Live music fans have saved more than $250,000 through a new Ticketfly and Lyte automated ticket exchange programme, executives have told Amplify Mag.
On average, those that used the companies’ official ticket exchange programme instead of engaging in the secondary market saved about $40 (£30.16/€34.35) per ticket. Some fans who attended concerts at larger venues saved as much as $100.
Eventbrite acquired Ticketfly in September, while the automated ticket exchange programme was launched in January.
“The model of the secondary market is broken,” Lyte chief executive Ant Taylor said. “We are proving that the secondary marketplace is becoming a place where small groups of nefarious actors can manipulate prices and hold them artificially high.”
Andy Donner, Eventbrite’s vice-president of business and corporate development, said that the number of people not showing up to concerts has dropped by as much as 65 per cent among programme participants.
“The dynamic here is that even when a show is sold out, that doesn’t mean that 100 per cent of people are going to go,” Donner added. “What happens is, the artist isn’t playing in front of a full house and venues lose money. When fans show up, the venue makes two to three times the revenue at the bar and at the merchandise table.”
The Ticketfly and Lyte partnership allows tickets to be transferred between buyers and sellers at participating venues. Therefore those fans don’t have to rely on secondary market sources, with old tickets being cancelled and new ones being reordered.
“It speaks to a positive message about the market being ready for a new model and it’s working the way we hoped,” Taylor said. “This model leads to positive outcomes for only the people that matter: the primary ticketing company, the promoter, the artist and the fans.”
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