Apple Music announced Tuesday that it is partnering with Ticketmaster to boost its concert discovery functionality. This integration aims to improve how users discover live music events based on their listening habits.
Ticketmaster is the first ticketing service to integrate with Apple Music, allowing listeners to find nearby concerts and events tailored to their individual music preferences. Every event listing on the music streaming app now includes a direct link to Ticketmaster for easy ticket purchasing.
With the new integration, Apple Music users can explore ticket options through various features in the app, including the homepage carousel that highlights nearby concerts relevant to their listening habits, a dedicated Concerts tab for browsing events, and Artist Pages that display concert listings along with a badge indicating when an artist is on tour.
Additionally, push notifications will notify fans when their favorite artists are playing nearby.
Also on Tuesday, Apple Music partnered with Bandsintown to feature its concert listings within the app.
Ticketmaster already authorizes other event listings across the Apple ecosystemincluding Maps, Spotlight Search, Photos and Shazam, so this is an extension of the partnership.
For example, when users recognize songs using Shazam, they can also discover and buy tickets for upcoming concerts. Searches for artists on iOS devices conveniently display Ticketmaster events in the results. Users can explore upcoming events at any venue that sells Ticketmaster tickets through Apple Maps.
Additionally, with the release of iOS 26, Apple Photos gives fans a way to revisit past concerts through their images and videos, linking them directly to upcoming events for those artists.
This is Apple Music’s latest attempt to keep up with rivals when it comes to concert discovery. In 2023, it launched a feature that allowed users to browse and listen to playlists from favorite artists currently on tour. The company also offers curated guides for both Apple Music and Apple Maps, which highlight the top live music venues in popular cities.
The integration with Ticketmaster comes on the heels of Spotify, one of Apple Music’s biggest rivals, partnering with SeatGeek so music fans can access ticket links when browsing an artist’s page or upcoming tour dates.
In the past, Ticketmaster has partnered with competitors to facilitate ticket sales, such as SoundCloud and YouTube.
Separately, the US Department of Justice announced earlier this month that it has tentatively settled with Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation, following an antitrust lawsuit. Since merging in 2010, Live Nation and Ticketmaster have dominated ticket sales and venue bookings in the US. However, the ticketing process has come under scrutiny and customers have expressed frustration with dynamic pricing practices that can significantly inflate costs.
This story has been updated after publication.
