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INTERNATIONAL PROFILES

azakhstan, characterised by a sufficiently large scale and distances between major cities of more than 1000 km, is quite a tough country for the organisers of performances by international artists. Its significant distance from Europe and America means increased logistics costs, and the high sensitivity of the local population to prices prevents it from performing well enough to recover the ticket price. Thus, most major events take place thanks to subsidies from the state and often are not of a commercial nature. At the same time, Kazakhstan is quite an attractive market for artists from nearby countries such as Russia and Ukraine – tours often cover several cities in Kazakhstan with subsequent visits to the countries of central Asia. Given that the country’s population doesn’t exceed 18 million, there is an unequal distribution of residents across the regions of Kazakhstan. Cities with an interest in hosting events by touring artists are limited to: the capital, Astana; Almaty, the largest city; and Karaganda, which is located between Astana and Almaty, and forms a peculiar transit route for artists. Unlike Almaty and Astana, however, the population of Karaganda has a much lower purchasing power. CULTURAL ANALYSIS The Kazakhstan live market differs with its range of comparatively small-scale events, and the number of players in the market. Often, event organisers will also act as promoters, integrating the two roles. There are no more than ten major players working with foreign artists, most of whom also operate in the territory of the nearest neighbouring country (eg Russia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Eastern Europe), and national stars, as a rule, organise their own tours without using the services of the major players. In Astana and Almaty, over the past few years, venues have been increasingly organising their own concerts in order to promote their venues and facilities, and generally use a table reservation system instead of selling tickets. Most of the theatres in Kazastan belong to the state and have their own proprietary ticket distribution systems, or will sometimes use state-compliant ticket operators. A similar situation has developed around sporting events, and although there are a few commercial sports events, boxing in particular, on the whole, interest in these events remains at a low level. PRIMARY TICKETING The Kazakhstan ticket market consists of only five main players, most of whom try to combine online and offline business models. At the same time, the largest player on the market – Ticketon.kz – is the undisputed leader of e-ticketing, with a share of more than 75% of the total. Given that for music events, an average of more than 60% of tickets are sold online, this is an impressive percentage. In addition, the company successfully employs agencies to assist with sales, using the largest Internet portals, as well as autonomous companies for the sale of tickets. Ticketon.kz is also the largest developer of ticketing software

60 • INTERNATIONAL TICKETING YEARBOOK 2017

The 30,000-capacity Astana Arena is helping to put the capital city on the tour map

for cultural and sports organisations on the market (including cinemas, theatres and sporting facilities), which allows them to conduct business with most public and private facilities throughout Kazakhstan. Other ticket agencies include: Kassir.kz, Koncertyastana.kz, Biletiastana.kz and Zakazbiletov.kz. These companies generally operate in their home regions (Almaty or Astana) using offline kiosks or delivery, and do not have a strong Internet presence. Given that one Russian city can sell more tickets than those sold in the whole of Kazakhstan, there is no interest from foreign ticketing players. SECONDARY TICKETING Since concerts are hardly ever sold out, there is no real secondary market activity. There may occasionally be a case for re-sales in the event of an important football match or a concert for an artist of exceptional interest, but these are rare. Secondary sales will usually occur via social networks, or at the venue. The latest initiatives are often pursued by law enforcement agencies. VALUE OF MARKET The National Statistics Agency of Kazakhstan puts the country’s market worth at around KZT56,630 (€144m) as of 2016. About 50% of which relates to concerts from local and foreign performers, with the remainder as follows: cinemas tickets – 22%, theatre – 13%, and sporting events – 9% (large-scale sporting events are rare). TAXES AND CHARGES A distinctive feature of the ticket market in Kazakhstan is the absence of service fees for customers purchasing tickets for events. The historically established business model of interaction between event organisers and ticket agencies involves the sale of tickets at a nominal cost. The ticket agent’s fee is usually included in the ticket price and is rarely more than 8-10%. Transaction costs for customers purchasing tickets online are also included in the price of the ticket and do not fall on the shoulders of buyers. VAT in Kazakhstan is 12% of the value of the goods, but does not apply to entertainment.