Ticketmaster is in the process of reinventing itself as a one-stop shop for all of an artist’s business needs: ticketing, promotion, management and now the distribution of music.

“The biggest misconception about this [Front Line] deal is that Ticketmaster in the future will be what it was in the past,” recently minted Ticketmaster head Irving Azoff told Billboard. “The new name of the company is Ticketmaster Entertainment, and it’s a platform for us to build a lot of other things. The fortunes of this company aren’t going to rise and fall just on the ticketing business. We’re going to build the ability for people to distribute their music.”

144 million people currently use Ticketmaster to buy show tickets, reasoned Azoff, and the company wants to expose them to secondary ticketing, merchandise and recorded music in addition to its traditionally core business, the primary ticketing market.

If these changes sound familiar, that could be because they represent a near carbon copy of Live Nation’s strategy. Azoff became the head of Ticketmaster after it purchased a majority share in his artist management company, Front Line Entertainment, considered by many to be the most influential management agency in the world. The deal brought Ticketmaster closer to artists in a way that resembles the 360-degree deals offered by its soon-to-be-former-largest-client Live Nation, which will itself make a move into traditional Ticketmaster territory by launching its own primary ticketing system in January after its contract with Ticketmaster expires.

By extending its reach into digital music distribution, Ticketmaster could become the place (or at least a place) to acquire the music of Christina Aguilera, the Eagles, Jewel and Steely Dan. At least one of Azoff’s clients is excited about the plan, because it would help ensure that ticket-buyers knew the songs being performed that night.

“I love to make new music,” said an unnamed pop star, “but I hate to play two or three new songs and have people get up and go to the bathroom. I want to give my music away to the people who buy tickets so they’ll know the new songs when we play them. If they’ve spent $60 or $80 or $100 to buy a ticket and if I give them the music as part of that, I bet they’ll bother to listen to it.”

Joaquin Phoenix, 34, confirmed the surprise announcement he made last week about quitting movies by writing the words “Good Bye” on his fists while at the premiere for his latest film “Two Lovers”.

Phoenix learned to play guitar and did his own singing to play country legend Johnny Cash in “Walk the Line,” which earned him an Academy Award nomination. His publicist also said Phoenix has been directing music videos in recent years.

“Two Lovers” stars Phoenix as a heartbroken man torn between a needy, neurotic neighbor (Gwyneth Paltrow) and the sensible woman (Vinessa Shaw) his parents want him to marry. The film, due in theaters early next year, was directed by James Gray, with whom Phoenix also worked on “We Own the Night” and “The Yards.”