One year in, the ticketing pioneer on why Pandora’s $450 million investment was a “fair price,” and the future of the secondary market
As music industry trailblazers go, Andrew Dreskin stands in rarefied company, having pulled off two ticketing-business feats during his 25-year career. He co-founded TicketWeb, the first online ticketing platform, which was sold to Ticketmaster in 2000 for $35.2 million. then, in October 2015, Ticketfly, a 2.0 version of Dreskin’s vision (for which he serves as co-founder/CEO, overseeing a staff of 208), was acquired by internet radio giant Pandora for $450 million.
It’s a long way from New Orleans’ Tipitina’s, where the new Jersey native promoted his first show while at Tulane university. Post-college, Dreskin eventually landed at Bay Area-based indie label Beserkley records (Greg Kihn Band, Jonathan Richman and The Modern Lovers), where he built the company’s website during the Internet’s infancy. Later, partnering with Rick Tyler, who was developing an online ticketing platform, TicketWeb was born, making its first sale in December 1995, 11 months before Ticketmaster.
Dreskin’s former TicketWeb associate Dan Tyree would help launch Ticketfly in 2008, and early believers included Peter Shapiro of Brooklyn Bowl and Seth Hurwitz of Washington, D.D.’s 9:30 club. As Ticketfly grew, securing exclusive contracts with such venues as Forest Hills stadium in New York and the troubadour in Los Angeles, it attracted $50 million in investment and the interest of Pandora, with its 80 million listeners, which saw its entree into live music.
The 47-year-old father of two, who resides in San Francisco’s East Bay area with his wife, Dr. Maria Raven, marked the one-year anniversary of the Pandora acquisition with Billboard.
How had your approach to outside investment changed from TicketWeb to Ticketfly?
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