
Pandora Acquires TicketFly for $450M - timthimmaiah
http://start.ticketfly.com/blog/pandora-and-ticketfly-join-forces-to-create-the-worlds-most-powerful-music-platform/?utm_source=MEL&utm_medium=138881
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mcintyre1994
> The Pandora app is the single most-used mobile app in the world

Can this possibly be true? More used than Apple/Google/Spotify music apps
maybe, but Facebook? Google search seems hard to believe too?

I mean 80m users, "many on their phone" when Facebook have put up 1b users in
the same day and I'm pretty sure surpassed 50%+ mobile usage?

~~~
sleet
Perhaps they define usage based on time?

It seems reasonable that users would spend 1b/80m = 13 times the amount of
time listening to music than they do interacting with Facebook.

~~~
SirensOfTitan
If you're going to use that metric, use ~1.25 B for Facebook (monthly actives
on mobile).

1.25B/80m = ~16 times. The average Facebook user in the US spends about 40
minutes on FB per day (not sure of mobile vs desktop breakdown):

16*40minutes = 10 hours per day on Pandora on average. Absolutely no way.

~~~
jbverschoor
I'm not sure if "checking facebook" is the same as "interacting with facebook"

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codva
One cool thing Pandora might be able to do is analyze their stream data and
predict where bands will have enough fans to make money on a live show. I
could imagine TicketFly offering a service that essentially tells bands where
to play, and of course steer them to a Ticketfly venue whenever possible.

~~~
justizin
Great as long as the algorithm isn't hiding a bunch.

I stopped using Pandora years ago when I interviewed with them and they ranted
at me about how much they hate paying customers because they make more on
advertising, which is when I started paying twice as much for Spotify.

Also, the people I know that use Pandora, and my experience of using Pandora
literally since they were announced on Slashdot and were one of the first
Flash apps, is that they do better 'radio' than other folks, but if you stick
with a channel, it don't change much over years.

~~~
unethical_ban
Yep. I use Pandora, because it's good at doing a "mood" for different kinds of
gatherings. But the stations gather dust over time without modification.

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cmurf
If they can destroy Ticketmaster I'll be happy.

Edit: And StubHub for that matter.

~~~
jandrese
I find it amazing that nobody can seem to outcompete Ticketmaster. It can't
really take $15 per ticket to serve up 5 webpages. Are the costs of entry
really that high? It doesn't seem like selling tickets should be that hard.
How can a simple middleman maintain such a massive profit margin for so long?

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bkeroack
You aren't the customer. The venues/teams/promoters are.

~~~
ju-st
Yep. If you want to outcompete Ticketmaster you have to increase your revenue
by jacking up the ticket prices even more (so your real customers get more
money).

~~~
toomuchtodo
What if a startup worked with upcoming artists to book venues that aren't your
typical music venues? The venue gets traffic it wouldn't have otherwise
gotten, the artist keeps ticket prices lower (which promotes more exposure
with their fans, and increases the profitability of touring).

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cdcarter
Not a lot of venues that "aren't your typical music venues" have the kind of
infrastructure (including but not limited to security procedures and PA)
necessary for the kinds of bands LiveNation is signing.

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acjohnson55
Between NextBigSound and this, Pandora's making some big moves. Wasn't sure if
they'd become a dinosaur, but it'll be interesting how they tie all these
capabilities together.

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xeromal
Pandora was founded in 2000. Amazing how long they have survived!

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omouse
Woah, I didn't realize how much $$$ Pandora had!

~~~
ceejayoz
Half of it is Pandora stock, according to
[http://press.pandora.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=251764&p=irol-
newsA...](http://press.pandora.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=251764&p=irol-
newsArticle&ID=2094893).

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bmm6o
Ars coverage of the story: [http://arstechnica.com/information-
technology/2015/10/pandor...](http://arstechnica.com/information-
technology/2015/10/pandora-makes-450m-acquisition-so-it-can-sell-you-live-
music-tickets/)

~~~
silveira
The photo they are using to illustrate this story, without any credit, is from
the upcoming Guitar Hero Live (FreeStyleGames/Activision). No relationship
with Pandora or TicketFly as far as I know.

The photo: [http://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-
content/uploads/2015/09/Guitar...](http://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-
content/uploads/2015/09/Guitar-Hero-Live-Behind-the-Scenes-1-640x427.jpg)

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majani
Could anyone explain to me why they would do this instead of
advertising/affiliate arrangements with all the ticket vendors out there?

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g10r
One idea might be they were looking for complete ownership of the
transactional data sets especially when paired with listening insights from
that same consumer.

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kapkapkap
Seems odd that ticketmaster would not have have been willing to purchase them
for more than that (unless of course ticketfly didn't want to go that route,
and was leaving money on the table).

~~~
gwintrob
The founders sold their previous company to Ticketmaster. From
[http://techcrunch.com/2011/04/19/ticketmaster-rival-
ticketfl...](http://techcrunch.com/2011/04/19/ticketmaster-rival-ticketfly-
gets-12-million-to-make-concert-ticketing-more-social/):

<<Ticketfly has an interesting origin story, the company’s co-founders sold
their first startup, TicketWeb to industry leader Ticketmaster for $35 million
in 2000 and then left that company in 2008 to form Ticketfly.>>

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samstave
If anyone from Pandora is reading this:

* Form a partnership with Uber -- allow me to see venues with events happening on my uber map and allow me to click one button to buy a ride to the venue and a ticket at the same time!

* For the love of god -- please update the Pandora Home Screen on the website app when listening to music so that the album art and the artist title are BIG and viewable from across the room! Look at how lame this layout is: [http://i.imgur.com/QEciRIj.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/QEciRIj.jpg)

Look at how small the album art/artist is and ALL that wasted screen real
estate.... I mean the album art is the ___smallest_ __visual element in that
entire UI!!!

~~~
thaumasiotes
My usability gripe:

If the album that Pandora has tagged a song as belonging to isn't available
digitally on Amazon, but the same song is digitally available on another
album, link to that. Don't imply that itunes is the only way to get it without
ordering a CD.

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samstave
[http://ridetheclown.com/wp/saver2/](http://ridetheclown.com/wp/saver2/)

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anthrophuman
hopefully now this means I won't keep hearing the same songs over and over on
pandora... oh wait, already cancelled my membership

edit: the truth hurts. I used and paid for pandora one for many years but the
fact is they play the same songs over and over regardless of what station I'm
on. switched to slacker radio, then rdio more recently and found it to be much
better. best of luck to pandora though.

~~~
6stringmerc
Wow, so you're noticing that Pandora, an internet radio mechanism, has some
similar habits to terrestrial radio. Yes, there are repeats. There are buttons
for you to interact with the software that can change what you hear, but if
you just RONCO set it and forget it, you're going to get the same experience
as with terrestrial radio.

