LN expands Festival Passport after first-year sellout
Live Nation today announced the return of its Festival Passport, more than doubling the amount of passes available after a successful first year.
In addition to increasing the total number of passes to 2,500, the second outing for the initiative – introduced in 2017 and capped at 1,000 ‘passports’, which allow entry to all festivals for a single payment – the number of eligible festivals has increased to more than 100, while a new VIP Festival Passport, priced at US$5,000, will give 100 buyers VIP entry to events. The price for the GA version has also increased $200, to $999.
Last year’s Passports sold out within 24 hours.
Returning for 2018 are Austin City Limits Music Festival (US), Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival (US), Download (UK, Spain, France, Australia), Electric Daisy Carnival (US), Falls Festival (Australia), Firenze Rocks (Italy), Governors Ball Music Festival (US), Lollapalooza (Germany, France, US), Rock Werchter (Belgium), Sasquatch! Music Festival (US) and more, while new events include Sydney City Limits (Australia), Creamfields (China), RedFestDXB (UAE), Impact Festival (Poland), Openair Frauenfeld (Switzerland) and Edinburgh Summer Sessions (UK).
“Festival Passport is Live Nation’s tribute to our incredible festival community”
“Music festivals are all about the experience, and we created Festival Passport as an innovative way to amplify that for music fans across all of our 100+ festivals worldwide,” says Lisa Licht, CMO of Live Nation’s US Concerts division. “Festival Passport is Live Nation’s tribute to our incredible festival community, and we’re excited to continue to build on the programme this year by increasing the number of Festival Passports available and adding a brand new VIP tier.
“Those who purchased the Festival Passport last year have become part of the Live Nation family. Their passion for Live Nation and our festivals is awesome.”
Live Nation will additionally utilise Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan presale platform to ensure all Festival Passports are bought by ‘genuine fans’ rather than touts. Verified Fan registration begins today (9 April) at 8.00 PDT (16.00 GMT) and closes on Thursday 12 April at 20.00 PDT at festivalpassport.tmverifiedfan.com.
For a full list of participating festivals, visit FestivalPassport.com.
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Go to 90+ festivals for $799 with new LN Passport
Live Nation today unveiled the Festival Passport: a combined ticket, limited to 1,000, allowing entry to more than 90 festivals for a single payment of US$799.
For the remainder of 2017, those holding a Festival Passport will be admitted to nearly every Live Nation festival worldwide, including Bonnaroo, all three Lollapaloozas (Chicago, Paris and Berlin), Download (UK, Paris, Madrid), Electric Daisy Carnival (Las Vegas and Orlando, Florida), Isle of Wight Festival, Reading and Leeds, Rock Werchter in Belgium, Way Out West in Gothenburg, both Wireless Festivals (London and Frankfurt), Rock am Ring/Rock im Park, T in the Park spin-off and Australia’s Falls Festival – even if the event is already sold out.
Passports will go on sale on Monday 22 May at 10.00 PT (17.00 GMT) at FestivalPassport.com. To combat touting, the Passports – powered by Ticketmaster’s festival ticketing division, Front Gate Tickets, which recently launched in the UK – will be issued in the original buyer’s name and are non-transferable.
“The process,” says Live Nation, “is simple: show up at the event, take the Festival Passport to will call [box office] with a valid ID to get a designated wristband for that festival, then enter and enjoy the show.”
A full list of participating festivals is available at the Festival Passport website.
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TicketSwap launches post-election ‘passport swap’
Dutch secondary ticketing site TicketSwap has hit upon a novel idea in the aftermath of the US presidential election: a passport swap service for Americans fleeing the impending inauguration of President Trump.
The tongue-in-cheek ‘ticket’ listing, dubbed the USA to Europe PassportSwap, so far has 11 people offering up their American passports, but no European takers.
It is, of course, a joke – unless one looks exactly the same as their trading partner and is willing to commit international identity fraud, a passport swap isn’t a good idea – inspired by anti-Trump commentary on social media, a TicketSwap spokeswoman says.
“People here came up with the idea and we just went with it”
“We’ve seen a lot of things on [Facebook] and Twitter, and that is when people here came up with this idea, and we just went with it,” Linde Hertogh tells Deep House Amsterdam.
TicketSwap, a ‘fair’ ticket marketplace on which prices are capped at 120% of face value, recently expanded to the UK.
IQ spoke to several promoters and agents earlier this week about the prospects for the live music industry under a Trump administration.
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