(CelebrityAccess) — Ticketing company Songkick revealed that they plan to cease operations at the end of the month, according to a client letter from the company obtained by Variety.
The company, which allowed artists to sell tickets directly to fans via their website, said in the letter that they plan to continue their lawsuit against Live Nation and their ticketing subsidiary Ticketmaster.
In the lawsuit, Songkick alleges that after they acquired the ticketing company CrowdSurge in 2015, rival Ticketmaster hired one of CrowdSurge’s senior execs who Songkick claims absconded with proprietary internal databases which he then provided to Ticketmaster. Songkick alleges that the misappropriated data allowed Ticketmaster to poach their prospective clients.
In February, Live Nation said that the lion’s share of Songkick’s original suit had been dismissed by the court and said that Songkick’s amended lawsuit lacked legal merit. In July, Songkick sold off a number of key assets to Warner Music, including their concert discovery app and website, as well as the Songkick trademark.
The letter obtained by Variety in full:
“Before I say anything, let me say thank you.
Thank you to the artists and managers who entrusted us with their tickets and audience; to the agents, labels, promoters and venues that partnered with us to make artists’ visions into realities; and to the many – always committed and now nearly all former – employees of CrowdSurge and Songkick who worked tirelessly over the last 10 years with nothing short of a remarkable passion to better the live experience for artists and fans.
With that said, I’m sad to write that on October 31, Songkick will bow to pressure from Live Nation and Ticketmaster and complete the shutdown of all ticketing operations (including the design and maintenance of artist webpages) we began earlier this year when Ticketmaster and Live Nation effectively blocked our US ticketing business. Songkick’s concert discovery app, which was sold to Warner Music Group in July, will continue uninterrupted under the WMG umbrella.
Our antitrust, trade secret misappropriation and hacking lawsuit against Live Nation and Ticketmaster will continue unabated, with trial currently scheduled to begin in the second week of November, just a month from now. Many of you receiving this note have helped us immensely as we prepare for our day in court, and even as we shutter our business, we will remain focused on pursuing a legal victory and making the live music industry better for artists and fans.
If you are an artist, promoter or venue for whom we have sold tickets to a show occurring on a future date, you will be contacted individually over the following three business days to arrange for payment. All outstanding amounts will be paid in full.
If you are an artist, promoter or venue currently using our services to sell tickets, list shows, store customer data or power parts or all of your website, these services will become unavailable on October 27. On behalf of myself and all of my colleagues, it’s been a pleasure to work with you. Once again: thank you, for everything.
All the best,
MJ (Songkick founder Matt Jones)
