Live Nation has overhauled its iPhone application to offer consumers exclusive mobile-only pre-sale tickets and promotions.

The ticketing giant has revamped its mobile app with new features that pulls in recommendations to help consumers find new concerts and shows. The new app also tightly integrates social media components.

“The small screen migration is great news for Live Nation, as mobile platforms provide huge advantages in delivering fans more personalized and location aware experiences before, during and after shows,” said Eric Garland, general manager of Live Nation Labs, Los Angeles.

“Mobile is core to Live Nation’s strategy,” he said. “Music fans are increasingly mobile, using phones both for finding and buying tickets, as well as engaging with favorite artists and other fans.”

Live Nation Entertainment owns Ticketmaster, Live Nation Concerts, Artist Nation Management and Live Nation Media/Sponsorship.

Clinching mobile sales?
Live Nation’s app has been revamped with a new design that takes takes advantage of Apple’s iOS 7.

Personalization plays a big role in the relaunch of the app. Live Nation pulls a consumer’s Facebook “Likes,” past purchases and iTunes music into a recommendation engine to create personalized, curated event suggestions.

Search is also heavily played up in the app revamp with a bar that stretches across the screen when clicked on. Keywords for events, artists and venues can then be typed in to filter down search results.

Additionally, the app is sectioned into three areas: “your shows”, “all shows” and “nearby shows” to declutter the screen.

The your shows section aggregates all of the shows that a user bought tickets for so that consumers can quickly browse through events.

Each listing for an upcoming show includes a map with directions. The map can also be opened via Google Maps.

Live Nation’s app also integrates Facebook so that consumers can share their favorite artists and concerts with friends and family.

For example, before an event consumers can RSVP to the event, which can then be published on a Facebook account. Music fans can also post videos and photos after an event.

Driving mobile engagement?
Concert ticket sales are often a impulse purchase, so it is no surprise that Live Nation has been active in the mobile space for several years.

In 2012, Live Nation reported that mobile traffic was up 156 percent year-over-year (see story).

Most recently, the entertainment company partnered with Kellogg on an augmented reality app that brings static packaging to life (see story).

This revamp in particular is the latest example of how marketers have completely rethought their iOS apps this year with the launch of Apple’s iOS 7.

“IOS 7 is the most powerful platform around, so we’re starting there,” Mr. Garland said.

“Apple’s ability to drive customer adoption of the platform so quickly is both a challenge and an opportunity,” he said.

“We had to move fast to leverage everything iOS 7 has to offer in terms of design, performance, and user engagement. We believe these efforts will really show in the user experience.”

Final Take
Lauren Johnson is associate reporter at Mobile Commerce Daily, New York