Ticketmaster Inc. has reached an agreement to acquire what is widely regarded as the music world’s most powerful artist-management company and install the management company’s boss at the helm of the combined company, a bid to find a new business model for an industry undergoing seismic shifts.

The complex transaction would combine the world’s largest ticketing company with its most influential gatekeeper for talent. Irving Azoff and his company, Front Line Management Inc., handle the affairs of scores of the world’s biggest singers and musicians, including Christina Aguilera, the Eagles, Jimmy Buffett and Neil Diamond.

Ticketmaster could use a close affiliation with such artists to persuade concert venues to continue using its ticketing services.

The combination stands to give Ticketmaster new leverage in a battle for supremacy in the concert business with Live Nation Inc. Under the terms of a deal announced Thursday, Ticketmaster expects to acquire a majority interest in Front Line, creating an entity called Ticketmaster Entertainment Inc. Mr. Azoff is to be named chief executive of the new entity. Ticketmaster’s current management, led by Chief Executive Sean Moriarty, is to report to Mr. Azoff, who is also to continue overseeing Front Line.

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