Pandora moves into concert recommendations

Pandora’s purchase of Ticketfly for US$450 million last October was seen as a major step for the internet radio service to cater more for the 80 million people who use its platform and spend 22 hours on it each month.

The first game-changing result of the acquisition is now evident, nine months later. Overnight Pandora introduced personalised concert recommendations. These are based on suggestions for Ticketfly’s 1,100 venues in the United States and Canada, based on users’ listening habits.

The company announced to customers, “You no longer have to spend your own time trying to figure out when your favourite bands are coming to town, because now Pandora will do all that work for you. Just sit back and tune in to your favourite stations and notifications will be sent whenever an artist you love has a show nearby.”

Ticketfly, a ticket distribution service which started in June 2009 in San Francisco, works with more of the US’s top independent clubs than any other provider. By 2014 it had hit US$1 billion worth of cumulative sales, crunching into Ticketmaster territory. That year it shifted 16 million tickets, up 38% on 2013, and ticketed 90,000 events.

As soon as a promoter announces an event, users are notified via mobile, email and personalised feed in the Pandora app of an act they have listened to. They can also request for a reminder when tickets go on sale.

Customers can find, save and purchase tickets to shows in their local area without actively seeking them out. It is an additional and highly lucrative way for concerts to get attention.

Currently customers cannot buy tickets directly through the app, but are quickly directed to the event purchase page. But Pandora is working on eventually selling tickets through its app.

“Pandora is redefining the music experience, and that includes live events,” said Tim Westergren, founder and CEO of Pandora. “There’s nothing like the magic of a live show, and there’s nothing worse than missing your favourite band because you didn’t know they were in town. Pandora and Ticketfly are solving that with personalized and effortless access to live, local events.”

Following its move into podcasting and a recent deal with Uber, Pandora plans to launch paid on-demand streaming to better compete with Spotify and Apple Music before the end of the year. It is yet to strike deals with the three major music labels.