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Pandora Announces $450 Million Ticketfly Acquisition

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Pandora Media, Inc. has entered into an agreement to buy Ticketfly — a Ticketmaster competitor that sold 16 million tickets to live events in 2014, which translates to more than $500 million in transaction volume.

The acquisition, which is valued at roughly $450 million, will provide Pandora with Ticketfly’s events discovery software, allowing the internet radio giant to connect its nearly 80 million monthly active users to the events they’re interested in.

Pandora, a company which has built its business around music listeners who don’t necessarily want to pay for the music they listen to, aims to create the most powerful music discovery platform in the world and in the process, increase revenue while enhancing what Pandora referred to in a press release as the “overall music experience” of fans.

The company’s streaming music service, Pandora Internet Radio — which is only available in the United States, New Zealand and Australia — offers music streaming as well as automated music recommendation; the latter of which being powered by the Music Genome Project.

Pandora CEO Brian McAndrews called the joining of forces “a game changer” for not only Pandora, but music in general.

This is a game-changer for Pandora – and much more importantly – a game-changer for music (…) 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.

Ticketfly, a company which provides ticketing and marketing software for roughly 1,200 venues and event promoters in North America, powers over 600 websites on behalf of its clients. As a result, its the number one provider of website technology to the live events industry.

Between Ticketfly’s website and network of client sites, it drags in an average of 14 million visitors a month.

Ticketfly CEO and co-founder Andrew Dreskin referred to Pandora’s foray into the live events industry a “watershed moment for the music industry” that will “forever change the landscape” for not only the artists and promoters, but also the fans.

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 (…) 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.

In light of the acquisition, Ticketfly will continue to support its music and non-music clients. Clients that, according to Dreskin, “will gain access to the largest and most powerful music marketing platform in the world, which will help them to sell more tickets and generate more revenue.”

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