle with Ticketmaster/Live Nation makes a deal with the biggest ticket retailer in the world impossible for now. 

Facebook however is now working to solve this issue by integrating direct ticket purchase from Ticketmaster into its experience. The social networking site will collect an affiliate fee for each sale, however the details as to how the sale will actually happen are still quite nebulous. 

For example, there is no word as to if and how Facebook might handle the sale of high-demand tickets when they go on sale, or as to whether the functionality will be mostly useful for events are not quite in such high demand. One interesting aspect of using Facebook for sales is that the company has a huge amount of capacity in terms of network, which could make it easier to avoid the "crashes" that still happen all the time when tickets to high-demand events go on sale. 

Another company that is looking with interest at the ticketing space is Pandora. The company’s geo-targeting capabilities are enabling it to experiment with targeting specific potential customers with ads based on their listening habits. The integration of ticket buying opportunities inside the app could substantially increase sales for promoters. 

It may take another few years to really work things out, but a future where customers don’t have to deal with shoddy ticket-buying experiences may be around the corner. 

(Andrea Leonelli)