Business

Groupon, Live Nation team for ticket deals

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After a dismal summer concert season last year, Live Nation Entertainment is turning to discounts to draw fans.

Live Nation, the parent of Ticketmaster, announced yesterday it was teaming with daily deals start-up Groupon to deliver discounted tickets through a joint Web site venture, GrouponLive.com.

It’s a low-key way to unload excess seats in a time when fans have been cutting their budgets for concerts and other live events, said an industry insider, who asked not to be named.

The events industry has been heavily discounting for some time, but the partnership with Groupon is a way to put a happy face on the process, the insider said.

Last year, North American concert revenue dropped for the first time since 1995, falling 8 percent to $4.25 billion, according to Pollstar figures.

Aside from reaching out to e-commerce outlets, the concert business is also testing more flexible pricing based on consumer demand. Last month, Los Angeles-based Live Nation partnered with Marketshare to test so-called dynamic pricing.

Live Nation and Groupon did not say which concert would be the first for GrouponLive customers, although the site was up and running yesterday.

Users will have to opt in to receive the event notices, and the deals will blast out locally as with any Groupon offer.

Financial terms were not disclosed, such as whether Chicago-based Groupon will get its usual 50 percent cut of sales.

It was also unclear whether Groupon would offer the typical discount of 50 percent off on concert deals, although there’s reason to believe that customers would be happy to entertain smaller discounts.

“A Lady Gaga deal could be 40 percent off, and that would still be a bigger discount than anywhere else,” said a person with knowledge of the new service.

The GrouponLive model also differs in that there will not be a daily deal for members. The offers will arrive only when there is an event discount relevant for a given market.