PANDORA'S GOLDEN TICKET

Internet radio giant Pandora has purchased Ticketfly—Ticketmaster's smaller-scale, indie rival—for a price tag of $450m, it was announced today; that number reflects a nearly equal balance of cash and stock. This is certainly a big step in the company's drive for a more artist-to-fan M.O.

Ticketfly, based in San Francisco, provides ticketing and marketing software for approximately 1,200 leading venues and event promoters across the U.S. In 2014, the company sold 16m tickets to more than 90k live events; this generated more than $500m in those transactions, but crossed the $1 billion mark in cumulative transaction volume.

"The combination of Pandora and Ticketfly will solve the longstanding problem of event discovery by seamlessly connecting Pandora’s nearly 80 million monthly active music fans to events they’ll love," Pandora explained in a statement. "This will enable artists and promoters to sell out more shows and will strengthen the bond between artists and their fans."

Pandora plans on promoting entire tours regardless of the ticketing partner at the individual venue, and build from the artist outward. There will be a baseline to cover for the tours, and the intent is to integrate with Ticketfly and hopefully, introduce improvements to the process.

In a nutshell, Pandora just made a huge investment in helping artists fill rooms and drive revenue.

“This is a game-changer for Pandora – and much more importantly – a game-changer for music,” added CEO Brian McAndrews. “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.”