Digital love: Ticketmaster rolled out digital ticketing at AMG venues including O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire (left) and O2 Academy Brixton (bottom right)
great satisfaction from making them happy. It has not always been this ‘easy’.”
The Vivendi-owned, Nottingham-headquartered company recently expanded its US operations with the addition of a Nashville office.
“As society as a whole shifts
notorious secondary ticketing marketplace Viagogo from its paid-for search rankings after finding the firm in breach of its advertising policy, sending the number of visitors to Viagogo’s UK website plummeting, according to analytics firm Similar Web. As the King (also) sang, all that aggravation ain’t satisfactioning... “There has been a series of huge wins for which we have to applaud [campaign group] FanFair Alliance,” says Dice founder and CEO Phil Hutcheon. “Their work to get Google to ban Viagogo as an advertiser is probably the biggest positive for fans this year. That cuts off demand hugely but – at the risk of sounding like a broken record – the industry has to cut off the supply to secondary as well. That means using ethical ticket companies where the tickets can’t be touted. “We made some big bets when we launched – transparent pricing and no touts – and I feel the whole UK industry is now in sync with this. That in turn creates more trust from fans and more packed events.”
“It feels like there has been a concerted industry-wide coordinated effort, to try and make ticket buying a fairer process and more customer-focused,” nods Gigantic founder and director Mark Gasson. “All the major developments have been welcomed.”
“Google’s move to ban Viagogo from advertising was a big step forward,” agrees Skiddle’s head of business UK & Europe Rob Casson. “There will always be a secondary ticket market, but being smarter about how this is managed, without a third party making huge profits from fans, is the future.”
The Competition And Markets Authority suspended its legal action against Viagogo in September after being satisfied it had addressed outstanding concerns about how it presented important information to customers.
“Having Google play ball after so long has made the biggest difference,” asserts See Tickets global CEO Rob Wilmshurst. “It’s not the problem it was and I think ourselves along with some other players bringing new technologies into the market has given artists, venues and promoters options to counter touting when necessary. We have to keep an eye on it though.”
S
ee Tickets, which launched its own fan-to-fan resale platform in 2017, exclusively oversees one of the most prestigious ticketing accounts in the UK – Glastonbury Festival. Tickets for Glastonbury’s 50th anniversary edition in 2020 sold out in 34 minutes after more than 2.4 million people registered.
“Glastonbury is a huge undertaking but one we are equal to,” stresses Wilmshurst. “Investment and expertise is how we make it work. I don’t know many companies who could deal with that sort of traffic and transactional activity. Also the support of the festival over the years has been greatly appreciated and we get
32 | Music Week 25.11.19
musicweek.com
“There will always be a secondary market, but being smarter about how this is managed is the future”
ROB CASSON SKIDDLE
towards cashless, ticketing is not far behind”
MARK GASSON GIGANTIC
“The US is a growth area for us and we are signing a lot of new clients there,” explains Wilmshurst, who goes on to highlight the key differences between the US and UK ticketing sectors. “The US is a venue-centric exclusive market. The UK is non-exclusive,” he points out. “In the US you sign a venue and get 100% of the tickets or you get nothing from that venue. It’s an interesting model that I find hard to believe can be good for independent promoters.” Elsewhere in the UK, Preston-headquartered Skiddle, which cracked Apple’s Top 10 music apps list, opened a London office in Camden in April following a record year of growth. “It’s been a huge move and long overdue,” says Casson. “We’ve signed up loads of new accounts and cemented relationships with our existing client base in London. We pride ourselves on building those personal relationships with our partners, so having that permanent base in the capital has been essential.” Live Nation-owned Ticketmaster grew its operating income by 30% globally in Q3 2019, but Parsons is keen to emphasise that this is not an business in which you can rest on your laurels. “Be under no illusion – it’s a hugely competitive industry,” he says. “This means we need to be constantly on our toes. We are always improving our technology, pushing our marketing to be the best it can be and delivering the highest quality service for event organisers, venues and fans alike.” Its big push in 2019 has been towards digital ticketing. Ticketmaster partnered with Live Nation stablemate Academy Music Group (AMG) to roll out digital tickets across all of its venues, making AMG the first venue operator to enable mobile ticketing across its entire estate. The rollout followed the successful launch of 100% digital tickets at O2 Academy Brixton in October last year for four shows with Four Tet. All tickets were delivered to gig-goers’ mobile phones.
“Digital tickets are a game-changer,” insists Parsons. “It’s been just over a year since our first 100% digital event with Four Tet at O2 Academy Brixton. Now we’re live in venues across the UK and we have used the technology at multiple greenfield sites too, including Lovebox, Trnsmt and SW4 over the summer. “Digital tickets are loved by fans with 91% being satisfied with the ease of getting into the venue using digital tickets. Digital ticketing is also valued by our clients. Not only do they make ingress easier and cut back on paper usage, but they unlock a huge amount of marketing potential as we get to know every fan in the building, not just the buyer.
“The adoption of digital tickets will only increase and that will continue to drive changes in our industry.” “Digital ticketing is a permanent solution, with many
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