Primavera ditches paper tickets with Dice partnership

Primavera Sound has entered into an exclusive ticketing partnership with UK ticketing company Dice, introducing mobile-only ticketing across its events.

The deal will see Dice power ticketing for all Primavera Sound events in Europe, including Primavera Sound Festival in Barcelona, NOS Primavera Sound Festival in Porto, Primavera Tours and the club night Nitsa (1,500-cap.) at Sala Apolo in Barcelona. Primavera’s new Los Angeles festival, set to debut next September, is not currently included in the deal.

The Primavera team hopes the partnership will help tackle ticket touting, as the Dice platform offers a ‘refund and waiting list’ feature, to “remove the need for secondary resale”. According to Dice, the illegal resale of tickets costs the live event industry an estimated US$8 billion per year.

“We looked at all the problems of ticketing and fixed them from a fan’s perspective,” comments Dice CEO Phil Hutcheon, who states Primavera is “leading by example” in its efforts to quash ticket touting. “When artists and promoters use Dice, tickets don’t end up on the secondary market.”

Founded in London in 2014, Dice is now active in the UK, the United States, France, Italy and Australia. The Primavera partnership marks the company’s first foray into the Spanish music market.

“When artists and promoters use Dice, tickets don’t end up on the secondary market”

The Dice platform also includes a discovery feature, which uses data to help fans find new events. A third of the company’s sales are now generated from this recommendation engine.

“Our team has been selling tickets for headliner shows and club nights for three decades and Primavera Sound faces its 20th anniversary next edition,” says Primavera Sound founder, Pablo Soler.

“Selling tickets is key, and everything we know from Dice makes their platform the best option both for our festivals and events. Top security features for the fan and the promoter, a great user experience, dedicated service to customers and the suppression of all use of paper in the process make Dice the perfect ticketing partner for the years to come.”

Primavera Sound’s flagship Barcelona festival attracted 220,000 fans this year, with a 50/50 gender-balanced line-up that featured acts such as Christine and the Queens, Miley Cyrus, Janelle Monáe, Rosalía, Tame Impala, J Balvin and Interpol.

Three day tickets for Primavera Sound Barcelona 2020 are available now, priced from €180, via the Dice app on iOS or Android.

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