Contact Us
Contact Us
— Case Study

Connecting Listeners to Live Music at Pandora & Ticketfly

When Pandora acquired Ticketfly, we saw an opportunity to build something the industry had never done: connect streaming listeners directly to live concert experiences at scale. I built the Industry Marketing function that bridged listening data with ticketing — driving 16 million ticket sales and promoting over 90,000 concerts.

Company Pandora / Ticketfly
Industry Music / Live Events
Scope National
Focus Industry Marketing & Ticketing
Pandora Ticketfly marketing collage
16M
Tickets Sold
90K+
Concerts Promoted
1st
Streaming-to-Ticketing Integration
New
Industry Marketing Function
— The Situation

Streaming and Live Music Existed in Separate Worlds

Pandora had the largest audience in digital music with deep listening behavior data. Ticketfly was a fast-growing ticketing platform for independent venues and promoters. But the two businesses operated independently, with no connection between a listener's streaming habits and their concert-going behavior.

  • 1
    No bridge between listening data and live events. Despite having rich behavioral data on what listeners loved, there was no mechanism to connect that insight to concert discovery or ticket purchasing.
  • 2
    Artists, labels, and promoters needed proof of value. The music industry needed to see that Pandora could drive real-world outcomes — not just streams — to invest in the platform as a marketing partner.
  • 3
    No Industry Marketing function existed. Pandora had no dedicated team or strategy for working with the music industry as marketing partners — the function needed to be built from scratch.
  • 4
    Scale required automation, not one-off campaigns. With 90,000+ concerts per year, the ticketing integration needed to work at massive scale through behavioral targeting and programmatic promotion.
— The Mandate
Build the bridge between streaming and live music — creating a new revenue stream by connecting Pandora listeners directly to concerts and ticket purchases at scale.
— The Approach

Turning Listening Data into Live Music Experiences

We built an entirely new function — Industry Marketing — that connected Pandora's listening intelligence to the live music ecosystem. The strategy linked behavioral data to concert promotion, enabling listeners to discover and purchase tickets to shows from artists they already loved.

01
Built Industry Marketing from Scratch
Created the Industry Marketing function at Pandora, establishing the strategy, team, and partnerships needed to position Pandora as an essential marketing partner for artists, labels, and promoters.
Go-to-Market Strategy →
02
Behavioral Targeting at Scale
Built targeting systems that used Pandora's listening data — artist preferences, genre affinities, listening patterns — to match listeners with relevant concerts in their area, driving ticket discovery and purchase.
Growth & Lifecycle Marketing →
03
Integrated Ticketing Experience
Embedded ticket purchasing directly into the Pandora listener experience — transforming the streaming platform from a passive listening tool into an active concert discovery engine.
Integrated Marketing →
04
Artist & Label Partnerships
Built marketing programs with major labels, independent artists, and live promoters — creating co-marketing campaigns that used Pandora's platform to drive real-world ticket sales and artist revenue.
Content & Creator Marketing →
— Transformation

Before & After Industry Marketing

Before
No connection between streaming listening data and live concert experiences
Pandora and Ticketfly operated as completely separate businesses
No Industry Marketing function — no strategy for artist, label, or promoter partnerships
Music industry saw Pandora as a streaming platform, not a marketing partner
After
Behavioral targeting connected listeners to concerts based on their actual listening habits
16 million tickets sold through integrated streaming-to-ticketing experience
Full Industry Marketing function built — dedicated team, strategy, and partnership programs
90,000+ concerts promoted, establishing Pandora as essential to live music marketing
— Results

The Numbers Tell the Story

A new function built from scratch that transformed how the music industry connected with fans.

16M
Tickets Sold
16 million tickets sold through the integrated Pandora-Ticketfly experience, proving that streaming listening data could drive real-world concert attendance at massive scale.
90K+
Concerts Promoted
Over 90,000 concerts promoted through behavioral targeting — matching listeners with live shows based on their actual listening preferences and geographic proximity.
1st
Streaming-to-Ticketing Integration
Built the first scalable integration between a streaming platform's listening intelligence and a ticketing platform's purchase infrastructure — creating a new category for music marketing.
New
Industry Marketing Function
Built the Industry Marketing function from zero — team, strategy, partnerships, and programs — positioning Pandora as an essential marketing partner for artists, labels, and live promoters.
— Impact

From Streaming Platform to Music Marketing Engine

The Pandora-Ticketfly integration proved that streaming platforms could drive real-world outcomes at scale. By building the bridge between listening behavior and concert attendance, we created a new revenue stream for Pandora while giving artists, labels, and promoters a powerful new marketing channel.

The Industry Marketing function established Pandora as more than a place to listen — it became an essential partner in the broader music ecosystem, connecting fans to the live experiences they craved.

🎵
By connecting streaming data to live music, we sold 16 million tickets and promoted 90,000+ concerts — proving that listening behavior is the most powerful signal for predicting concert attendance.
— Capabilities Applied

What This Took

Go-to-Market Strategy Integrated Marketing Content & Creator Marketing Growth & Lifecycle Marketing

Ready to Build Your Growth Engine?

Let's talk about where you are, where you want to go, and how we can help you get there.

Book a Call →