In years past, independent ticketing companies were challenged when it came to handling big spikes in demand. And when phone sales ruled, only the largest ticketing companies had call centers big enough to handle the volume. But times have changed. Independent ticketers are now the technology leaders. And telephone demand has fallen off dramatically. Massive demand spikes are no longer a problem for the leading independents.

So that leaves marketing. For a minute, let’s assume that a massive email database and domain name recognition are as effective at moving tickets as some of the tools and techniques offered by leading indies. I don’t believe for one minute that’s true. But let’s pretend it is. The question becomes, are the email list and domain name worth it?
What if you had an extra couple of bucks per ticket to spend on marketing – without increasing the total cost to fans? Could you use that extra money to market your shows as effectively? My bet is that you could do a better job. All promotion is local, right?

First, consider those happy times you find yourself with a show that’s going to sell itself with no marketing? With a major, you – via your customers – have paid for that email list and domain name whether you need it or not; with the right indie, those unneeded marketing dollars can fall to your bottom line.

Or what if you could lower the total cost for fans, without it impacting your bottom line, and without it dulling your artist’s image? Maybe that cost difference is enough to move the bulk of your sales into the advance column, saving you from the whims of weather and everything else that can decimate your door sales.

Have you considered the good will that a smaller ticket fee can engender amongst your customers? YOUR customers. With most indies, you have unfettered access to your customer data. You can slice and dice and data mine and analyze and target like never before. This, after all, is what good promotion is all about. It’s not just placing bets on bands you think will sell. It’s about having an intimate knowledge of your audience so you can match them up with the right events and take some risk off the table. Sometimes it’s about having some powerful data to give you the confidence to pass on the “next big thing” that’s not right for your customers – or to recognize that you can fill the house for an emerging artist while you can still afford them.

The real promise of independent ticketing is that it puts more of your fate back in your hands. If you don’t want that control, and the responsibility that comes with it, go play craps. Go play roulette. Promoting shows wasn’t always just about assuming the risk. A promoter is a marketer, an entertainment broker. To be successful, you must know the product and the market better than anyone. And you must have the tools and authority to put that knowledge to work.

These types of promotions are useful when you want to use discounts to stimulate sales, reward existing customers, or attract new customers. Groupon, Living Social, and scores of other daily deal websites have revolutionized the discount based promotion model over the past year, and with this new feature we’ve made it easier than ever to work with those services.

Check the video below for more info.

“In 2008, we were one of the first ticketing companies to offer seamless Facebook integration, and now we’re setting the pace again,” said TicketBiscuit Chief Marketing Officer Eric Housh. “Using Facebook for live event promotion is a necessity now. If you’re not doing it well, you’re not as successful as you could be,” he continues, “Our new app has taken it a step further, transforming a client’s Facebook Fan Page from a marketing channel into an actual sales channel .”

Housh says that the TicketBiscuit Facebook app is unique in that it links in real time to the client’s TicketBiscuit account, meaning that ticket sales can be taking place simultaneously on Facebook, on the client’s website, via the TicketBiscuit-provided mobile optimized smartphone interface, and via TicketBiscuit’s web-based box office point-of-sale software, with all inventory managed centrally in real time.  The look and feel of the ticketing interface matches the clean look of Facebook. And in keeping with TicketBiscuit’s core philosophy, the client’s brand stays out in front. “It takes the concept of white-labeling to a whole new level: now you can have a white-label ticketing solution seamlessly integrated into your Facebook Fan Page along with your other web properties.”

Though TicketBiscuit just publicly announced Fan Page Ticketing today, it has been in testing for a couple of months. Several clients, including the Re:Generation Festival, Yarmony Grass Festival, and Comedy Zone Charlotte are already using the app with great success. The TicketBiscuit Fan Page Ticketing App can be added to any Facebook Fan Page with a couple of clicks. Housh says the only requirements are that you be an Admin of the Page and that you have a TicketBiscuit account.

Another thing that is staying consistent is The Theatre’s longstanding agreement with TicketBiscuit to provide ticketing services. Greene and CEO Jeff Gale inked a long term, exclusive deal earlier in the spring.  “Those guys have stuck with us, helped us out, and they’re a great team,” Greene said, “Plus, they still have the best technology and service in the business, hands down.”

Todd Coder, TicketBiscuit’s Director of Music Business Development, said “Having an icon like the Georgia Theatre as a part of the TicketBiscuit family is something we’re very proud of. We’re excited about their reopening, and are sure they’re about to write a few more chapters of music history there.”

Gale and Coder, who toured The Theatre earlier in the year, were impressed with the new space. “Wil is building a world-class showroom in Athens. The new Theatre is absolutely phenomenal,” Gale said.

