There was already a Live Nation app for iPhone and iPod Touch, but now its sister company, Ticketmaster, has joined the mobile game with its own app. Ticketmaster is for iPhone and iPod Touch.
Ticketmaster uses your current location to display upcoming events near you. Although the app includes all venues that sell tickets through the service, the app also includes some locations that sell tickets through TicketWeb, but you can’t purchase these tickets in-app. Including these venues provides a fuller look at your local events calendar, but you should know that by no means are the calendars comprehensive—some of Chicago’s most popular concert and theater venues, for example, don’t use TM or TicketWeb and are therefore not included in the app. The point is, if you’re looking for concerts from your favorite band, don’t solely rely on the Ticketmaster app.
For events that do offer tickets, purchasing in-app is surprisingly easy. To see available seats you will have to be logged-in to or create a new Ticketmaster account. You’ll also have to enter in a CAPTCHA, just like on the website, to view available tickets. If tickets are available for the event, you’ll see the seating assignments and price, including fees, for the number requested. I didn’t see anywhere in-app to view seating charts, something I prefer to look at before making a purchase, so I hope to see this included in a future update. The app also includes favorite artist alerts, social networking sharing features and the ability to sync events with your iPhone’s calendar.
But, lest you forget, because this is a Ticketmaster app you can expect astronomical fees and convenience charges with each transaction. Some things never change.
