Michael Rapino is obviously the face of Ticketmaster today. The chairman of Live Nation has been orchestrating a makeover of Ticketmaster the way Fred Rosen did nearly 40 years ago. They are visionaries who make things happen, each in their own way but always with the help of an army of talented people whom they inspire.
While putting together the Ticketmaster Turns 40 spotlight for this issue, I asked each interviewee, ‘Who is the face of Ticketmaster?’ and the answers did vary.
“For Feld, it’s Jared Smith,” said Jeff Meyer, EVP there. “We work with Marla Ostroff day-in and day-out. There is not a day that goes by that we are not talking to Ticketmaster in some way, shape or form. They are such an integrated partner, a global partner, with us. Under Marla’s umbrellas, Carrington Abernathy is our point. She works for Ticketmaster in Chicago.”
I hadn’t heard Carrington’s name since she left motorsports. Hello Carrington. You are further proof that this industry is just in the blood. No one leaves.
Allen Johnson, Orlando Venues, agreed with Meyer. “Nationally, it’s Jared Smith. Cole (Gahagan) is strong. In Florida, I have Tim O’Leary.” More long-time, long-term names.
“Michael Rapino. He’s the one who has embodied, over the past 5-6 years, the vision of the transformation of Ticketmaster into a technology company,” said Joe Berchtold, Live Nation COO. Rapino has been around a long time, too, more on the concert side than ticketing, but it’s all about the ticket anyway.
“Irving [Azoff] was LN and TM, and certainly Michael Rapino is LN and TM, but there are different faces,” said the Indiana Pacers’ Rick Fuson. “Dave Scarborough, he’s the face of our tickets. Jared Smith, he is a smart guy who established himself as the go-to-guy for Ticketmaster. He has become a great face in that business. Young Mr. Smith is the face of the operational expertise of this growing company. Jared is just as personable as anyone I ever met in my life.”
Technology has the onus of making things impersonal and ticketing is all about personal, whether it’s the fan who is connecting with an artist or an athlete or a venue manager who is connecting with a ticket vendor.
The tools are different today. The pace of change has picked up exponentially. More changed at Ticketmaster in the last five years than in the first 35.
But thankfully, the constant is still the people and as much as we might think the individual fades into the fabric of a big corporation like Live Nation/Ticketmaster, not really. They are just as friendly, visionary, focused and forward thinking as they were decades ago. It is always going to be a relationship business.
Just as Ticketmaster’s goal is de-anonymization of 100 million users, reaching out to each of them with a personalized marketing message, the longstanding trust between people is still the hallmark of their business-to-business approach.
God grant you many years to “face” the future.