Posts filed under ‘box office’
Westpac and Moshtix wear the blame for Splendour Ticketing Meltdown
In a public relations nightmare for all parties involved, the eagerly awaited onsale for for the annual Splendour in the Grass festival hit had a major meltdown as reported in the Sydney Morning Herald. Online blogs were aflame with fans venting their frustrations with the problems getting hold of tickets.
Of course, the Fairfax Media owned Herald could not miss the opportunity to take a free jab at the Rupert Murdoch News Corp owned Moshtix.
Westpac’s air-con blunder takes a blender to Splendour
6 May, 2011 at 11:39 am Tim Roberts ARTS Australia Leave a comment
Want an Open Source Ticketing & Patron Management Solution that’s free?
Fractured Atlas has released ATHENA 1.0 with basic support for both ticketing and donor/patron management.
This is an open source solution that is offered free. You ask how? This was made possible with the support of the following foundations: The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, and The Kresge Foundation.
“ATHENA
Management Tools for the Cultural Sector.
ATHENA is an open source software framework that is intended to meet the needs of arts and cultural organizations. The first release supports basic event ticketing and donor/patron management.“
Hot off the press – The 2011 Ticketing Software Satisfaction Survey Report
The Technology in the Arts Ticketing Software Satisfaction Survey Report is out for 2011. A survey is oftens very useful.
But this seems to be a measure of overall satisfaction levels by organisation size as opposed to an assessment of satisfaction with specific software options. Surely a brand compariosn is what people are after?
2 April, 2011 at 12:33 am Tim Roberts ARTS Australia Leave a comment
We believe that we own the tickets we buy, but do we?
I have been watching this movement with interest since the start of the year.
The Fan Freedom Project rails against the “new restrictive paperless ticketing technologies under the guise of innovation and convenience.“
It is the terms and conditions that are now being applied to paperless tickets that the Fan Freedom Project sees as restrictive:
Two types of paperless ticketing, both of which have negative implications for fans of live events:
- Restricted transfer (closed-loop system administered by the ticket agent)
- Prohibition of ticket transfer (ticket tied to one credit card or ID)
While I applaud the sentiment and the call to action for change, I am not so sure about the statement – “We the fans believe we own the tickets we buy.” My understanding is that a ticket is just a licence to attend an event at a specific location, date and time (and maybe seating location). Does the consumer really own it and own what? Any opinions?
Take a look at the infographic for a quick summary of the issues.
1 March, 2011 at 1:06 pm Tim Roberts ARTS Australia 1 comment
Does Facebook & Social Media really fuel ticket sales?
Some interesting stats by way of a case study in Ticketfly: Facebook really does fuel ticket sales
- “In Jan 2011, Ticketfly sold 3.25 tickets for every Facebook share/tweet
- Facebook is Ticketfly’s top referrer at roughly 9% of total traffic“
However, I am not so sure of the liklihood of the following ‘giant killer’ analogy … “San Francisco startup Ticketfly aims to take on concert ticketing giant Ticketmaster. Its main weapon? Social networking.“
On the subject of proof of Facebook and other Social Media to impact ticket sales refer to an earlier FULLHOUSES post Proof: How social media sold a theatre ticket on Facebook
28 February, 2011 at 9:34 am Tim Roberts ARTS Australia Leave a comment
Convenience Fees – convenient for whom and for what?
I am mystified by Cirque du Soleil charging fees on top of ticket prices.
On the website it states “Convenience fees and Delivery fees apply“. One does have to 
ask why?!
Cirque du Soleil own the show, they own the venue (the tent) and they have their own ticketing system. So why are the prices not all in?
Is it that it purely convention (courtesy of Fred Rosen and Ticketmaster in the 70′s & 80′s) to fleece the consumer with added outside charges?
I would have thought a company reknowned for innovation like Cirque du Soleil (even OutBox is described as a “ground-breaking platform“) would have taken the opportunity to innovate in pricing, let alone break some new ground with customer service.
As mentioned previously in A not so well kept secret has been let ‘out the box’, Fred Rosen the CEO of Outbox used to be CEO of Ticketmaster.
Fred Rosen has stated “Simply put, there is no longer a need for a middle man in this business“, but why is there still a ‘need’ for archaic opportunistic price gouging with additional fees that are of “convenience” to the middle man the ticket seller?
By way of example, looking at the Cirque du Soleil show OVO in Frisco (Dallas Area), TX
If you buy 2 seats near the front that is US$125.00 each. That totals, US$250.00 BUT on top of that is $32 fees!
