Canadian Music Week: Ticketfly spreads its wings into Canada
New concert ticketing company plans to compete with Ticketmaster by targeting smaller venues.
Everyone’s got a rant about a ticket-buying experience that culminated in the dreaded 30 or 40 per cent service fee.
The San Francisco-based startup, which announced its expansion into Calgary and Toronto in January, hopes to become a player in the Canadian concert ticketing market.
The company officially rolls out its service in Toronto Wednesday during Canadian Music Week, where it now handles ticket sales for the Horseshoe Tavern and Lee’s Palace.
“I think it’s great that there’s another choice in the city,” says Jeff Cohen, owner of Collective Concerts, the company that promotes gigs at the Horseshoe and Lee’s. “We have choice in sound techs, in security companies, in bands … there is no reason there can’t be a choice in ticketing.”
The big pitch to live music fans begins with cheaper service fees — 20 to 30 per cent below traditional providers like Ticketmaster, according to Bruce Morrison, general manager of Ticketfly Canada.
The service also intends to capitalize on social media by allowing fans to use Facebook and Twitter to share news about concerts they plan to attend and see what other friends are attending.
“We want to help in the discovery of music, the discovery of great events to go to with friends.” says Dan Teree, the company’s COO and co-founder. “And I think if we can do that we’ll win the trust and respect of consumers,”
For social media-savvy concertgoers that could translate into rewards.
“If you have an active Twitter following and tweet about the show influencing other people to buy tickets … we’ll know and we’ll take care of you,” says Teree.
Tapping into social media and fan-to-fan marketing could be the future of ticketing for venues and promoters.
“It was a really easy decision to switch,” says Cohen, who notes Ticketfly’s service fees are about a dollar less than competitors and the company is redesigning websites for both venues.
Teree says bands also benefit when fans buy tickets at Ticketfly. When you select your favourite band on Facebook, the artist’s Facebook page gets an automatic like.
“We’re helping gain followers for bands. And connecting the fan with the artist,” says Teree. “No one cares about the ticketing company.”
The company was founded in 2008 and the Canadian expansion is its first outside of the U.S.
“We’re probably around 20 to 25 clients now in Canada,” says Morrison, a former Ticketmaster Canada employee.
Most recently the company added Ottawa-based indie promoter Spectrasonic and is looking to expand across Southern Ontario (London, Windsor, Kitchener) as well as Vancouver and the East Coast.
“We have our sights set on being the best and most effective ticketing process in Canada. I think it’s reasonable to say it might take some time to be the biggest because Ticketmaster is quite large,” says Teree.
But Ticketfly serves a different niche than the arena-focused Ticketmaster.
“Where we are best positioned today, in early 2013, is music clubs … or general admission music festivals,” says Teree. “Or even non-music festivals like food and wine festivals, rodeos.”
He anticipates that about 65 per cent of Ticketfly’s growth over the next few years will come from non-Ticketmaster clients.
