Los Angeles - Live Nation (NYSE: LYV), a live concert producer and venue owner, announced on Thursday that it will abandon industry giant Ticketmaster and launch its own ticketing business for its venues and events, beginning in 2009.

The company said it signed a long-term agreement to license CTS Eventium's ticketing platform in North America, while Eventium will provide back office ticketing services in the U.K. and ticketing services across Europe.

"This is a monumental step forward in the evolution of Live Nation into a next generation music company," said Live Nation president and CEO Michael Rapino.

"Live Nation will use its most important asset, the concert ticket, to build artist careers and customer relationships, forge innovative sponsorship deals, create a fan and artist friendly secondary ticketing platform and provide a ticketing alternative for third-party venues."

Live Nation, which was spun-off from Clear Channel in 2005, also recently expanded its offering with the launch of a recording artists division, whose first signing was Madonna.

The company owns or operates more than 100 venues in the U.S. and abroad.

Related Links:
http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/cgi/news/release?id=215747

http://www.eventim.de/cgi-bin/tickets.html?fun=tdoc&doc=start&affiliate=evg

http://www.livenation.com