New Ticketmaster President to lead ‘AI transformation’ amid legal battles

Saumil Mehta has been named Global Ticketmaster President. He has a strong background in tech including 9 years at Square and joins with a mandate to “accelerate an AI transformation.”

Mehta succeeds Mark Yovich, who has served as President since 2020 and will become Chairman of Ticketmaster with a focus on long-term strategy.

Ticketmaster vs. FTC, DoJ & Fans

Mehta begins work as the new Ticketmaster president at time when it and owner Live Nation are facing legal battles with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, the Department of Justice, multiple state attorney generals and a fan class action suit. Each one could force seismic changes at Ticketmaster amd throughout ticketing and live music.

Live Nation and Ticketmaster appear to see AI as a way to create efficiencies and new opportunities to help the weather the coming storms.

An AI Ticketing Future

Under Mehta’s leadership Ticketmaster now hopes to execute AI opportunities across its business. That includes “empowering venues, fortifying the ticketing infrastructure against bad actors, and enhancing the ticket-buying experience for fans.”

“Over the past several years, Ticketmaster has been working to build a strong foundation for the next phase of growth,” said Michael Rapino, CEO of Live Nation Entertainment. “Saumil brings a fresh perspective and deep product and technology expertise that will help us build on that momentum.”

“Ticketmaster is an incredible business that serves as the world’s portal to the best live entertainment,” said new Ticketmaster President Mehta. “The real opportunity lies in how we evolve the experience by building smarter and more intuitive ways for fans to connect with the live experiences that matter so much to them.”

If other major rollouts are any indication, any shift to AI at Ticketmaster is likely to also create new problems and controversies.

Bruce Houghton is Founder & Editor of Hypebot, Senior Advisor at Bandsintown, a Berklee College Of Music professor and founder of Skyline Artists.