Industry News

Man who invented bots launches new start-up

The man who was arrested by the FBI after inventing ticket bots, Ken Lowson, has started a new ticketing company, TIXFAN.

Lowson, who will feature on the panel discussion, ‘Resale & the big, bad bots’ at the Ticketing Technology Forum in Dublin on April 5-6, was apprehended along with two of his colleagues following an FBI raid at his Los Angeles office in 2010.

Lowson and his partners, Kristofer Kirsch and Joel Stevenson, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, which he said was a result of a payment to a Russian programmer, according to Amplify magazine.

Lowson said that his new venture, TIXFAN, can be broken down into three sections — ticket profit, fan credibility and seller leverage on behalf on the team and the fan.

He said he is focusing on helping teams to sell directly, while also finding new ways to exercise leverage, using pre-sales to market directly to fans.

“We’re not a ticket broker; we’re there to make sure your tickets are sold the way you want them to be sold,” he said.

TIXFAN will operate more like a consultancy or ticket marketer, earning seven per cent on the transaction, Lowson explained.

Lowson contends that he never did anything illegal. He received legal help from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Center for Democracy and Technology and other online advocacy groups who argued that Lowson might have violated a ticketing company’s terms of service, but he did not break the law.

“I’m now working with teams and artists to take out my old competition. And I can make 10 times what I was making at Wiseguys (his former company),” he said.

“I’m going to cost the scalpers $10bn to save the fans $9bn and make myself $1bn.”

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