Australian fest cancelled after Festicket collapse
An Australian music festival has been cancelled following the collapse of festival discovery and booking platform Festicket.
Presented by Triple M, the 10,000-cap Borderline Music and Arts Festival was due to be held at Gateway Lakes, Wodonga, Victoria, on 8 October, headlined by acts such as Jimmy Barnes, The Teskey Brothers, Pete Murray, Glenn Shorrock, Tulliah and Nikki Nicholls.
Organisers have released a statement attributing the cancellation to “unforeseen circumstances outside of our control”.
“This tough decision was necessary due to our primary ticketing partner Festicket entering into administration”
“This tough decision was necessary due to our primary ticketing partner Festicket entering into administration, which has caused significant and unrecoverable financial issues for the event organisers,” reads the statement. “Labour shortages, supply chain issues and difficult economic conditions including ballooning insurance premiums and infrastructure costs have also created problems.
“Proceeding with the event in the face of all these difficulties would have meant that the audience experience would have suffered and that was simply not an option. We worked hard to try and deliver a great event for the border community of Albury-Wodonga but we have exhausted all options to avoid cancellation and for that we sincerely apologise.”
London-headquartered Festicket, which acquired Event Genius and the associated Ticket Arena consumer website and brand in 2019, formally entered administration last week, with ReSolve Advisory Limited appointed to oversee the process.
The firm previously filed a moratorium, which ended on 30 August as it was “no longer likely to result in the rescue of the company as a going concern”. Its most recently available accounts from July 2021 showed losses of €8,976,888 for 2020 and €12,934,107 for 2019.
According to Mixmag, Festticket clients are said to include TimeWarp, Ibiza’s Amnesia and Cova Santa, Secret Project Amsterdam, ION Festival and Epizode in Albania, Primavera Sound Los Angeles, Morocco’s MOGA, Fort Festival in Spain, and Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide in France.
Bristol’s Motion Club, which has partnered with Festicket and Ticket Arena for the last six years, says it is owed in excess of £300,000
Earlier this month it was reported that ticketing exchange and technology firm Lyte had reached a deal to acquire certain assets from Event Genius.
Elsewhere, in the UK, Bristol’s Motion Club, which has partnered with Festicket and Ticket Arena for the last six years, says it is owed in excess of £300,000 due to not receiving payments for tickets sold through their platforms, and is calling on HMRC to immediately pause any deals that see assets sold from Festicket.
Meanwhile, North Brewing Co, which holds beer festival The Springwell Sessions, tells The Drinks Business it lost in excess of £25,000 as a result of Event Genius’ collapse. A GoFundMe page set up to protect ticket holders and ensure the event could still go ahead raised more than £15,000.
Festicket has offices in the US, the Netherlands, Germany, Portugal, France and Australia.
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Event Genius unveils Covid-secure product suite
Event Genius has launched a new range of products – egTicketing, egMarketing, egTravel, egAccess and egPay – designed to offer event organisers an end-to-end, Covid-secure ticketing, travel, access control, marketing and payments solution.
The launch comes amid a rebrand that brings the ticketing and event management platform, along with consumer-facing brand Ticket Arena, in line with parent company Festicket, including new logos and a new design for B2B websites, self-service platforms and user interfaces. Festival travel specialist Festicket acquired both brands last summer.
“The pandemic made us stop and really think about what we could offer to the industry. It made us realise that the Event Genius acquisition came at just the right time,” explains Festicket CEO Zack Sabban. “The feedback we’ve had from clients is that organisers have so much more to contend with at present, and that being able to streamline their ticketing, travel, access, marketing and onsite payment processes with one provider gives them the time and freedom to overcome the challenges of organising events during a pandemic.”
A video, which can be watched above, outlines the new Covid-secure product updates for fans and promoters.
“It’s clear that 2020 has been a tough time to be in the events industry, but it’s been amazing to be able to strike up high-profile partnerships alongside the likes of AEG Presents, Rolling Loud, Rock in Rio and Afro Nation, and more recently EDC Portugal, the USA’s Revibe Wellness Retreat Festival and Amnesia Ibiza. Seeing organisers of this nature putting their faith in what we’re doing to help fans and promoters get back to the events they love is both encouraging and extremely rewarding.”
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Bristol Ticket Shop closing after 30 years
Independent UK-based ticketing company Bristol Ticket Shop has announced it is closing down, citing overdue payments from a debtor.
Launched in 1987 as a concession in Virgin shops and then in record retailer Our Price, Bristol Ticket Shop later found its own home in the centre of the UK city of Bristol. With a focus on supporting the local music scene, Bristol Ticket Shop also sold tickets to events such as Glastonbury Festival and Download Festival.
“After more than 30 years being part of Bristol’s incredible music scene, Bristol Ticket Shop is sadly closing,” reads a post on the ticketer’s Facebook page.
“All the staff here are devastated. The list of incredible events we have supplied tickets for is overwhelming. There are so many regular customers, old and new, that we have really enjoyed talking to over the years and we will miss you all dearly.”
“After more than 30 years being part of Bristol’s incredible music scene, Bristol Ticket Shop is sadly closing”
The management team owes the closure to “news that a debtor owing a large amount of money was unlikely to be able pay in a timely manner”, as well as to the illness of the company’s owner, which has “had a large impact on the resilience of the business”.
