TJ Chambers
It’s been a while.
The excuse, well, it’s been busy.
A congested number of work projects, all requiring attention and support, albeit not all leading to a successful conclusion.
Whether fundraising for a scale-up in the Netherlands; M&A investigations in North Africa and the GCC; biz dev for Upfrontly an entertainment fintech platform; a speculative ticketing-adjacent acquisition in the UK, or joining the board of Tickets for Good (https://www.recordoftheday.com/news-and-press/tickets-for-good-announces-key-board-additions-launch-of-music-and-wellbeing-hub-following-successful-funding-round), it’s been a busy few months.
Accompanied by a long, hot dry summer.
‘The conditions we’ve seen this summer have broken UK climate records once again. These records are now breaking with increasing frequency, reflecting the influence of human-induced climate change on the temperatures we’re experiencing in the UK.’ – Dr Amy Doherty, National Climate Information Centre at the Met Office.
The recent autumnal storms, Austen immediately followed by Boelo, both battered parts of the UK with severe gales and heavy rain, causing flooding and widescale damage to buildings, disrupting ferries, rail journeys and air flights, with approx. 840,000 cut off from power supplies at some point according to the Energy Networks Association.
With its typical understatement the Met Office remarked, ‘With several significant systems developing simultaneously, the weather remains highly active both around the UK and further afield.’
The cycle of drought and flooding are both by-products of the abuse of our environment. Anyone want to continue to deny climate change?
Deep breath.
Being of a certain age, health check-ups are advisable, and this summer a lesion required a biopsy but happily I’ve received an all clear. And despite a certain elasticity of the body diminishing, I successfully completed another UltraChallenge (12-13.09.26) with 100Km continuous walk from Putney Bridge to Henley-on-Thames to raise funds for CALM (https://www.thecalmzone.net/) – £3,019.59 + £535.00 Gift Aid.
More recently, I travelled to Hong Kong for the Ticketing Business / Stadium Business Asia (https://www.ticketingbusinessasia.com/) conference at Kai Tak.
It requires a fair amount of time and budget to travel for, but it’s an excellent showcase for business deals current and underdevelopment across APAC. For experiencing first hand that whilst ticketing is a global concept it’s always a local practice, with operators from across the region, all happy to engage, network and participate in dialogue at a level not normally found at other trade events.
Recommended.
***
Summer’26 … And in other news
During the summer there were several notable ticketing-related legal disputes and transactions.
Firstly, there was the liquidation of DEAG subsidiary Oshi Software T/A Tickets.ie whereby some thirty-four independent Irish event organisers and promoters were owed approx. €1.4M (Failed ticket sales platform Tickets.ie owes €1.4m to event organisers, High Court told, Ellen O’Riordan, 10th July 2026 – https://www.irishtimes.com/business/2026/07/10/failed-ticket-sales-platform-ticketsie-owes-14m-to-event-organisers-high-court-told/) due to admitted ‘mismanagement’ and ‘poor cashflow forecasting’.
In the UK the collapse of Heritage Live, owned and operated by Giles Cooper Entertainment Ltd., led to the cancellation of thirteen concerts at Englefield Estate, Audley End Estate and the Sandringham Royal Estate (due to feature Janet Jackson, Christina Aguilera, Eric Clapton, Lionel Richie, Ricky Martin and others), after reporting weak ticket sales and the collapse of a last-minute financing deal (Fans furious after axed UK festival with best line-up ‘runs off with ticket money’, Danni Scott, 14th July 2026 – https://metro.co.uk/2026/07/14/fans-furious-axed-uk-festival-best-line-up-runs-off-ticket-money-29135111/).
Heritage Live stated that market dominance by the major sector conglomerates, and the ongoing decline in consumer income had been contributory factors in their collapse: “The might of huge multi-nationals has had the adverse effect of driving up supplier, artist and staffing costs and whilst it’s still just about manageable during a normal year, the cost- of-living crisis combined with general financial uncertainty, has resulted in several shows having far lower than average ticket sales, making it impossible to survive in such a competitive industry, with so many rising costs.’ (UK Concert Series Heritage Live Cancelled Over High Costs & Low Ticket Sales, Gideon Gottfried, 15th July 2026 – https://news.pollstar.com/2026/07/15/uk-concert-series-hertiage-live-canceled-over-high-costs-low-ticket-sales/)
As usual there was little follow-up or analysis as to why these organisations had failed.
Even asking how is it that a ticketing service platform that takes the consumer’s money weeks, months or years in advance of events, had apparently then mingled client escrow accounts with company operational funds and spent it all, and wasn’t guilty of something or other.
Rather the trade media concentrated on its core advertorial function of trumpeting record revenues per concert / per tour / per quarter, and the amplification of corporate press releases announcing new venue builds and/or promoter acquisitions within the international markets.
