For years, Ticketmaster has dominated the field when it comes to purchasing tickets to live music and other various forms of entertainment in the United States. Recode reports that online retailer Amazon, wants to throw their hat into the live music and entertainment ticket selling ring in the United States, but the company will not have an easy time doing so.
Amazon would have to convince several artists, sports teams, venues, and promoters that they could offer a better deal than Ticketmaster and its parent company Live Nation, who have had a stranglehold on the tickets selling market for years.
For the past year, Amazon has set up shop in the United Kingdom, selling tickets for music artist Elton John, and theater tickets for shows “Wicked” and “The Book Of Mormon,” and look to expand overseas in Europe and Asia. Amazon’s service displays ticket fees upfront for upcoming show purchases.
Job listings by Amazon have been posted under the titles “Position Amazon tickets as the world’s premier destination for purchasing tickets.” Another post read “To develop our international expansion strategy for Europe and Asia.” The company has recently been hiring Amazon Tickets employees at its Seattle headquarters, furthering speculation that Amazon will join the U.S. ticket selling market.
Amazon posted the following statement:
Our vision goes beyond just selling tickets as we aim to disrupt the entire live entertainment experience, including what happens before, during and after the show. The ticket business is ripe for innovation and improvement, as much of the industry has not fundamentally changed since the 1970’s.
Longtime Amazon employee and vice president Ian Freed, will head up the division. Freed launched the company’s Fire Phone and served as CEO Jeff Bezos’s technical assistant. Besides Amazon Tickets, Freed runs the company’s restaurant-delivery service.
It also appears that Amazon will incorporate some kind of ticket incentive to its Prime membership.
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