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Qcue enters the festival market via Everfest acquisition

Live entertainment pricing and distribution company Qcue has expanded into the festival space through its acquisition of North American festival discovery platform Everfest.

Adam Greenspan, the chief executive of Everfest, which features more than 20,000 festivals and a vast community, said the firm has “just scratched the surface” of its capabilities in providing value to the festival ecosystem.

The organisation brings every part of the festival ecosystem together, facilitating interaction between organisers, vendors, artists and fans across festival genres globally. It also maintains and distributes the world’s largest source for festival data and has built technology to power ticketing and rewards across platforms.

Jay Manickam, co-founder of Everfest, said: “We are proud of what Everfest has been able to accomplish over the last six years. We have built the world’s largest aggregation of festival events and have become a trusted partner to vendors around the ecosystem. This merger with Qcue was a great opportunity for both our team and our customers.

“To keep the business in Austin, while also allowing Everfest to partner with a company with a decade-plus track record of changing the face of the live entertainment ticketing business was too good an opportunity to pass up. We are incredibly excited for the road that lies ahead.”

The merger is Austin, Texas-based Qcue’s first foray into the festival space, after being focused on sports since its founding in 2007. It also represents a broadening of its value proposition in the entertainment landscape outside of dynamic pricing and distribution. Together with its recent strategic partnership with AnalytixLive in the performing arts space, Qcue is rounding out its offerings both in terms of verticals and its place in the ecosystem.

Barry Kahn, chief executive of Qcue, said: “There is a lot to love about the Everfest business. They have created a digital community where one did not previously exist. The millions of people that visit everfest.com is a testament of the market that Jay and his team found. We are looking forward to continuing to grow the Everfest brand and continuing to be a trusted resource and service provider for festival-goers, festivals, vendors, and artists.”

The Everfest team will mostly continue on with Qcue, however Manickam is moving on to be chief strategy officer of Hitch and Greenspan will join WastePlace as chief growth officer.

Greenspan added: “Qcue has a reputation for innovation in the industry. We have just scratched the surface on what Everfest is capable of in terms of providing value to everyone in the festival ecosystem. To combine that platform with a company that has been widely recognised as one of the most innovative in the world is sure to yield amazing results for everyone involved.”

Image: Bernard Bodo, EXIT photo team