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‘It’s Our Job To Ask The Right Questions’: Q’s With Sarah Slater, Vice President, Music & Festivals, Ticketmaster UK
To gage the state of play in the UK, Pollstar reached out to several ticketing operators to find out what currently shapes their day-to-day business; to talk about major onsales of the year; and get their wider perspective on the health of the UK’s live biz. Sarah Slater, Vice President, Music and Festivals at Ticketmaster UK, responded.
Pollstar: What are the three most important questions, the operator of a ticket business in 2024 needs to ask himself/herself from a business standpoint?
Sarah Slater: First up, what does the client want? Each client is different, and we work across a huge scope of genres and events – so a grassroots music venue and an arena will have completely different requirements, as will a comedy club in Vauxhall vs the Balloon Museum. It’s our job to make sure we’re asking the right questions, so we can ensure we deliver solutions that work for them and continue to do so.
Next, where are the fans and how do we reach them? Being aware of their buying habits and hitting them up where they are via our partnerships with TikTok or Meta is imperative.
And finally, what’s the future looking like? What technology is on the horizon? We’re always looking at how we will innovate next.
Which presales/onsales would you like to highlight as particular success stories this year?
It’s been a massive start to the year, and we’re only a quarter way in! Olivia Rodrigo’s huge UK tour, Pink!, who is bringing her iconic set across the country, and legendary acts like AC/DC, Stevie Nicks, and Pearl Jam, who are back and bigger than ever. The latter utilized our Request platform to ensure that their fan club – Ten Club – members got first access to tickets. Take That’s tour is smashing it, and Usher just kept on adding more and more London O2 dates. And we can’t forget ABBA Voyage, still riding high in its never-ending popularity.
How are festival onsales in particular going?
Festival demand increases year after year. And we’ve seen more people look for new experiences, like the DLT’s brand new The Recipe Festival or Wilderness’ Feasting & Dining experience. As always, Reading & Leeds are looking very strong and BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend’s demand just keeps on growing.
Alternative line-ups at the BBC Radio 6 Music Festival are attracting new audiences, while the Sunrise Arena at Latitude, and numerous other festivals dedicate spaces and stages to showcase hotly anticipated new acts.
Plus, we’re seeing more outdoor action with the Summer Sessions brand expanding to eight new locations, with more promoters creating new outdoor live music venues nationwide, boasting fabulous line-ups.
Any grassroots initiatives Ticketmaster is currently involved in, you’d like to highlight?
We recently launched Ticketmaster Local – your go-to destination for all things local, showing fans the gigs, comedy, and live shows taking place on their doorstep. It’s all about encouraging people to get out and support their local venues and artists to keep the scene thriving.
We’ve also proudly worked with MVT since 2016, and have launched a bunch of initiatives since then to get more revenue back to the venues who need it the most. This year we ran an MVT charity upsell option across the site and matched all donations, raising a total of nearly £90K in a just one month.
Anything you’d like to add about the upcoming year(s) for Ticketmaster UK? Any big upcoming news you can share here?
We’re constantly looking at ways of improving the fan experience. With more and more fans looking for the whole event experience, we’re excited to introduce new merchandising and upselling capabilities this year, as well as an even more streamlined checkout to simplify the purchase journey.