The Georgia Theatre is scheduled to open with local acts in June and July, and have a series of Official Grand Opening performances in August. For more information, visit www.georgiatheatre.com.

About TicketBiscuit: TicketBiscuit, founded in 2001, provides proprietary software that powers the online ticket sales of over 500 clients in 1500 venues across the United States and Canada. TicketBiscuit’s complete suite of services and solutions empowers clients to sell tickets online through their own websites and social media properties, via call center, and via the TicketBiscuit web-based box office interface.  For more information on TicketBiscuit, please visit http://www.ticketbiscuit.com .

“Dais’ approach of empowering clients by providing total ownership and control aligns perfectly with our philosophy and service model,” TicketBiscuit CEO Jeff Gale said, “we’re excited to bring them into the family.”

TicketBiscuit Chief Marketing Officer Eric Housh added that the acquisition will help TicketBiscuit grow by establishing immediate presence in the Oregon and Colorado markets. “We see these two areas as having high growth potential in the live music and entertainment space, and Dais’ existing relationships have allowed us to hit the ground running.”

Dais’ client base includes Mississippi Studios, Yarmony Grass Music Festival, The Alberta Rose Theatre, Mishawaka Amphitheater, and STS9’s Re:Generation Festival. Previously, Dais worked with several different ticketing providers, based on client needs, but Mastrine said that his existing clients were all excited to transition over to TicketBiscuit. “TicketBiscuit is a great fit for our clients across the board. What Jeff, Eric and their team have built is a system we once dreamed of building ourselves. I’m excited to be joining a company where the software literally sells itself,” Mastrine added.

About TicketBiscuit:
TicketBiscuit, founded in 2001, provides proprietary software that powers the online ticket sales of over 500 clients in 1500 venues across the United States and Canada. TicketBiscuit’s complete suite of services and solutions empowers clients to sell tickets online through their own websites, via call center, and via the TicketBiscuit web-based box office interface.  For more information on TicketBiscuit, please visit http://www.ticketbiscuit.com .

Monday we kicked off the morning a well-attended workshop entitled “SOLD OUT! How to Fill The House For Your Entertainment Events.” In the session, we shared best practices from our client base and insights gathered over our years of relentless innovation in the event marketing space. If you weren’t able to attend, check out the presentation below, and pass it on.

Sold Out! How to Fill The House For Your Live Entertainment Events

Trey Hoffman, Jeff Gale, and Bruce Ayers havin a blast at the Biscuit booth.

NIGA Day two winners Rick Brown and Julie Cleveland

THANKS INDIAN GAMING ATTENDEES AND EXHIBITORS! SEE YOU IN 2012!

Here’s The Valarium’s Official Site

Here’s a link to the Press Release on TicketNews

Those that know TicketBiscuit know that our core mission is to relentlessly innovate to help clients sell more tickets. We were among the first to offer full social media integration, are one of the only to offer a powerful built in email newsletter engine, and remain one of the sole ticketing companies with an active affiliate program. We’ve led the way in helping active customers find and buy tickets, and empowering ticket buyers to spread the love socially and virally about the events they’re attending.

ScoreBig opens up a whole new horizon to our clients: the ability to be introduced to new customers. We see this as the perfect complement to our efforts to date. Plus, ScoreBig’s tech is way cool. They apply a Priceline-type “name your own pricing” approach to event tickets. You can find out more about ScoreBig here, or read the full press release below.

Welcome to the TicketBiscuit family, ScoreBig!

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TicketBiscuit, ScoreBig Announce Strategic Marketing Partnership

Birmingham, Alabama – February 2, 2011. TicketBiscuit, a leading provider of ticketing software and services, and ScoreBig, a new website that allows live entertainment fans to make an offer on more than a half million live event tickets  - all below retail price and without fees – today announced a marketing partnership that will enable hundreds of TicketBiscuit clients nationwide to leverage ScoreBig’s proprietary platform and marketing network to increase ticket sales.

TicketBiscuit CEO Jeff Gale said the partnership will help solve a key problem in live entertainment. “Currently, some 40% of tickets to live entertainment events go unsold. ScoreBig has developed a business model and service that solves this problem. ScoreBig fills unsold seats – and here’s the key –without devaluing our clients’ brands and cannibalizing full price sales.  It’s a truly innovative approach, and it fits perfectly with TicketBiscuit’s core mission: to help our clients sell more tickets.”

Gale added that the ScoreBig partnership is the latest in a series of ongoing innovations at TicketBiscuit.  In addition to pioneering social media integration with Twitter and Facebook, and offering a built-in email newsletter engine, the company unveiled an affiliate program in August that pays commissions to website publishers for referring ticket sales. “Our clients have seen great results from our affiliate program. It helps active customers – those who already plan to purchase – find our clients,” Gale said. “The partnership with ScoreBig is the perfect complement: it helps introduce new customers to our clients and move inventory that would otherwise perish.”

