The new 2013 music festival season is here! Even though the controversies have already begun, big crowds are poised to buy millions of tickets...Is your music festival ticketing software ready?
Amid Controversy, Ticket Sales Projections Are Up
The outlook for ticket sales at music festivals for the 2013 Summer season is bright. For an indicator of just how good things are looking, one need only read how Florida hotels were recently booked to the hilt as a result of a music festival being in town.
But the rosy outlook is not without controversy. In addition to Spring Break, Stagecoach, (aka “country Coachella”) is considered the kick-off event for the music festival season. Actor Ashton Kutcher became the center of attention at Stagecoach after a scuffle with event security (video above), which prompted Angelica Leicht to write How to Ruin a Music Festival.
Leicht chastises the celebrity factor at the large music festivals, saying it lessens the experience for regular folks who bought tickets and just want to have a good time.
Thanks to antics like Kutcher's at Stagecoach, the media has stopped focusing on the music and turned instead to celebrities and their behavior at said festivals. Music festivals have become completely about the actors who flock to them, and nothing more. So now, instead of a focus on the music, there's a billion paparazzi roaming around like ants, taking pictures of Mischa Barton's ass cheeks.
To the Coachella's credit, once a music festival has achieved a certain level of notoriety, it is expected that the rich and famous will want to attend, just like everyone else. And a recent interview with Coachella founder Paul Tollet details his commitment to the fans.
In preparation for 2013, the Ashton Kutcher and Val Val Kilmer incidents are good reference points for any festival operator to consider. Making the ticket buyers’ experience a priority over a celebrity appearance is a business critical obligation and a best practice for meeting the customer’s expectations.
Another aspect of meeting expectations is the initial buying experience occurring in the music festival ticketing software. So far, music festivals in high demand have fared far better than their tech conference counter parts. It is common in festival ticket purchasing patterns to see giant spikes in demand the moment tickets go on-sale, so the online distribution technology needs to be robust and equitable. Nothing can quell a customer's expectation faster than a poor purchase process, so now is the time for festival operators to review their choice in ticketing technology.
Highly Anticipated
Customer expectations will be met, and exceeded, at the following highly anticipated music festivals scheduled in the coming weeks.
Finger Lakes GrassRoots Festival of Music and Dance
Later this summer, in beautiful Trumansburg New York, the Finger Lakes GrassRoots Festival of Music and Dance will be bringing 20,000+ people together for four days of fun. First held in 1991, the music and dancing occurs on four stages simultaneously throughout the long weekend and was nominated as one of USA Today's top 10 outdoor music festivals in 2007. Grassroots not only provides great entertainment, it also serves the altruistic endeavor of contributing part of its proceeds to charity.
Punk Rock Bowling
Las Vegas will be host again this year to the 15th Annual Punk Rock Bowling, one of the most popular alternative music festivals in the country. Headliners this year are Devo, Bad Religion and Flag, with supporting acts that include punk rock legends The Damned. Punk Rock Bowling is unique among festivals in that it is spread out across Sin City at dozens of different venues. In addition to the live music, and as its name suggests, there is a rowdy bowling tournament occurring at the same time. Last year's event sold-out all its tickets and this year's edition is on track to do so again.
SING! Toronto
Great festivals are not limited to the Untied States, some of the best ones are being held north of the border in Canada. One example is SING! Toronto, part of the annual Toronto Vocal Arts Festival. As described on the official website, SING! Toronto is the first-ever a cappella festival and has the goal of illustrating that "the voice knows no limits – knows no constraints of genre, language or cultural background; to inspire and educate today's youth; and to foster a new and revitalized patronage for the vocal arts." Note that SING! is just one event held at the municipal waterfront area known as Harbourfront Centre. Like Grassroots, the Harbourfront is a non-profit, which requires special consideration in online ticket sales, including the need to prompt for donations during the purchase process.
ThunderTix Music Festival Ticketing Software
ThunderTix is proud to be the music festival ticketing software of choice for Finger Lakes Grass Roots and Punk Rock Bowling. Thanks to our technology, these highly anticipated music festivals are ready to sell lots of tickets while lowering costs and keeping gate fraud at bay - is your ticketing software ready?
The ThunderTix plan for festivals offers you sophisticated barcode ticket printing and scanning, helping prevent gate fraud and saving you money. The peace of mind starts with barcodes on thermal paper tickets you print in your box office (or the PDF tickets automatically emailed to your buyers). Thundertix is an industry leader in thermal ticket printing and we support the popular models you may already be using. We also offer the cost savings of Print-at-Home tickets that attendees print themselves using their printer ink and paper, not yours.
Festivals in Canada take note, we support events in the Great White North, with all ticket sales processed in Canadian dollars and directly deposited to your business bank account in Canadian dollars.
Interested in speaking with someone about upgrading to ThunderTix music festival software? Be sure to take a look at our other features and sign up for a free trial today!