Ana Valdovinos In June 2021, he became managing director of the multinational live music ticket sales company Ticketmaster Spain. and Tick Tack Ticket. valdovinos He came into the ticket sales industry in 2003 when he joined Serviticket after working in finance at companies such as Arthur Andersen and Lear Corporation.
She is also a member of the MIM Association (Women in the Music Industry), which fights for gender equality in the industry. “Women are big consumers of culture, music, theatre, books, cinema and exhibitions, but management positions are still mostly held by men. The jobs we manage to access are determined by ephemerality and often uncertainty, even though we have the same level of education,” she says.
How are you balancing at the beginning of Ticketmaster this year?
It’s been a very busy year but also exciting and beautiful. We are coming out of a pandemic after months of hiatus, and now fans and artists want to meet again. Many concerts are on sale and we can see that fans are really looking forward to returning to the concerts. We are ready to experience the concerts with confidence.
Are the concerts already normal or are there still restrictions?
Yes, we’re starting to see normalcy. It could not be consumed until a few days ago, now if not in the marked area; They will also take off our masks on Tuesday…
What prediction do you have for this 2022?
This year will be very good. At the international level, Ticketmaster will exceed 2019 figures. If 500 million tickets were sold worldwide, we will see a higher figure in 2022. We hope that this trend will be reflected in our country as well. Concerts like the Rolling Stones or the C. Tangana tour are on sale and in high demand, but the real ‘boom’ in ticket sales will happen towards the end of the year and when we reach pre-pandemic. levels. Note that many events are held that are postponed from 2020. All these tickets were sold in 2019 and 2020 and will be held now.
Is there a decrease in cash sales due to the war?
The curve is flatter, but when there are concerts people want to go to and know there will be few tickets, they quickly sell out. People are very enthusiastic. What’s happening is that, as with Rolling, which comes out in March and the concert is on June 1, the concerts come out fewer months in advance than before.
What numbers do you have for this year?
It is still very risky to give figures because it depends on prices, if you sell domestic goods, it is cheaper than abroad, and there is a lot of supply at the end of the year. Ticketmaster globally sold 45% more tickets through February than in the same period of 2019. The market in Spain is not exactly the same, but it points to a trend.
What are the most interesting concerts right now?
In the months marked by the weaker pandemic, national artists received a lot of attention as they were working in lesser capacity. Concerts were held in 2021 and even in 2020 capacity dwindled towards the summer, but there were national performers. What people have now is the desire to experience music with all its intensity, so they want to continue with the national ones and start seeing the international ones as well. We’ll have some great tours, but I can’t advance them.
Are international tours starting or are they waiting?
A lot of things are already moving in Europe. Artists plan their tours by country. They sell the same first in France and Germany, then they pass through Spain. But it is true that tours are more cautious. They are issued with closed dates and less notice.
What is left of the ‘flow’?
There is nothing like live experience, of course, because it is a sensory experience. Streaming is another type of experience, it’s beautiful and fun because the artist has such a direct connection with the fan. But this is another type of product. They are not incompatible. Artists may still be interested.
Do you have short-term investment plans?
at the international level. Ticketmaster invests 10 million euros a year in technology and therefore we will continue to be at the forefront of fighting speculation, fraud, making processes transparent and putting all the possibilities in the hands of our customers, the organizers above all. Maximize the sales process and experience for the fan. Digital technology.
What innovations have started to be seen in tickets?
Incredible things like NFTs are being done in the United States. Our company does sports. In addition, many digital technologies are being developed, such as a non-transferable ticket without a barcode until minutes before entering the venue. There’s also a lot of investment in improving sales processes on how to sell a ticket, how you want to sell it, how a seat can be viewed, and where it’s located 360 degrees. That’s where it goes.
Has this industry changed a lot?
When I started in 2003, tickets were from a cashier. I remember people lining up at record stores and ticket offices when Rolling Stones or U2 tickets went on sale. It was also sold online and by phone, but far less and everyone gathered in one physical location. Now you are at home and there are no physical queues, there is now a virtual queue.
But despite technological advances, there are still virtual queues. Is it possible to avoid them?
Ticketmaster is capable of selling 5,000 tickets per minute, but at some events, those with very high demand, you’re getting an unstable offer and demand. In a stadium where there are more than 50,000 tickets for sale and more than 100,000 or more than 200,000 and more than 300,000 people willing to buy, a virtual queue inevitably forms. The good thing is that you can see how many minutes are left to access the purchase. In addition, we have a Verify Fan process on Ticketmaster, meaning real fans sign up to access these tickets. And the system detects whether it is a real fan.
What do you mean by true fan?
There are many ‘bots’ and ‘brokers’, machines that initiate processes to purchase tickets in bulk. Before the pandemic, we detected 6,000 million ‘bots’ trying to attack internationally.
Are there still too many scams?
We are detecting less and less, although there is some risk as there are people who do not go to official platforms often. They search for a listing on Google and Viagogo, a sales platform, comes out on top. Maybe they just don’t know enough to know that it’s not an official ticket and they don’t even know if it’s expensive or cheap because they’re not used to buying it and it’s still two or three times the official price. We strive to put all measures at our disposal to minimize resale. For example, we were the first to put in nominal entries.
But not all names…
No, we did it for example at the U2 concert.
And why isn’t it always done?
We make it available to the organizer, but that’s their decision, not ours. There are different options such as pre-registration, pre-sale, nominal ticket, limit of one ticket per purchase. We make them all available to the organizer and they choose.
But then is there always a percentage of resale?
Incidences are very low now, but they always are. The digital ticket minimized the problem by providing a more personalized experience for fans. In the past, when someone bought four tickets, you had to guess who three of them would go to. Now that we know the traceability of the ticket from purchase to the show, we can now provide a safer experience.
In 2018, Ticketmaster shut down its sales website (Seatwave). What is the current position of the company?
The priority for us is that the tickets are with the real fans. There are possibilities for reselling to be integrated into the primary market, i.e. done with transparency, and if a fan is unable to attend the concert for certain reasons, if they want to sell, sell in a transparent market. The customer knows that you have purchased a ticket purchased by another fan at a price he or she deems most convenient and that we can control, and this is fair and marketable. What we want is for a process, if any, to be transparent.
But does this already exist?
At the international level, yes, they’ve implemented it, and it’s a very interesting possibility because it allows fans to buy tickets because they won’t be afraid of not being able to attend. People have tickets and if they can’t come they sell it, but transparently and with the security of the person buying it, Ticketmaster ensures it’s a real ticket.
And are you planning to do this in Spain?
It’s a possibility. It is a way to combat speculative resale and fraud.