This comprises 2 x “Convenience Fees” @ US$13.50 = US$27.00
Then “Delivery Fees” on top of that e-Ticket add US$5.00 and for Will Call add US$7.00
That is 12.8% added on top.
You will be pleased to know that taxes are included!
Read more about Cirque du Soleil, AEG and Outbox – AEG, Cirque du Soleil and Jean-Francoys Brousseau-owned Outbox Technology and Fredric D. Rosen to Form Joint Venture to Provide Electronic Ticketing Solutions
8 February, 2011 at 1:12 pm Tim Roberts ARTS Australia 4 comments
A not so well kept secret has been let ‘out the box’
We always expected Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) take the opportunity to go its own way with ticketing. Particularly as it is #2 to Live Nation, now owners of Ticketmaster.
It is not surprising that AEG chose not to Ticketmaster’s system, surely this is an endictment of the decision and logic of the antitrust regulators?
AEG has entered a joint venture called Outbox Enterprises. Fred Rosen, former Ticketmaster CEO who steered Ticketmaster to dominance in the 80′s and 90′s, is the new venture’s CEO. Outbox originates from Canada and is responsible for the sexy Cirque du Soleil online ticketing interface written about in FULLHOUSES last year.
It will be interesting to see how the rest of the industry takes to the ‘white label‘ model that Outbox offers, removing the need for a central ticket agent online brand selling directly from the venue or event owners website. Is it the end of the agent middleman?
“This isn’t about trying to go out there and build a whole new brand around the name Outbox, … This is about service.” AEG Chief Executive Tim Leiweke
4 February, 2011 at 12:52 pm Tim Roberts ARTS Australia 3 comments
Turning bytes into nuggets
According to Davies and Botkin, data when arranged meaningfully for a purpose becomes information which when put in context becomes knowledge.
The trouble is that the manner in which data is set up and collected in many ticketing systems has not been arranged to portray meaning easily. Inconsistent and non-standardised entry of data at event set up is a common problem.
In Turning Bytes into Nuggets Jenny Scudamore of Baker Richards explains how essential it is to code data meaningfully to provide valuable information to inform decisions.
29 November, 2010 at 11:11 am Tim Roberts ARTS Australia Leave a comment
Audience Development: Focusing on the audience at the core of your organisation
“If all bookers for the arts in a one year period were seated in a single theatre only 54% of the seats would be filled with bo
okers retained from the last two years.“
Encouraging a larger more strategic approach to Audience Development, Audiences NI has released an “Audience Development Manifesto” with the publication of Audience Development: Focusing on the audience at the core of your organisation.
I like the definition of Audience Development from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland:
“Audience development involves the identification, engagement and retention of audiences. It is a planned and strategic management function aimed at delivering organisational objectives. Audience development sets out to affect a change in the attitudes, understanding and behaviour of both existing and potential audiences. It seeks to remove barriers, deepen relationships with audiences and create greater inclusion in the arts.“
The free publication available online includes a precis of what good audience development looks like:
11. “We plan our audience development as an inter-disciplinary organisation; we don’t just leave it to an individual or department.“
… and what bad audience development looks like.
14. ” We see audience development as additional work that is hard to find the time to do, but have to tick the box. “
26 November, 2010 at 4:34 pm Tim Roberts ARTS Australia Leave a comment
A Serious Competitor for TicketMaster?
Outbox Technology Inc. plans to announce, former Ticketmaster Chief Executive (1982-98), Fred Rosen as the CEO of a new U.S. subsidiary, Outbox Enterprises LLC. You may remember the seven part interview with Rosen that was featured on FULL HOUSES last year.
The new company is a partnership among the Canadian company, Mr. Rosen and Cirque du Soleil Inc., for which Outbox has provided the ticketing technology for several years.
“Instead of listing and selling tickets for thousands of events on a single, centralized website, the new company plans to offer a so-called white-label service that will enable clients such as concert venues, festivals and sports teams to sell tickets to consumers directly from their own websites.“
“The middle-man model is dead, … You have to evolve.” says Rosen
Whilst it is great to see another option that is allowing producers to deal directly with their customers and via a pretty sexy interface as well, the challenge is still to get past the barrier of venue exclusive ticketing contracts. It was easier for Cirque du Soleil to get past that handicap as they controlled the venue, in many instances their own tent.
READ FULL ARTICLE ONLINE Ticketmaster Ex-CEO to Lead a New Rival>>
12 October, 2010 at 8:15 am Tim Roberts ARTS Australia 3 comments
