Songkick Continues Losing Battle Against Ticketmaster / Live Nation
In an unfortunate turn of events, industry giants Ticketmaster / Live Nation have squeezed out competing ticketing service Songkick. For years Songkick allowed artists to sell their tickets directly to fans before they went on major ticketing platforms such as Ticketmaster / Live Nation. This week CEO Matt Jones announced that their services will no longer be available come October 27th.
With the exit of Songkick fans and bands alike are about to take a hit to the wallet. Purchasing a ticket from an online service is convenient and painless, right up until you see that extra service charge. Songkick helped bridge the gap between fan and artist by getting tickets to people at the lowest cost possible. Now this service is out of the picture we can expect to see large service charges as an industry standard.
See below for the full statement from Songkick CEO Matt Jones.
Before I say anything, let me say thank you.
Thank you to the artists and managers who entrusted us with their tickets and audience; to the agents, labels, promoters and venues that partnered with us to make artists’ visions into realities; and to the many – always committed and now nearly all former – employees of CrowdSurge and Songkick who worked tirelessly over the last 10 years with nothing short of a remarkable passion to better the live experience for artists and fans.
With that said, I’m sad to write that on October 31, Songkick will bow to pressure from Live Nation and Ticketmaster and complete the shutdown of all ticketing operations (including the design and maintenance of artist webpages) we began earlier this year when Ticketmaster and Live Nation effectively blocked our US ticketing business. Songkick’s concert discovery app, which was sold to Warner Music Group in July, will continue uninterrupted under the WMG umbrella.
Our antitrust, trade secret misappropriation and hacking lawsuit against Live Nation and Ticketmaster will continue unabated, with trial currently scheduled to begin in the second week of November, just a month from now. Many of you receiving this note have helped us immensely as we prepare for our day in court, and even as we shutter our business, we will remain focused on pursuing a legal victory and making the live music industry better for artists and fans.
If you are an artist, promoter or venue for whom we have sold tickets to a show occurring on a future date, you will be contacted individually over the following three business days to arrange for payment. All outstanding amounts will be paid in full.
If you are an artist, promoter or venue currently using our services to sell tickets, list shows, store customer data or power parts or all of your website, these services will become unavailable on October 27. On behalf of myself and all of my colleagues, it’s been a pleasure to work with you. Once again: thank you, for everything.
All the best,
MJ
For more information visit Variety here.
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