SFX Entertainment, responsible for global events such as Tomorrowworld, Tomorrowland and Mysteryland, recently announced their new partnership with MasterCard earlier this month. With MasterCard acting as a partner to SFX, the two companies plan to focus their efforts towards SFX’s EDM-based business. As the technology assimilates into the SFX system, MasterCard plans to work to simplify and innovate the ways in which hundreds of millions of EDM fans worldwide access SFX events, online content, and create community connections. Through this partnership, SFX plans to use MasterCard’s technology for its live events, including ticketing, as well as for retailing and social media purposes. MasterCard is seeking to ultimately become the exclusive financial services sponsor for SFX and its events. Chief Marketing Officer at MasterCard, Raja Rajamannar, commented on the partnership, “no other generation of music fans has been more connected and mobile than the millions of EDM fans globally.” MasterCard is in a unique position to tailor its Priceless platform and innovative technologies to enable fans to experience their passion in new and exciting ways.
“Partnering with SFX takes us to a new level as an experiential brand in the entertainment space.” Chairman and CEO of SFX Entertainment, Robert F.X. Sillerman also commented that “this transformational alliance with MasterCard will bring innovative technology solutions across the entire experience stream to our global portfolio of events and online properties, allowing for more seamless and personalized fan experiences all over the world.” This massive global partnership between MasterCard and SFX Entertainment serves as a new type of business model for music and technology industries, and may pave the way for more enterprise-wide partnerships in the future. It is also yet another way that SFX has managed to brand-up and mainstream the scene. Whether that’s for better or for worse, we’ll have to wait and see.