ScoreBig VP of Business Development Mark Meyerson said that having TicketBiscuit on board will broaden ScoreBig’s inventory and make the service more valuable to members. “TicketBiscuit’s impressive client roster of music venues, comedy clubs and event organizers will give ScoreBig members even greater access to quality entertainment at great savings nationwide.”

About ScoreBig
ScoreBig offers members guaranteed savings of up to 70% on tickets to live sporting, music and theater events with no fees and free delivery. ScoreBig partners with venues, sports teams, promoters, artists, entertainment properties and others to help move unsold ticket inventory safely and securely without the cannibalization risks and negative brand perceptions associated with traditional discounting. ScoreBig was founded in 2009 and is headquartered in Los Angeles. To learn more about ScoreBig, visit www.scorebig.com.

About TicketBiscuit
TicketBiscuit, founded in 2001, provides proprietary software that powers the online ticket sales of over 500 clients in 1500 venues across the United States and Canada. TicketBiscuit’s complete suite of services and solutions empowers clients to sell tickets online through their own websites, via call center, and via the TicketBiscuit web-based box office interface.  For more information on TicketBiscuit, please visit http://www.ticketbiscuit.com .

Contact:
TicketBiscuit Press Inquiries
866.757.8330
info@ticketbiscuit.com

ScoreBig Press Inquiries

Jill Wahler
646.428.0602
press@scorebig.com

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Why is this significant? The standard industry practice with live entertainment ticketing is to advertise one price, but when  ticket buyers go online to purchase, several fees are heaped on to the total.  For example, across town from WorkPlay at the larger arena in Birmingham, tickets to a popular upcoming country show are advertised at $27, but after ticketing fees, delivery fees, and order processing fees are added these tickets actually end up costing the buyer almost $20 more per ticket.  Fans have long complained that ticketing fees are exorbitant and unnecessary.

The concept of an “All In Price” is not entirely new. Live Nation / Ticketmaster experimented with convenience fee- free tickets during the summer of 2010, but fans complained that the fees were dropped for only the least expensive lawn seats.   Ticketmaster announced on a company blog in August 2010 that it would present fees earlier in the purchase process, yet the fees presented don’t include add-ons like ticket delivery and order processing charges.

By contrast, all of the advance tickets for the April 4 Guster show are the “All In Price” of $25, with no added fees or charges at checkout. Prices will be $27 on the day of the show.

“The collaboration of a ticketing company, a venue, and an artist to arrive at a fair price represents a new way of making live entertainment a more pleasurable experience for the fans,” TicketBiscuit CEO Jeff Gale said. Todd Coder, who recently joined TicketBiscuit as the Director of Business Development, added “The process was pretty easy, it just required clear and open communication among all parties, and a bit of willingness to deviate from the way things have always been done.  A lot of credit goes to WorkPlay and Guster for helping us make this happen.“

TicketBiscuit plans to use the positive experience with Workplay to make the All In Price more common in live entertainment. We’ve recently launched a website, www.allinprice.org , to share our approach and insights with other venues, artists, and ticketing companies hoping to further the practice.  “The fans demand an All In Price for tickets, and if we can give it to them, they will buy more tickets.” Gale said.

Tickets for Guster go on sale at 10 am Wednesday, January 19, at the All-In-Price of $25. They can be purchased at www.workplay.com or over the phone at 205.879.4773.

Throughout the history of our company, we’ve developed technologies and services to help our clients sell more tickets and operate more profitably.  Consider that in the last 24 months alone, we’ve rolled out mobile ticketing, Facebook and Twitter integration, Customizable Print-at-Home tickets, and an Affiliate Program that puts our client’s events on huge industry websites like eventful.com, SongKick, SonicLiving, JamBase, and more.

With this capital, we’re going to continue aggressively investing in technologies and services of this type. We think that’s a smart move – one that will benefit our promoter and venue clients, our investment partners, and live entertainment fans. As Jeff Gale, TicketBiscuit’s CEO, said in the official press release, “ We’ve got an amazing team of developers, industry veterans, and generally brilliant people. And we’re laser-focused on delivering real, innovative solutions to the challenges facing live entertainment ticket sales.” Let’s do this!

More Info:
Birmingham Business Journal: TicketBiscuit Secures Capital Funding
AL.com: Birmingham-Based TicketBiscuit gets Capital Infusion
Official Release from Founders Investment Banking: TicketBiscuit Secures Growth Funding Round