In the past, Academy had partnered with the Carling beer brand for concert promotion. Although beer companies are always good partners, this new partnership with O2 will really offer some tangible benefits to concert-goers. For instance, O2 customers will now have early access to concert tickets as well as the ability to purchase the tickets over select phones.

This is also strategic on Academy & Live Nation’s part. O2′s parent company is Telefonica O2, which has a presence in a number of other countries.

For Academy’s side of things, the venues that they own are both small and large venues. They include venues that house only establish acts as well as those that encourage up and coming artists. This will allow Live Nation/Academy/O2 to keep an eye on things at all levels of the industry. The 11 O2 Academy venues put on over 4,000 Live Nation concerts a year, where over 3.5 million people attend.

We continue to see Live Nation partner with technology companies that help their ticket sales options as well as partnering with companies overseas for quick expansion.

Stay tuned,
Erik
erikrostad.com