Ticketmaster and TikTok have expanded their partnership which allows artists to sell tickets to fans directly via the social media app across over 20 countries.

As a result of the extended partnership, any Certified Artist on TikTok in the participating countries can use the Ticketmaster ticketing feature to promote their live dates and connect with fans around the world.

These countries include the UK, Ireland, Australia, Germany, France, Canada, Mexico, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Switzerland, Spain, Sweden and the US.

The move follows the successful beta launch of the partnership, which was announced in the US last year and saw successful ticketing campaigns for both established and emerging artists, comedians and sports teams, including Niall Horan, The Kooks, Burna Boy and Shania Twain.

“Today’s music lives on a global stage and the demand for ‘live’ has never been greater,” Ticketmaster VP Global Business Development & Strategic Partnerships Michael Chua said.

“Through our partnership, TikTok and Ticketmaster are empowering artists to easily connect their content to event discovery and ticket purchase in-app making it easier than ever for fans around the world to experience their favourite artists live.”

TikTok Global Music Partnership Development Lead Michael Kümmerle added: “This is an exciting moment for the millions of passionate music fans in the TikTok community. By enabling fans to buy tickets directly through TikTok, we’re giving artists the opportunity to reach ticket buyers in a whole new way and change the game for live events around the world.

“As we bring fans closer to the artists and events they love, we hope to deliver further value to all artists throughout all stages of their careers and provide more opportunities for a growing fanbase. We are very excited to see how our partnership with Ticketmaster will develop over time.”

The news follows the social media platform launching its ‘Pulse Premiere’ advertising solution in the UK, securing Sky Sports as its first approved British publisher.

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Ticketmaster’s fine relates to a breach, which included names, payment card numbers, expiry dates, and CVV numbers, that may have affected 9.4m Ticketmaster customers across Europe – including 1.5m in the UK.

The ICO’s investigators found that 60,000 payment cards belonging to Barclays customers had been affected by fraud as a result of the breach. Another 6,000 cards were replaced by Monzo after the mobile bank suspected fraudulent use.

“When customers handed over their personal details, they expected Ticketmaster to look after them. But they did not,” said James Dipple-Johnstone, Deputy Commissioner. “Ticketmaster should have done more to reduce the risk of a cyber-attack. Its failure to do so meant that millions of people in the UK and Europe were exposed to potential fraud.

“The £1.25milllion fine we’ve issued today will send a message to other organisations that looking after their customers’ personal details safely should be at the top of their agenda.”

The breach, which stemmed from a third-party chatbot on the company’s online payment page, began back in February 2018 but the ICO’s penalty only relates to the breach from 25 May 2018 – when GDPR came into effect. The chatbot allowed the attacker to access customers’ financial details.

Despite Monzo, The Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Barclaycard, Mastercard, and American Express all reporting their concerns about fraud to Ticketmaster, it took the ticket company nine weeks to begin monitoring network traffic through its online payment page.

“This particular case sends a stark warning to organisations that GDPR compliance is both people and technology driven. It is the duty of every person within an organisation to know their responsibilities under the GDPR and this includes being accountable for all technology used. Despite it being a third party’s chatbot software that created a gateway for this data breach, the onus is still on Ticketmaster to ensure that any technology they use is secure,” said Chris Combemale, CEO at Data & Marketing Association.

“Within a month, the ICO has now issued several record-breaking fines in response to significant security failures by organisations who are responsible for the data of millions of customers. Data privacy is not a tick-box exercise, organisations must continue to invest in keeping their customers’ data secure. Otherwise they will face penalties that could prove far more costly to the business.”

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Upgraded authenticates tickets by converting them into interactive digital assets protected by blockchain. It combines blockchain technology with encrypted barcodes to event organisers more control over ticket distribution and protects fans against fraudulent tickets.

“Ticketmaster is constantly exploring emerging technologies, and there arent many that have the unique possibilities of blockchain,” said Justin Burleigh, chief product officer at Ticketmaster, North America. “Were excited to have Uprgrade join the team as we continue to focus on providing the worlds leading identity-based ticketing platform to fans, artists, and our clients. We think blockchain and Upgraded will continue our progress to improve ticketing and create a safer and more seamless experience.”

According to Ticketmaster, the Upgraded app will be the perfect for its new suite of live event products, which includes a facial recognition tool, a venue access control and fan engagement platform, and a product to help event creators better identify and sell directly to fans.

“Ticketmaster is the unquestioned leader in live event ticketing and is the perfect platform for us to bring the unique promise of blockchain to millions of fans,” said Sandy Khaund, founder and CEO of Upgraded. “Upgraded leverages blockchain to maximize trust for ticket holders, give control and flexibility to content owners, and data to teams and performers. Were proud of what weve built and are looking forward to working with the incredible team at Ticketmaster to help us scale.”

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