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Tixserve launches as Autonomy Music turns 10

The new paperless ticketing platform, unveiled last night at Omeara, offers ticket agencies and promoters more data and greater control over resale, its MD tells IQ

By Jon Chapple on 08 Feb 2017

Patrick Kirby, Tixserve

Tixserve co-founder Patrick Kirby


Tixserve, a mobile white-label ticketing platform which aims to provide ticket sellers with improved data capture while eliminating fraud and unauthorised resale, launched officially last night at Autonomy Music’s 10th birthday showcase.

The party, at recently opened South Bank venue Omeara, saw Tixserve act as the label services group’s ticketing partner, and follows earlier trials at other London venues.

Speaking to IQ before the event, Tixserve managing director Patrick Kirby – who founded the company with chief revenue officer Simon Goodale, a former colleague at Payzone – said he was inspired to develop the technology after being stung by a fake Rolling Stones ticket bought from a secondary site.

Unlike platforms such as Dice (which Kirby calls a “great app” and says “could be a partner in future”), Tixserve doesn’t sell tickets itself, instead offering “ticket agents, venues, promoters, D2C [direct-to-consumer] players and other ticket sellers a white-label toolkit that will help beat secondary ticketing bots and fraudsters whilst enhancing customer experience” – making it, in the words of the launch blurb, “the world’s first end-to-end ticketing fulfilment platform”.

Eliminating ticket touting is, however, only part of the solution – and only if those using Tixserve actually want to, Kirby explains. “We’re the Switzerland of digital ticketing!” he says, alluding to the company’s reluctance to wade into the heated secondary ticketing debate. “We’ve made a solution that lets people address those problems if they want to.”

“We look forward to working with those in the music business who want to tackle some of the biggest problems facing the live industry”

Just as important, says Kirby, is the data capture aspect. Part of it is a patented API, he explains, that pops ups up during the check-out process and, “without jeopardising the sale of the ticket, lets people add names of other people who may be attending. It also monitors [ticket-buying] behaviour over time – it’s a bit like having a loyalty scheme, but a lot more sophisticated.”

For those worried about the take-up of paperless ticketing owing to the fact that phones do things like run out of battery or get lost, Kirby says Tixserve also has that covered. “We’ve developed the ultimate fallback: Providing you’re not so stoned out of your mind you can’t remember your phone number,” he jokes, “just quote it to the guy on the door – you don’t even have to go the box office – and he can search it in the app.” For those who are forgetful (stoned or otherwise), their name or ID will work, too.

“Tixserve is a better way of doing paperless ticketing,” Kirby says in a launch statement. “Unlike current offerings in this space, our solution doesn’t involve costly and slow blanket photo ID and credit card checks at the event venue. This means the system is simple and inexpensive for venues, and customers are able to get through the gates quickly – all without sacrificing cast-iron security measures that will stop bots, duplicators and fraudsters in their tracks.

“We look forward to working with those in the music business who want to tackle some of the biggest problems facing the live industry while at the same time improving the experience of music fans.”

 


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