Music streaming platform Spotify is testing the water with selling tickets directly to fans rather than linking through to external ticketing operators.
According to news site Musically, Spotify kicked off the tests yesterday (Wednesday) with a small number of artists. Pre-sale tickets were made available to fans through the Spotify app and the freshly launched Spotify Tickets website.
The test is being rolled out in the US market, with initial acts like Annie DiRusso, Tokimonsta, Osees, Dirty Honey, Limbeck, Crows and Four Years Strong confirmed for the initiative.
Tickets will come from the pre-sale allocations for upcoming concerts from these artists. Spotify will sell tickets on behalf of third parties like venues, event promoters, fan clubs and artists. The platform will not set the price of the tickets and will charge a booking fee.
A spokesperson told the Musically: “At Spotify, we routinely test new products and ideas to improve our user experience. Some of those end up paving the path for our broader user experience and others serve only as important learnings. Tickets.spotify.com is our latest test.”
Spotify is already involved somewhat in ticket pre-sales through the ‘Fans First’ initiative, where supporters receive exclusive email offers from partner artists. While Spotify does not sell these tickets directly, it prompts users to make a purchase.
Last month, the streaming platform also introduced its refreshed ‘Live Events Feed’, which incorporates its partnerships with Ticketmaster, AXS, Dice, Eventbrite and See Tickets. The feed links fans through to tickets sold by these platforms.
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