Concert promoters, venue managers and artists are still reeling from the historic LiveNation-Ticketmaster merger. Many feared that the merger would result in a ticketing monopoly that would force venues to raise ticket prices and only use the Live Nation-Ticketmaster service if they wanted to book a Live Nation artist. Almost a year later, a recent Chicago Tribune article indicated that ticket prices have not yet skyrocketed and independent promoters are still thriving. While there is still a fear that the worst may be yet to come, the merger hasn’t deterred venues from pursuing other options when it comes to choosing a ticketing platform.

One of the more innovative platforms is Arizona-based company,  TicketForce, which describes itself as a ticketing solution for venues  and promoters of all sizes. The company designs fully customizable  ticketing applications that allow venues and promoters to effectively  build their own brands. They recently launched a Facebook app that will  allow clients to sell tickets directly from a Fan Page. This application  allows clients to add a ‘Buy Tickets’ tab on their Facebook Fan Pages  so that fans won’t have to leave Facebook.

The app has several benefits:

• Once the purchase is completed, a custom notification is posted to your customers’ Facebook Wall or Twitter feed that tells all of their friends about their ticket purchase with an image and link to buy tickets, too.

• Buyers are able to search for events in a specific area, choose seats, and securely purchase tickets without ever leaving Facebook.

• All active events are pulled automatically from your Ticketing Home and sales are fully integrated into your existing web sales.

• Customers are prompted to share their purchase with their Facebook friends as well as on their Twitter stream

As the company illustrates:  With 500 million Facebook users, more  than 600 tweets every second, and  665,000 blogs posted every day – social media is  your most powerful sales  tool. TicketForce's latest innovation is capitalizing on social media sales opportunities and making it easier for small and mid-sized venues to find viable Live-Nation/Ticketmaster alternatives.