Eventbrite President Of Music Andrew Dreskin Stepping Down: ‘At The End Of The Day, I’m An Entrepreneur’

– Andrew Dreskin

Andrew Dreskin is leaving his role as president of music at Eventbrite and will not return to the company’s board of directors, effective June 7, sources have confirmed with Pollstar. Dreskin will transition into a multi-year advisory role with the company.

“I’m transitioning out of the day-to-day, but I’m not moving on,” Dreskin told Pollstar. “I’ll continue to be the main point of contact for my clients. FlyCon, our annual client summit, kicks off in Denver next week and I’m looking forward to spending some time with our clients there. After that, I’ll probably take some time off, something I haven’t really done in 12 years. At the end of the day, I’m an entrepreneur and I plan to continue to make investments in entertainment-related projects.”

Dreskin came into the Eventbrite family when the company acquired his company Ticketfly from Pandora in September 2017. The company promoted Dreskin to its board of directors in February 2018, several months before it began the process of filing for an initial public offering.

Since then the company launched its Eventbrite Music solution in November, when it formally announced plans to sunset the Ticketfly platform in 2019.

“It has been a tremendous honor to lead both Ticketfly and Eventbrite Music over the past dozen years,” Dreskin said. “The founding and running of Ticketfly was the most gratifying experience of my work career, and frankly one of the most gratifying experiences of my life. The company had a great run, but it wasn’t always clear that that would be the case. We got off to a rather inauspicious start, founding the business during the dark days of the Great Recession. We finally broke through and raised almost $100 million, sold the business in the 5th largest tech deal of 2015, and teamed up with our friends at Eventbrite, but above all we built an extraordinary and rare culture and community. This is 100% due to a fantastic, dedicated team and the amazing indie promoters who signed on with us.”

Moving forward he has indicated he wants to move away from ticketing and get back to his entrepreneurial roots to pursue investments in the music industry, though he said he does not intend on being CEO of another company. News of Dreskin’s resignation first broke in Billboard.

“We’re grateful for Andrew’s dedication to leading Eventbrite’s music division since Ticketfly and Eventbrite came together nearly two years ago, culminating in the release of the Eventbrite Music platform late last year,” Julia Hartz, co-founder and CEO of Eventbrite said in a statement. “Today’s news does not change our fervent commitment to the independent live music community both in North America and globally, and our clients and the team that serves them remain our highest priority.”

Dreskin’s impact on the business has been undeniable, as he not only shepherded TicketFly, but was the founder of TicketWeb, the first company to sell concert tickets over the internet. TicketWeb sold to Ticketmaster in 2000 for an estimated $35 million.

Over the years he also co-founded Virgin Mobile Festival, created Field Day Festival, managed a record label, marketed concerts and owned part of the Big Easy venue chain. Whatever Dreskin does next, it’s a safe bet that he will continue to support independent music.

“I’ve been a champion of independent music for the entirety of my career, starting with the first show I promoted at Tipitina’s in college and stretching all the way to my time here at Eventbrite. Building the best technologies for indie promoters has become my life’s work. I absolutely believe the world needs a vibrant independent music community.”