The best thing to kick-start any music conference is a journey on a double decker train, which is exactly what we took on our first trip out to the Eurosonic conference. After the excitement of the train ride and a good night’s sleep, the first day kicked off with a couple meetings and then we went straight into a panel discussion about how great small festivals are – and we absolutely agree! Here at Ticketmaster we’ve identified the fact that every event is different and therefore sometimes a one-size-fits-all ticketing platform is not the answer. That’s why we launched the flexible Universe platform in the UK in 2017, with Standon Calling being our first festival to start enjoying its benefits.
Next stop on our timetable was the agents panel. Always a lively discussion, this time it got onto the subject of national and regional promoters which – as mentioned with some very sensible words from the floor from Dave Corbet – should not be an issue. With live being such an important part of artists’ financial contribution, we should all be working to ensure we maximise these efforts. National promoters have the countrywide reach while regional promoters have the expert local knowledge, especially when looking at new and emerging acts, so it’s all about working together.
The morning of the second day was taken up with prep for an appearance on the cashless solution and access control panel. Joining us were Playpass, Intelitix and You Chip. It’s always a surprise how popular cashless solutions are with non-UK festivals, whereas it doesn’t seem to have the same mass appeal with UK promoters. One point raised in the panel was that – especially in the Netherlands – festivals are already operated on a token system, so to flip over to cashless is quite easy and not a shock to the attendees. With UK festivals, where we’re used to being able to waltz up to a bar and pay in cash (or by card more and more these days), it’s a bit more of a shift.
One of the main areas of discussion was everyone’s favourite: DATA! This seems to be the crux of the matter for promoters. All that lovely data they get from a cashless system can be invaluable – if used correctly – when looking at stock for next year and movement around a site as well as breakage and ways to maximise revenue and reduce spend. One of the key things we’re looking at regarding data is how we can use cashless solutions to identify everyone attending a festival. We want to learn a little about them, and not just the ticket purchaser. This is a key area of interest for us in 2017. Whether we get there by looking at how we can work with cashless providers or how our own access control systems can assist with this, it is definitely an area we think you’ll see some very interesting developments in during the next 12 months – and that’s all we can say for now.
If you have questions about Universe or any of the other topics covered at the event, contact your Client Account Manager at [email protected].
Story by Sarah Slater
