AXS Partners with Grand Ole Opry & Ryman For Exclusive Ticket Sales
The Opry Entertainment Group has partnered with global ticketing company AXS to become the country music company’s exclusive ticketing partner moving forward. This means that all ticketing for the Grand Ole Opry and the Opry House venue, the historic Ryman Auditorium, as well as the Opry’s “Ole Red” Blake Shelton-themed venues in Nashville, Gatlinburg, Orlando, Oklahoma (Tishomingo), and soon Las Vegas (2023) will now run solely through the AXS platform.
AXS is the ticketing arm of AEG Presents—one of the largest live promoters in the world. It is a similar relationship to the one between Ticketmaster and Live Nation. The Opry Entertainment Group hopes that partnering with AXS will also facilitate greater collaboration with AEG Presents.
“This partnership with AXS will allow us to deepen our relationship with our customers across our venues and provide them a secure, safe and convenient way to access all of their OEG tickets in one place,” says Scott Bailey, President of Opry Entertainment Group. “This partnership was created with our future in mind and opens doors for us to collaborate with AXS and AEG on a deeper level as we expand our offerings and continue to grow our business.”
Bryan Perez, the President and CEO of AXS adds, “The Opry Entertainment Group is the jewel in the crown of one of the greatest music cities in the world. AXS will super serve these landmark venues and their customers with our suite of state-of-the-art technologies and marketing solutions, enabling each property to tailor their ticketing experiences and maintain the individual identities which make them so iconic in Nashville and beyond. We’re thrilled to partner with such a seminal brand as we build out our presence in the city.”
AXS is promoting that the new deal will give fans the ability to access the company’s “AXS Official Marketplace,” where tickets can be bought and sold on the same platform. It is this platform that recently drew the ire of fans of the Turnpike Troubadours and others as buyers were unable to purchase face value tickets at the Red Rocks Amphitheater in Colorado, only to see tickets immediately appear back on the AXS platform through resellers at exorbitant markups. Fans also attempting to purchase ticket to Zach Bryan’s Ryman Auditorium performance on February 10th, 2022 faced similar frustrations.
It is not clear at the moment if the AXS deal will ultimately extend to the Moody Theater in Austin as well. The Grand Ole Opry’s parent company, Ryman Hospitality Properties, is currently under contract to purchase the “Block 21” development in Austin for $260 million, which includes the 2,750-seat Moody Theater where Austin City Limits is taped and ACL Live events happen weekly.
Though tickets are regularly available for face value to Grand Ole Opry presentations, The Ryman Auditorium—similar to Red Rocks in Colorado—is considered a destination venue, drawing fans from around the country to see marquee performers in an intimate and historic setting, creating a premium for tickets. Music fans will now be using the AXS platform to secure these tickets.
December 17, 2021 @ 8:24 am
(insert obligatory AXS complaint here)
December 17, 2021 @ 10:25 am
My Axs story. Purchased tix 4 months in advance for a general admission sold out show in Orlando. The tickets were not delivered to me electronicly until 10 minutes after the show started which was over an hour after the doors opened. Needless to say, the show wasn’t the same from the back!
Of course no response from cust service.
I’ll never go to another show that is sold through Axs – they are a joke of an organization.
December 17, 2021 @ 11:27 am
Just bought three GA for Jack Johnson here in Colorado throughly AXS for next summer – tics were $41.50 but then tack on a $35.91 “web convenience fee” and another $6 to get them via Will Call the day of…
December 17, 2021 @ 4:45 pm
It’s pretty laughable that a company whose sole business is selling tickets online can justify that there’s an additional fee for purchasing tickets online… it used to just be a couple of bucks, now it’s an additional 40% of the ticket price.
December 17, 2021 @ 7:05 pm
Yea a couple of points here. Ticket fees are rediculous. Even movie tickets bought online have a fee but it’s typically a dollar. The fees for concert tickets are outrageous. Secondly they say you can buy and resale your tickets. If that’s not dishonest I don’t know what is. They tell you that the tickets are unrefundable but yet have no problem with you scalping tickets you bought on their site at a far higher price and more than likely with more service fees. This is just legal piracy and fleecing of country music fans. Which is why the George strait concert I saw in November will probably be the last concert of a big performer I will see unless they come to a county or state fair where these shenanigans have yet to happen. If I was a performer, I would have my concerts in a farmers field after negotiating with him, sell the tickets myself or someone in my circle and make everyone going be there and have their I’d which would be copied. If a person showed up with that ticket and didnt match the Id that went with it, they dont get in. But that’s just me.
December 18, 2021 @ 8:01 am
This cant be a good development for consumers. I just attended the Opry this year and paid 100 a piece for cheap seats. Theres no way Axs involvement will lower prices. Funny, i used to have a 100 dollar limit in my mind for concerts. Times are changing…i guess 2 or 300 hundred is gonna be the new norm…
I
December 18, 2021 @ 2:48 pm
This is better right? Pretty sure Ryman worked with Ticketmaster and I’d rather deal with AXS over Ticketmaster any day of the week.
February 2, 2022 @ 6:54 pm
The Ryman ticket sales for Billy Strings?
It could have been more horrible but I don’t know how.
All three days dropped separately and MORE THAN HALF went to scalpers. Come on guys! We as fans, our love for the artist and live shows should NOT make us vulnerable to this scalping, currently being politely called
March 7, 2022 @ 2:59 pm
DON’T USE AXS they are a scam organization. I paid a premium for VIP tickets only to get to the venue and learn that they, the venue, knew nothing about any VIP tickets or the M&G that was part of the VIP package. First and last time I will use AXS. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.