But (locally) perhaps the UK Parliament’s Business, Innovation, Science and Trade select committee’s ongoing ‘Competition and market functioning in the UK live music industry’ investigation with the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) who will consider ‘the extent and impact of vertical integration within the sector and the interaction between various parts of the supply chain (including venue ownership, event promotion, and ticketing), the market power of participants in these different layers of the market, and the use of exclusivity clauses’ to assess potential harms in the market.
The CMA will report back later this year.
Elsewhere, M&A deals driving sector consolidation within the global live music and performing arts industries continues, with relatively stable interest rates (caused by the central banks pausing rate hikes), the recent (post-2021) downturn and resulting accumulation of cash reserves, a weakening of Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) oversight by the rampantly free-market (and arguably corrupt) US administration, and the growing number of PE operators who have identified the historically fragmented sectors are ripe for an aggregated roll-up attracting the economies of scale, with the adoption of AI and immersive technologies – buy, buy, buy!
For example, the acquisition of ATG Entertainment by Ari Emanuel and Mark Shapiro’s Mari Group for an estimated US$6Bn (Ari Emanuel’s Mari Acquires Broadway and West End Theater Owner ATG Entertainment, Caitlin Huston, 11th August 2026 – https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/ari-emanuels-mari-acquires-broadway-and-west-end-theater-owner-atg-entertainment-1236670515/), which has led some commentators to describe the deal as ‘the livenationisation of the performing arts’.
This waspish remark is possibly derived from the DOJ’s enforced removal of Ari Emanuel and Mark Shapiro from the Live Nation board in 2021 (Endeavor Executives Resign from Live Nation Board of Directors after Justice Department Expresses Antitrust Concerns, 21st June 2021 –https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/endeavor-executives-resign-live-nation-board-directors-after-justice-department-expresses), whilst not forgetting the role Ari Emanuel apparently played in urging President Trump to resolve the USA Vs. Live Nation antitrust lawsuit whilst meeting with CEO Michael Rapino in the White House (The Threats And Bare-Knuckle Tactics Of MAGA’s Top Antitrust Fixer’, Dana Mattioli, Rebecca Ballhaus, and Josh Dawsey, 20th March 2026 – https://www.wsj.com/us-news/law/lobbyists-antitrust-trump-davis-f6a02e04).
Elsewhere, as the process of market consolidation advances, not everyone can be a ‘winner’. For example, there is the ongoing decline of Ticketek Entertainment Group’s Australian ticketing business.
First, it lost the Venues NSW seven-year ticketing contract worth approx. AUD$100M (which included the Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney’s Accor Stadium, CommBank Stadium, Allianz Stadium and the redeveloped Penrith Stadium) in October 2025.
Then in April 2026 Ticketek lost the Melbourne Park ticketing business to AXS. That contract included all events at Rod Laver Arena, AAMI Park, John Cain Arena and Margaret Court Arena.
In June it then announced job losses and a corporate restructure (Ticketek owner to cut jobs, restructure as contract losses bite, Sam Buckingham-Jones, 29th June 2026 – https://www.afr.com/companies/media-and-marketing/ticketek-owner-to-cut-jobs-restructure-as-contract-losses-bite-20260629-p60axn), followed in the same month with news that AXS had acquired the Hordern Pavilion in Sydney (US ticketing giant buys Sydney venue to win contract from Ticketek, Sam Buckingham-Jones, 15th July 2026 – https://www.afr.com/companies/media-and-marketing/us-ticketing-giant-buys-sydney-venue-to-win-contract-from-ticketek-20260714-p60f6b) another major client.
In response, Ticketek then borrowed AUD$100M to combat this loss of market share, to support is operations and strengthen its fiscal incentives for clients (Ticketek Entertainment Group raises A$100m from its lenders, Genevieve Spurway, 11th August 2026 – https://www.theticketingbusiness.com/2026/08/ticketek-entertainment-group-raises-a100m-from-its-lenders-report/).
And lastly, in India KKR acquired a 6% minority stake in BookMyShow for a reported US$50M (KKR signs definitive agreement to acquire minority stake in BookMyShow, Sharleen Dsouza, 19th August 2026 – https://www.business-standard.com/companies/news/kkr-bookmyshow-minority-stake-live-entertainment-india-126081900221_1.html), with observers suggesting that there would be some future cross-over with Superstruct Entertainment previously acquired in 2024 (KKR to Acquire Pan-European Live Entertainment Group Superstruct from Providence Equity Partners, 21st June 2024 – https://media.kkr.com/news-details?news_id=e2649de6-c5ac-4093-a581-22f88fe76cf6) who operate some 85 festivals across Europe and Australia.
I’ll leave the various legal cases, fines and web sites launches that involved StubHub / Viagogo in the UK, USA, Italy and Brazil over the summer months for another post.
Until the next time.
