Eventim Gets Ticketing Oscar

The Arthur, as the Bremen-based company’s press release explains, can be characterised as a kind of “music industry Oscar.”

The annual awards are divided into 10 categories, such as those for venue, agent, festival, and The Golden Ticket award that Eventim took. Last year the company sold more than 100 million tickets for more than 200,000 concerts, sports and cultural events in 23 countries.

The award comes on the heels of reports that Eventim is being investigated by German antitrust regulators.

“It’s common knowledge that we have a very good market position in Germany,” company chief and majority shareholder Klaus-Peter Schulenberg said in a statement. “We are technology and innovation leaders and, therefore, often succeed against our competitors – which is the very essence of free and fair competition. We do not use unfair methods.”

The investigation is reportedly centered on Eventim’s acquisition of a stake in Holiday on Ice and its purchase of the operator of the 20,000-capacity Lanxess Arena in Cologne.

The Lanxess regularly hosts live music, with previous acts including Mariah Carey, Madonna, Coldplay, and Britney Spears. Eventim’s also a majority shareholder in Germany’s Medusa Group of promoters, which includes Marek Lieberberg, Folkert Koopmans, Peter Rieger and Dieter Semmelman.