Pandora Expands Into Ticketing, Buys Ticketfly

Pandora just took a big step to make its company more than just music discovery.

Yesterday (Oct. 7), Pandora announced it has agreed to buy Ticketfly for approximately $450 million. Ticketfly is a live events technology company that competes with major companies like Ticketmaster. Overall, Ticketfly’s mission after this acquisition is to help Pandora “create the definitive music platform for connecting fans, artists and event promoters.”

Ticketfly provides ticketing and marketing software for approximately 1,200 leading venues and event promoters across North America and works to streamline the process for fans to find tickets.

“This is a game-changer for Pandora — and much more importantly — a game-changer for music,” said Brian McAndrews, chief executive officer at Pandora. “Over the past 10 years, we have amassed the largest, most engaged audience in streaming music history. With Ticketfly, we will thrill music lovers and lift ticket sales for artists as the most effective marketplace for connecting music makers and fans.”

Some quick facts provided by Pandora about its new company:

In 2014, Ticketfly sold 16 million tickets to more than 90,000 live events, generating more than $500 million in transaction volume and crossing the $1 billion mark in cumulative transaction volume.

Ticketfly powers more than 600 websites on behalf of its clients, making it the leading provider of website technology to the live events industry.

An average of 14 million people visit Ticketfly.com and its network of client sites each month.

“Pandora’s entry into live events is a watershed moment for the music industry and will forever change the landscape for artists, promoters and fans,” said Andrew Dreskin, cofounder and chief executive officer of Ticketfly. “Ticketfly and Pandora are a perfect fit: two companies that are extraordinarily passionate about music and improving the experience for the entire ecosystem. The combination of Ticketfly and Pandora will be a marketing and event discovery powerhouse, giving venues and promoters unprecedented access to a massive and targeted audience of nearly 80 million music fans.”

To check out what else is HOT in the world of payments, click here.