Apple Music has partnered with Ticketmaster to enhance its concert discovery feature. The integration aims to help users find live music events tailored to their individual listening habits, marking Ticketmaster as the first ticketing service to collaborate with Apple Music.
This partnership allows Apple Music users to easily purchase tickets for concerts within the app. Each event listing now includes a direct link to Ticketmaster, facilitating ticket purchases directly from Apple Music. The app features a homepage carousel for highlighting nearby concerts, a dedicated Concerts Tab for browsing events, and Artist Pages displaying concert listings with tour badges. Users will also receive push notifications when their favorite artists perform nearby.
Additionally, Apple Music announced a parallel partnership with Bandsintown to display concert listings within the app, further expanding its offerings. Ticketmaster has previously powered event listings across various Apple services, such as Maps and Shazam, making this integration an extension of an existing relationship. When users identify songs with Shazam, they can also discover and buy tickets for associated concerts.
With searches for artists on iOS devices, results now include Ticketmaster events, and users can view future events at venues that sell Ticketmaster tickets through Apple Maps. The introduction of iOS 26 allows Apple Photos users to revisit past concerts through images and videos, linking these to upcoming events for the same artists.
This initiative strengthens Apple Music’s competitiveness against rivals. In 2023, Apple Music launched features allowing users to browse and listen to setlists from artists on tour. The platform also provides curated guides to top live music venues in popular cities.
The partnership with Ticketmaster follows a recent collaboration between Spotify and SeatGeek, allowing music fans access to ticket links on artist pages. Ticketmaster has previously teamed up with platforms like SoundCloud and YouTube for ticket sales.
Separate from these developments, the U.S. Justice Department has announced a tentative settlement with Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation, in connection with an antitrust lawsuit. This follows ongoing scrutiny of the ticket purchasing process and frustrations over dynamic pricing practices since the merger between Live Nation and Ticketmaster in 2010.
