Live Nation ramps up ticketing plans with CEO

Concert promoter Live Nation Inc said on Monday it appointed the first chief executive of its new ticketing unit in the latest move to fulfill its ambitions to be a full-service music business company.

Live Nation said it promoted Nathan Hubbard to the position of CEO, charged with creating a new concert ticketing company which will also oversee LiveNation.com, the website through which it sells many of its tickets.

Hubbard was previously CEO of Musictoday, a ticketing company which Live Nation bought in 2006 and developed the system through which the company now sells more than 2 million tickets a year.

Live Nation has made headlines in the last year with its high profile moves beyond concert promotion to sign established artists like Madonna, U2 and Jay-Z to recording contracts and merchandising deals.

But one of the Los Angeles company's more pressing challenges is a move to establish its own ticketing business once its long-term contract with market leader Ticketmaster runs out at the end of the year. Ticketmaster is being spun off from its parent IAC/InterActiveCorp later this summer.

Live Nation said Hubbard had built a platform that will enable the company to handle an expected 20 million tickets worldwide when it takes over all of its own operations.

Once established, the new ticketing unit is also expected to eventually be a competitor to Ticketmaster for third party contracts at venues and festivals not owned by Live Nation.

The strategy to evolve into a 360-degree music company has ruffled some feathers in the music industry as it pits Live Nation against many long-term business partners such as record labels, merchandisers and ticketing companies.

The business evolution has even caused conflict within Live Nation's own management. This month former chairman Michael Cohl stepped down from the board over a disagreement with Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino because he wanted Live Nation to increase the pace at which it signs up big name artists. Cohl is now a consultant with the company.

(Reporting by Yinka Adegoke, editing by Dave Zimmerman)