Ticketmaster Middle East Launches

Ticketmaster has opened shop in the Middle East, where the website is already live and where parent company Live Nation has been producing concerts for five years.

Based in Dubai Media City, the office will be run by David Grisham, formerly of Ticketmaster Canada. Grisham’s LinkedIn profile says he’s been at the UAE office since January. 

“We have been operating our concert business in the Middle East for five years and in that time have seen a significant increase in the number of concerts and sporting events taking place in the UAE and elsewhere in the region,” said Live Nation president of international and emerging markets Alan Ridgeway. “I am pleased that we are now in a position to offer event organisers and ticket buyers in the region the level of service that they have grown accustomed to in our other markets around the globe.”

While Dubai, United Arab Emirates, is a hotspot in the region and will be home to the Ticketmaster office, the company is expected to expand into neighboring countries and further into North Africa.

AEG also operates in the Middle East, previously with its own office but now mostly through a partnership with local promoter Done Events, which took on some key AEG staff in 2010 including Thomas Ovesen, who was managing director of AEG’s Middle East office.