NSDTCM:COMPANY:LIVE NATION
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Live Nation writing its own ticket

Concert promoter keys on sponsorships, resale

Live Nation is forecasting a $25 million increase in EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization) once it installs its own ticketing system, and the concert promoter calculates that through sponsorships that figure will double.

The truly uncharted territory, however, is the secondary market, in which Live Nation expects to become an active participant. Once its ticketing system goes online in 2009, the company will essentially be in line to profit from the initial sale of a ticket and then from its resale.

“The fundamental strategy is that we need to control our tickets, control the allocation,” Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino said in a conference call Friday with analysts and investors. “To date, we don’t have a lot of flexibility.”

Live Nation struck a deal last month with the German ticket company CTS to create an inhouse ticketing service that would replace the promoter’s deal with Ticketmaster, which expires at the end of the year.

SOURCE:VARIETY.COM MUSIC NEWSLETTER
FULL STORY:VARIETY.COM/MUSIC
LINK:CTS EVENTIM AG
LINK:TICKETMASTER.COM