Ten year old global ticketing service Songkick, who is currently operating in 61 countries, is unfortunately shutting down its ticketing services by the end of this month. All 15 million users who currently subscribe to the site, to artists like Paul McCartney, Adele, Metallica, Mumford & Sons, Pixies and Red Hot Chili Peppers, will no longer be able to use the ticketing service after the site was unable to keep up with competitors Ticketmaster and Live Nation.
While users won’t be able to purchase tickets from the site any longer, Songkick’s concert-discovery app, website and naming rights, acquired in July by Warner Music Group – to give the label access to Songkick’s 15 million subscribers and a way to connect with Warner acts – will continue functioning.
CEO of Songkick Matt Jones released a statement saying, “I’m sad to write that on October 31, Songkick will bow to pressure from Live Nation and Ticketmaster and complete the shutdown of all ticketing operations (including the design and maintenance of artist webpages) we began earlier this year when Ticketmaster and Live Nation effectively blocked our U.S. ticketing business.”
The lawsuit Songkick has filed against Ticketmaster, however, is alive and kicking hard as ever.
“Many of you receiving this note,” said Jones “have helped us immensely as we prepare for our day in court, and even as we shutter our business, we will remain focused on pursuing a legal victory and making the live music industry better for artists and fans.”
Songkick has accused two of their executives, Stephen Mead and Zeeshan Zaidi, of hacking the site’s computers to trade secrets for the benefit of Ticketmaster. The two then began working for the ticket service giant, with Mead sitting as Director of its Artist Services and Zaidi as Senior VP/GM of their concert and touring division. As of now, they are no longer with Ticketmaster.
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