Streaming giant Spotify has begun testing a new in-app marketplace that allows artists to sell pre-sale concert tickets directly to fans. The new feature launched on August 10th with tickets from OSEES, Dirty Honey, Annie DiRusso, Limbeck, Crows, Four Years Strong, and TOKiMONSTA.
The marketplace is an extension of Spotify’s existing “Live Events” hub. What began in 2020 as a database of livestream concerts in response to the pandemic has become one of the platform’s fastest evolving features in the years since. Following the return of live events, Spotify began listing concerts on artist profiles and—back in June—started linking off to ticketing partners including Ticketmaster, AXS, Eventbrite, and more.
It now appears that Spotify aims to sell tickets directly to fans by using a share of the artist’s pre-sale allotment. These tickets would come directly from the artist’s portion, which is oftentimes first offered to email fan clubs or through password-protected pre-sales. A representative for the streaming service was adamant that this is just a test and that Spotify is only interested in pre-sales rather than primary ticketing.
“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,” a spokesperson told Music Ally. “Tickets.spotify.com is our latest test. We have no further news to share on future plans at this time.”
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This test comes as streaming services remain under fire for historically low royalty rates while, simultaneously, the return of live events has brought with it continued outrage over inflated ticket prices and predatory fees from ticketing services as well as scalping. By selling tickets directly to fans, Spotify can endear itself to fans and artists by cutting out the middleman. It is expected that Spotify would charge some fee for this service, but those details have not been made public.
Beyond the primary ticketing market, Spotify is also uniquely positioned to enter the secondary market. As Music Ally points out, the streaming service can ensure that tickets go into the hands of genuine fans by using their listening history. Spotify already does this in a way with the “Fans First” program, where artists’ top listeners receive first notice about exclusive pre-sales. There is, however, no indication that Spotify will utilize users’ listening history to gatekeep them from buying tickets.
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