ReadWriteWeb

A new level of integration between Facebook and Ticketmaster lets concertgoers see where their friends are sitting at upcoming concerts and events.

Hoping to make the process of buying tickets to concerts as social as attending them, Ticketmaster launched the new Facebook-enhanced seating charts recently, giving fans the option of buying seats near their friends.

Grumbling about Ticketmaster is nothing new. It's been almost 20 years since Pearl Jam led its much publicized boycott of the ticket sales giant. (I'm dating myself with that reference, I realize.) And still Ticketmaster has dominated the industry, merging with LiveNation in 2010 and providing ticket sales for most major music events.

But the ticketing startup Eventbrite may have its sights set on overthrowing the giant, and with a major influx of financing, perhaps it stands a chance of doing so.

The New York Times reports that Eventbrite has raised $50 million in venture capital, bringing the total raised by the company to $79.5 million.

Ticketfly, a startup that helps concert promoters leverage social media and sell tickets, announced earlier this week that it has raised $3 million in Series A funding from various firms and angels. Co-founded by Dan Teree and Andrew Dreskin, Ticketfly is - in a way - the rebirth of an earlier company, TicketWeb, which sold to Ticketmaster in 2000. After years of success, TicketWeb found itself unable to grow to its full potential, leading to the birth of a new venture, Ticketfly. Teree and Dreskin's story serves as a lesson to startups of how acquisitions by large, slow moving companies can lead to frustrated entrepreneurs.

Awesome New York band Sonic Youth today unveiled The Eternal, the 16th album of its 27 year career. The band chose to bring the album into the light of day through an exclusive streaming agreement with iLike.com, a company that Ticketmaster invested $13 million in in 2006. Sonic Youth has always been a band of iconoclasts, growling outsiders, and now they've partnered with a property significant investor of one of the most obnoxious companies in the music industry? What's up with that?

From Pearl Jam to String Cheese Incident to Bruce Springsteen to millions of fans whose pocketbooks smart with every inflated Ticketmaster service fee - this is a company that almost no one likes. At first listen it's a good album, but ugh what a marketing decision.