• by Colin Kirkland , October 26, 2023

Furthering its involvement in the music industry, TikTok has announced a partnership with ticketing tech company Tickets.com, which will help sell tickets to the social media giant’s live music event, “In The Mix,” featuring new and established artists who thrive on the app.

TikTok has edged its way into the global music scene via viral in-app discoveries, but also recent incentives like its subscription-only music streaming service; a partnership with Billboard that tracks the Top 50 songs being played on the platform; a live talent competition; a licensing agreement with Warner Music; and now, a focus on ticketing.

The ByteDance-owned company actually experimented with ticketing in August through a partnership with Ticketmaster. However, TikTok wasn’t selling tickets, but inviting creators to add Ticketmaster links directly to their in-app content.

“In The Mix,” which will take place at Sloan Park in Mesa, Arizona on December 10, 2023, marks the first time TikTok has ever sold tickets to a live event, creating a new website –– TikTokInTheMix.com –– where tickets will be available for purchase.

The pre-sale begins October 27 and the general sale starts on November 2; prices range from $25 to $60.

Other music-related tech platforms have also launched ticketing capabilities. Spotify rolled out a similar ticketing website last year, and this week the Apple-owned music discovery app Shazam launched a way for users to save upcoming concerts in their area.

As for the live show, Paul Hourican, TikTok’s global head of music partnerships and programming, said that “our vision is to create a show that is reimagined for the TikTok era and our music-loving global community.”

“In The Mix” will showcase popular artists like Cardi B, Niall Horan, Charlie Puth and Anitta, as well as emerging talents such as Isabel LaRosa, Kaliii, LU KALA, and Sam Barber from TikTok’s emerging artist program called “Elevate.”

The company says the show will be specially curated for its users as well, with a global broadcast streaming on TikTok Live, starring popular creators, trends and highlights from the past year.