New Ticketing Business Eyes The Australian Live Music Market

It seems we are getting a new ticketing competitor in Australia, courtesy of multinational AEG, opening an Australian office for its AXS ticketing platform. 

The office gives AEG a local ticketing arm that can potentially link with its AEG Ogden venues including Qudos Bank Arena, Brisbane Entertainment Centre, RAC Arena, Suncorp Stadium, Perth Theatre and more. AEG also has a tight strategic alliance with the Mushroom Group's Frontier Touring, giving the group potential control of the tickets, the venues and the shows themselves.

The significant change for the Australian market gives each of the three big concert promoters their own ticketing businesses - Live Nation’s Ticketmaster, TEG’s Ticketek and AEG’s AXS - as well as ownership over a large portion of Australia's mid to large-sized live music venues.

As reported by The Australian, AXS Chief Executive Bryan Perez is eyeing the Australian live music market as part of their global expansion. He believes that there's space for a third major player in the ticketing world who can do business differently. How differently remains to be seen, but the driving of competition which would usually result in lower fees for consumers is a question mark still to be answered given the vertical integration now entrenched in the market. 

It comes after years of consolidation in the promoter space as the likes of Frontier, Dainty, Secret Sounds, MJR, and many more have been swallowed up or aligned to form the big three — not unlike what has happened with record labels arranging around Sony, Universal and Warner. 

While it shows strength and resilience in the Australian market, it also begs the question of whether smaller promoters without the advantage of ticketing revenue will be able to compete in the new landscape.

AXS's entry into the market will come as a blow to the incumbents Ticketek and Ticketmaster, who have traditionally handled these venues and further marked out the territory between the big three multinationals. AXS will open a local office next month.

American ticketing outlet AXS was founded in 2011; its ownership by AEG sees it fall under the umbrella of the second-largest live music business in the world, behind Live Nation and its Ticketmaster operation. 

It has been a challenging year for ticketing companies around the globe, who are facing unprecedented demand in a post-Covid pandemic world. Last month, the pre-sale link to Taylor Swift's Eras tour crashed while the industry has also been criticised for the price of tickets under dynamic pricing.