Ticketmaster is a large company that provides ticket sales and distribution services for a wide variety of live entertainment events. With operations in over 30 countries around the world, Ticketmaster sells hundreds of millions of tickets each year through their website, mobile apps, retail outlets, and phone centers. This leads many to wonder – with such a massive global operation, does Ticketmaster have employees?
Quick Answer
Yes, Ticketmaster does have employees. As a major company operating internationally, Ticketmaster employs thousands of people to help run their business operations and provide services to clients and customers.
How Many Employees Does Ticketmaster Have?
According to reports, Ticketmaster employs approximately 4,500 people worldwide. The majority of these employees are based in Ticketmaster’s main offices and contact centers, which are located in:
- West Hollywood, California – Headquarters
- New York City, New York
- London, England
- Ireland
- Spain
- Mexico
- Australia
- New Zealand
In addition to the thousands of employees based at these main offices, Ticketmaster also has staff working remotely around the world. The company expanded remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic and many employees continue to work from home.
Key Employee Numbers
Total Employees: | Approximately 4,500 |
Employees in West Hollywood HQ: | Approximately 1,200 |
Remote Employees: | Approximately 15-20% of staff |
Client Support Staff: | Approximately 2,000 |
Technology & Product Staff: | Approximately 1,000 |
Sales & Service Staff: | Approximately 1,500 |
What Types of Employees Does Ticketmaster Have?
To serve its many clients and customers globally, Ticketmaster employs a diverse mix of staff across many different departments and roles, including:
Client Services
Ticketmaster employs hundreds of agents and representatives who provide support to their promoter and venue clients. These employees field inquiries, handle ticketing setup and logistics, provide technical support, and more.
Customer Service
There are also thousands of customer service agents that assist Ticketmaster customers with purchases, deliveries, exchanges, inquiries, and any other ticketing-related issues. Many work in contact centers handling high call, email, and chat volumes.
Technology & Product
Ticketmaster has around 1,000 employees working on developing their website, mobile apps, analytics tools, API, and other technology products. These roles include software engineers, product managers, designers, developers, data analysts, and more.
Sales & Business Development
Hundreds of business development representatives and salespeople work to build relationships with new clients, venues, promoters, and more. They work to grow Ticketmaster’s client base and ticketing supply.
Marketing & Communications
There are also teams that handle communications, social media marketing, advertising, branding, sponsorships, and PR. These employees promote Ticketmaster’s services and platforms.
Finance, HR, Legal
Behind the scenes, there are also workers in accounting, finance, human resources, administration, legal, compliance, and other corporate functions that all large companies require.
C-Level Executives
Finally, Ticketmaster’s executive team includes CEOs, Presidents, Vice Presidents, Directors, and other senior leaders across divisions who manage the strategic direction of the company.
Notable Employees
Some noteworthy current and former employees at Ticketmaster include:
- Michael Rapino – President and CEO
- Amy Howe – Chief Operating Officer
- Jared Smith – President of Ticketmaster North America
- Sandy Rednour – Chief Digital Officer
- Justin Burleigh – Chief Product Officer
- Dan Armstrong – Former Chief of Staff and SVP of Client Relations
- Fred Rosen – Former CEO and founder of Ticketmaster
Working at Ticketmaster – Reviews from Employees
On job review sites like Glassdoor, employees provide insight into the work culture and environment at Ticketmaster. Here are some trends among reviews:
- Benefits like healthcare, 401k plans, travel perks, and bonuses are highly rated
- Work-life balance depends on role and team – sales has high pressure
- Technology roles tend to be engaging with lots of coding time
- Client and customer support roles often have strict metrics and productivity goals
- The pace moves quickly with new products and features launching frequently
- Departments and communication can be siloed at times
- Onsite amenities, like free meals and social events, are popular perks
The consensus seems to be that Ticketmaster offers competitive pay and benefits with interesting work, but high expectations exist around sales targets and productivity.
Where Does Ticketmaster Hire Employees?
Ticketmaster recruits and hires employees from around the world through some common channels:
- Company careers website – Open job listings are posted across divisions and locations at careers.ticketmaster.com.
- Job sites – Roles are advertised on general and industry-specific boards like LinkedIn, Monster, Indeed.
- University recruiting – Ticketmaster recruits from target campuses for their student and graduate programs.
- Industry events and conferences – Staff attend ticketing, music, and tech events to find prospective hires.
- Referrals – Existing employees can refer candidates from their network.
- Headhunters and recruiters – Executive search firms help source leadership and specialized roles.
When looking for new hires, Ticketmaster tends to look for skills like ticketing and entertainment industry knowledge, technical capabilities, sales acumen, and customer service experience. Languages like Spanish are also in demand to serve their global customer base.
How Has COVID-19 Affected Ticketmaster’s Employees?
The COVID-19 pandemic had a major impact on Ticketmaster due to event shutdowns and standstills across the live entertainment industry. During peak pandemic closures, the company had to take harsh measures, including:
- Furloughing or laying off an estimated 20% of its workforce
- Cutting executive and employee pay by 20%
- Freezing new hires
- Slashing contractor roles
Remaining employees transitioned to working from home and took on new responsibilities. As demand has recovered, Ticketmaster has been rebuilding its workforce and ended salary cuts earlier than planned. The flexibility of remote work is allowing them to add new roles and recruit talent outside their traditional offices. With live events fully back, further regrowth is expected in Ticketmaster’s employee base going forward.
Does Ticketmaster Hire Contract or Gig Workers?
Yes, in addition to traditional employees, Ticketmaster also leverages contract, seasonal, and gig workers. These types of workers have helped provide added flexibility and capabilities in areas like:
- Customer service – Contract agents supplement full-time staff during peak sales periods when call, chat, and email volumes spike due to major events on sale. This allows them to scale up and down as needed.
- Sales – Commission-based sales contractors have been used to pursue new business opportunities and clients without adding more traditional full-time sales staff.
- Technology – Contract and freelance developers, programmers, and engineers can help build out products and features that require specialized skills.
- Marketing – Promotional street teams and event support staff have been utilized on a gig basis to boost branding and experiential campaigns as needed.
Leveraging contract workers and the on-demand talent marketplace has offered Ticketmaster a flexible way to handle fluctuations in workload and tap into specialized skill sets. Their employee base still makes up the strong majority, but they mix in alternative work arrangements when strategic.
Conclusion
Although Ticketmaster utilizes powerful technology and automated systems to power their global ticketing platform, there are still thousands of employees that make their massive operation possible. From customer service agents answering questions to developers building their products, Ticketmaster leverages a large and diverse employee base across departments to serve clients and customers around the world. They complement their traditional full-time teams with contractors and gig workers as well to better handle peaks and specializations. Even with continued innovation and technology advancement, Ticketmaster will continue relying on a mix of human employees and automation to keep their ticketing empire running.