Industry News

Everyone’s a loser in Ticketmaster Songkick battle

Ticketmaster’s settlement with Songkick may have brought a long-running saga to a close, but there were no winners.

That’s the view of Amplify Media’s Dave Brooks in a thorough assessment of the long-running battle that concluded earlier this week when it was announced that Ticketmaster had agreed to pay its adversary more than $100m in an out-of-court settlement and bought some of its few remaining assets.

Brooks broke several stories about the fall of Songkick, reporting last October that the company was effectively closing down and only seeking court victory against Ticketmaster in a bid to recoup some of its losses.

Brooks also reported in early December that a Songkick representative had attempted to sell assets to Ticketmaster while the two were still involved in a legal dispute dating back to 2015.

Writing in Amplify, Brooks contends that the three-year legal saga culminated in a series of losses:

Ticketmaster – $110m down thanks to its out-of-court settlement, although that amount represents only about 30 per cent of what the company made in 2016.

Songkick – the company has closed down, having struggled to function without access to Ticketmaster inventory and forced to spend a fortune on legal costs. None of its staff have been retained by Ticketmaster.

The instigators – Zeeshan Zaidi and Stephen Mead, the two individuals accused of hacking Songkick, were publicly fired by Ticketmaster and might be under FBI investigation.

The management – While Songkick recouped $110m from its out-of-court settlement, it’s unclear what was left over for founder Matt Jones or investors such as Len Blavatnik. Former co-CEO and chairman Ian Hogarth took to Twitter after the settlement to pronounce “End of a long journey”.

To read the full Amplify story, click here