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.

Once tickets are purchased, a status update is sent to Facebook for all to see. If they're interested in attending, they can click the "Buy Tickets" link that accompanies the update.

The feature is part of the ticket-selling giant's renewed effort to remake itself as a more consumer-friendly and innovative company, according to an Fast Company story. Whenever fans posted on Facebook about concerts they'd just bought, the company would see an average $5.30 more in ticket revenue, CEO Nathan Hubbard said. It was those results that demonstrated to executives the power of social media when it comes to commerce. It's fan-friendly and socially-driven inititatives like this that executives hope will help revitalize the slumping concert industry, which saw a 12% drop in sales from 2009 to 2010.

The feature is currently available for 300 venues on the site.

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.

However, Eventbrite is starting to reach beyond these sorts of events and will undertake its biggest event yet this summer: selling 60,000 tickets for a Black Eyed Peas concert in Central Park.

Clearly it isn't the size of the events that has driven Eventbrite's success. In part it comes from the ease-of-use for event organizers, as well as the ease-of-sharing for both planners and attendees. That ability to share an event via a social media generates an average of $12 in additional ticket sales for Eventbrite, CEO Kevin Hartz tells The New York Times.

The company plans to use its new investment to expand internationally as well as to build out its technological infrastructure - something that will allow it to tackle more complex ticketing procedures such as reserved-seating events. It will also use the funds to help it take on rivals in the business, which include not only the giant Ticketmaster but the startup Ticketfly.

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.

Perhaps the band members themselves aren't even excited about the deal - the official Sonic Youth Twitter account hasn't mentioned the availability of the album at all yet. [Update, Ed: it should be noted that Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore is quoted in the press release as saying: "This album is a celebration of newfound freedom [...] Debuting it on iLike, free from industry constraints, also fit this theme."]

StereoGum gave the pre-released album a strong review at the end of April. It will be formally released one week from today. For now, you too can give Ticketmaster's investment some love by giving the album a listen on iLike.

Update: iLike emailed to say that they aren't very happy about this story and that characterizing their company as a Ticketmaster "property" is inaccurate. That seems fair, so I changed the wording to call the two "partners" instead. Ticketmaster gave iLike $13 million in 2006 in exchange for 25% ownership in the company, according to Matt Marshall at Venturebeat.

Update 2, Editor: This post has been rather contentious. We've updated the wording of the relationship between Ticketmaster and iLike again to "investor." We've also added a quote from Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore, in which he expresses his enthusiasm for iLike.