LONDON, UK (Top40 Charts/ HMV & Ticketmaster UK) HMV and Ticketmaster UK, a Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE:LYV) company, today announced that they have entered into a strategic partnership. The move will see the UK and Ireland's leading entertainment brand join with the world's biggest ticketing agent to further improve and extend the scope of its hmvtickets ticketing service.
Coming into effect over the next six to eight weeks as the service migrates to its new platform, hmvtickets will remain HMV branded but will now be operated by Ticketmaster. The arrangement will enable the multi-channel retailer to substantially broaden the inventory of events that it can offer its growing number of customers both online via hmv.com as well as through its high street chain, where an initial twenty stores around the country will feature an hmvtickets box office.
An hmvtickets team will remain in place at HMV to support established relationships and to work directly with its existing client base while also looking to develop new ones by providing a dedicated service to promoters, event organisers, artist management and venues and festivals. The retail specialist will also look to maintain its productive relationship with record labels and artist management by way of continuing to offer customers its popular ticket and product bundle combinations.
Significantly Ticketmaster.co.uk customers will now be able to purchase their Ticketmaster tickets in store from hmvtickets box offices. Ticketmaster will also be utilising HMV's established retail distribution services to provide its customer with non-ticket related purchases such as CDs, DVDs and technology products.
Simon Fox, HMV CEO, commented: "We remain committed to offering our customers a premium-quality ticketing service, and by partnering with the world's number one ticket agent we're now in a position to significantly expand the range and depth of events that we can make available to them, not just loads more gigs and festivals, but also across comedy, sport, theatre and many other attractions besides."
Chris Edmonds, Managing Director, Ticketmaster UK, said: "This partnership is bringing together two leaders in their field in the form of HMV as the leading entertainment retailer and Ticketmaster, the world's leading ticket provider. Enabling our customers to buy tickets from HMV's network of stores is another great addition to our service we can now offer. We are excited about the opportunity of using our combined experience to deliver ticket and music bundles."
