THE
INNOVATORS
With the volume of concerts worldwide continuing to edge steadily upwards, there have never been more options for savvy promoters to make greater returns on ticket sales. Jon Chapple talks to some of the inventors and entrepreneurs pushing the ticketing envelope.
© SIMON BUTLER
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s the International Ticketing Yearbook returns for a third year, so too does our annual showcase of the technological innovations currently shaping the future of the global ticketing landscape. From distributing inventory in the cloud to identifying genuine fans, giving small venues a helping hand and using bots for good, our class of 2017 proves once again that there is no shortage of companies finding ingenious ways of getting tickets into the hands of fans.
TICKETS CLOUD Founded in 2014, Moscow-based Tickets Cloud is – as its name suggests – a cloudbased platform that connects promoters with an extensive network of ticket distributors. Using the cloud, event organisers grant distribution partners – which can include ticket agencies, social media pages, fan clubs, online shops and music-streaming services, as well as their own channels – access to their entire ticket inventory, in real time and with no quotas, by which
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the company says promoters can increase profits by as much as a fifth. “Our technology enables event promoters to increase attendance rates by selling tickets […] through all possible sellers, as in the aviation industry,” explains Tickets Cloud’s co-founder and director of strategy and business development, Katerina Kirillova. “This model generates up to 20% more profit, as every customer can have access to all tickets in their budget in one convenient place, and allows promoters to accumulate data, previously held by ticket