In brief: Despite the continual rise of music streaming services such as Spotify, YouTube remains incredibly popular as a destination for those seeking out music content. Now, the site is making it easier for fans to buy tickets for artists' concerts, thanks to a partnership with Eventbrite.
According to YouTube, over 1 billion people visit the site every month to hear their favorite artists and discover new music. To help make the transition from watching a video to seeing a performer live on stage, videos on YouTube's Official Artist Channels will now show Eventbrite concert listings in the US.
Clicking on the blue 'Tickets' button will take viewers directly to Eventbrite's site, where they'll be able to buy tickets for the shows, thereby making the whole process a lot quicker and easier.
The partnership means that YouTube "now covers more than 70 percent of the US ticketing market." It will continue to add new artists and North American venues to the program and plans to expand globally.
The move appears to be another attempt by YouTube to improve its strained relationship with the music industry, which has long complained about the use of copyrighted material on the website, that YouTube doesn't pay artists enough, and that it doesn't give them enough choice over how their work is used. YouTube says that live events continue to be a major source of revenue for artists, and it wants to help musicians sell more tickets.
"YouTube's global audience also lets artists find new fans with 26% of Millenials (44% of teens) claiming they discover live music events on YouTube, according to Nielsen," writes the Google-owned firm.