Berlin-based tour promoter The MCT Agency has terminated its partnership with Ticketmaster due to its relationship with secondary ticketing site Seatwave.
In May 2014, Live Nation-owned Ticketmaster signed a new long-term deal with MCT as well as the company’s own online ticketing partner, Tickets.de.
The trio worked harmoniously on a Robbie Williams arena tour in Germany last spring.
In a statement announcing the deal, they jointly agreed a commitment “to a customer-friendly pricing policy… [and a] commitment to fans and artists to protect against unauthorised resellers”.
But that was before Live Nation acquired the operating assets of Seatwave in November.
Seatwave is now run within Live Nation as a sister company to Ticketmaster, which also operates its own secondary ticketing platforms such as GetMeIn.
MCT said that the reason for its sudden split with Ticketmaster was its frustration over seeing its tickets sold on Seatwave – and the knowledge that Ticketmaster is now an official affiliate of the resale site.
All tickets for concerts and tours from MCT will continue to be offered to consumers via Tickets.de.
MCT is currently promoting concerts from the likes of Bjork and Nick Cave (pictured).
Live Nation recently announced that gross sales of secondary tickets through its own resale platforms reached US $900m in 2014.
It expects these revenues to top US $1bn in 2015.Music Business Worldwide
