Billboard has reported that Ticketmaster, now called Live Nation Entertainment, has recently informed its affiliate partners that - as of October 15 -  it's dropping their affiliate marketing program and no more commissions will be paid. The affiliate program still exists and Ticketmaster will continue to provide affiliates access to its concert database. That program has long paid a small fee (about 1% to 3% of the ticket price) to third parties whose traffic to Ticketmaster.com resulted in a sale.

The number of affiliates affected by the move was not disclosed, noted in the email some speculate that because of Ticketmaster's size and reach, the number will likely be substantial.

"The move follows a similar decision to stop paying commission for presale ticket sales  that the company announced over the summer. That decision was based, in part, on protecting artist presales, but the reasoning behind this latest move was not disclosed in the Thursday email."

The text of the email reads:

Dear [recipient],

We regret to inform you that as of October 15, 2010, we will no longer award commissions for tickets sold through our program. As the program cookie period is 30 days, we will make payments on any cookies dropped up to the 15th but none there after. This was a difficult decision to make, as we recognize the fiscal impact on our affiliates.

Despite this decision, we realize that many affiliates may still benefit from the information and content available via our extensive event database. As a result, we will continue to offer our affiliates access to our creative database, product feeds, as well as our real time tracking and reporting. If you think your website could benefit from using our API, please email us to learn more.

We sincerely appreciate your participation in our program and are very thankful for the partnership that we've had with you these past few years. As always if you have any questions, you can contact us at Affiliates@ticketmaster.com.

Regards,
Ticketmaster Affiliate Team
Affiliates@ticketmaster.com

The axing of the affiliate program could in effect, boost event ticket affiliation programs offered by the secondary ticket market and other affiliate programs.

Andrew Dreskin, the CEO of primary ticketing company TicketFly, a smaller but aggressive rival to Ticketmaster, recently launched an affiliate marketing program and hopes to capitalize on Ticketmaster's decision and told Ticketnews.com:
 
"It’s telling that Ticketmaster is winding down its affiliate program just as we are ratcheting ours up. The decision for Ticketmaster to slash and burn its affiliate program is emblematic of the old school thinking that plagues the live music industry," Dreskin said in a statement. "They have consistently taken a command-and-control approach that alienates the music community: fans, bloggers, promoters and now developers. In contrast, Ticketfly’s goal is to provide as broad a marketing platform as possible for our clients. We are building open, social technologies that embrace the community and make room for anyone who loves live music."

Other event and ticketing centric affiliation companies such as Cleafs in The Netherlands are also expected to benefit.