In addition to buying tickets, the MTV Live and Local app digs through music fans’ iTunes playlists to find their preferences. The app is currently available in both Apple’s App Store and Google’s Android Market.

“What’s important about this app is that MTV has a real-time opportunity to sell tickets that function similar to daily deals,” said Steve Timpson, president of Siteminis, Atlanta.

“It’s also interesting because MTV’s demographic is more responsive to geo-locating features, which is probably represented by the types of artists that MTV can find concerts for,” he said.

MTV was not available for comment before press time.

Listen up
The app skims iTunes account to find artists that a music fan listens to. Then it uses the results to recommend artists for users.

The MTV Live and Local app uses location features to find local music events.

After finding a concert, users can search for tickets and buy directly through the app.

Events can then be added to calendars and users can see who else is attending the show.

The app also gives directions and venue information to concert goers.

Finally, while at the show users can check-in via Facebook and Foursquare to view status updates and photos from the concert.

All-access concerts
MTV is tapping into location-based services with concerts and music events because live music is an essential part of being a true music fan.

By driving ticket sales in-app, MTV is competing with entertainment companies that center their business around selling event tickets, including Ticketmaster and StubHub.

“Time will play a powerful role with this app because marketers will be able to knock down the price of concert tickets as the shows get closer to fill seats, so consumers will be more opt to buy them,” Mr. Timpson said.

Stubhub most recently cemented its mobile plan with a Windows 7 app (see story).

In other mobile entertainment news, Ticketmaster rolled out a new BlackBerry app in July (see story).

The MTV Live and Local joins a growing list of branded apps for MTV based on the company’s television shows and news sites.

“By using iTunes as recommendations, MTV is able to hone in on users’ specific tastes,” Mr. Timpson said.

“The closer companies can come to finding users’ preferences, the closer they are to getting consumers to close a transaction,” he said.

Final Take
Lauren Johnson is editorial assistant on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York