The company states it is instructing a third party to negotiate with promoters in order to ensure that “there is as little impact to the customer as possible”. Although the ticketer aims “to honour tickets for future events”, it notes this may not always be possible, in which case refunds will be issued.
Bristol music fans have responded to the “sad news”, showing support for the ticketer, which formed a “huge part” of the local live scene.
According to the International Ticketing Yearbook 2019, the primary ticketing business in the UK is “incredibly competitive”, with major international companies including Ticketmaster, See Tickets, AXS, Eventim and Eventim taking a large share of the market.
Many local independent outfits, such as Manchester’s Ticketline, Birmingham’s the Ticket Factory, Leeds’ Ticket Arena and Nottingham’s Gigantic – now majority owned by DEAG – also perform well.
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Festicket acquires Event Genius and Ticket Arena
Festicket, the marketplace for music festival travel packages, has announced the acquisition of ticketing and cashless payments platform Event Genius and its consumer-facing brand, Ticket Arena.
The combined business, dubbed Event Genius by Festicket, will create an “end-to-end platform for organisers and fans”, according to the companies, bringing together ticketing, accommodation, travel and packages, marketing, data insights and analytics, access control, point of sale and cashless payments services and fan-engagement tools “to plug a gap in the market that no other organisation has addressed to date”.
Festicket, which says its mission is to become “the world’s largest two-sided platform for live events”, allows customers to book tickets and travel packages for more than 2,000 festivals worldwide, working with nearly 6,000 accommodation and travel suppliers.
The company welcomed a US$4.6 million funding round earlier this year, bringing total investment to nearly $30m.
“We have something truly unique for the events industry”
Event Genius, founded by MD Reshad Hossenally, works with some of Europe’s best-known events, including BPM Festival, Ibiza Rocks, Summer Daze and Annie Mac’s Lost & Found Festival.
Hossenally, who will join Festicket as chief supply chain officer, comments: “The Event Genius mission has always been to utilise technology to bring event organisers and consumers a better experience, regardless of the size or type of event. Couple this with Festicket’s global marketplace and supplier network and we have something truly unique for the events industry.”
“The acquisition transforms Festicket’s product set,” adds Zack Sabban, CEO and co-founder of Festicket. “In Event Genius, we have found a company that shares our mission to be a disruptive force in the live entertainment market and, ultimately, to bring the best possible experiences to fans.
“Reshad and the team have built a great product they have good reason to be proud of, and I look forward to welcoming them to the Festicket family.”
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Event Genius Pay to make African debut
UK event technology company Event Genius has announced a new cashless payment deal with the inaugural Ghanian edition of Afro Nation festival this December.
Event Genius has partnered with festivals and events across Europe and Asia including Portugal’s BPM Festival, Jika Jika! in Northern Ireland, Parklife in Manchester, UK and Annie Mac’s Lost and Found festival in Malta
Under the new deal, the company will take its cashless payment technology to Africa for the first time.
The Ghanian edition of Afro Nation festival is scheduled from the 27 to 30 December, with an expected attendance of 15,000. Alkaline, Burna Boy and J Hus are among acts to appear on the line-up.
Festivalgoers will be able to pre-purchase credit to pay for food, drink and merchandise at the event using RFID-enabled wristbands.
“We’re delighted to partner with a ticketing and technology company capable of providing a true end-to-end event platform for the inception of Afro Nation”
Event Genius is powering the ticketing for Afro Nation Ghana through the Ticket Arena website and a white label box office. Using the Entry Genius app, organisers will be able to manage entry points, track attendance and reduce ticket fraud.
“We’re delighted to partner with a ticketing and technology company capable of providing a true end-to-end event platform for the inception of Afro Nation,” says Obi Asika, chief executive of Afro Nation.
“Through our partnership with Ticket Arena and Event Genius, fans are assured the best possible experience from buying tickets, to entering the festival safely and ultimately enjoying their time dancing on the beach, without the need to worry about money or queues for drinks.”
The first-ever Afro Nation festival took place in Portimão, Portugal this year from 1 to 4 August, with performances from Wizkid, Davido, Ms Dynamite and Stefflon Don.
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Event Genius launches reserved seating platform
UK event technology company Event Genius has announced the launch of a new reserved seating platform.
The new feature integrates into the company’s existing platform of solutions and will be used by Ibiza Rocks Hotel (pictured) to sell a variety of seats inside their VIP areas at the hotel’s events across the summer.
Built into the platform used to manage ticket on-sales for festivals such as Lost & Found, Detonate Festival and El Dorado Festival, the reserved seating solution makes it easy for promoters and venues to add seating plans for events from hundreds to tens of thousands of seats.
“We’ve spent a lot of time making our platform as easy as possible for customers to buy tickets from any device,” says Event Genius’s managing director, Reshad Hossenally. “Whether your customer is on a mobile, tablet or at their computer, they’ll be to view the best seats available, handpick a seat for themselves and inspect seat views without fuss.
“We’re thrilled to be able to add reserved seating to our suite of services. Adding reserved seating as an option alongside our other award-winning technologies, such as Event Genius Pay, contributes to our aim of becoming the ultimate one-stop shop for event organisers and venues of all sizes.”
Photo: © Fensommd / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
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Lauren Lytle moves across the Atlantic to join Event Genius
Event Genius has announced that Lauren Lytle has been appointed as the company’s new head of technical operations.
Lytle joins the Leeds-based ticketing and event technology company after spending seven years in Texas as senior client operations manager and director of international operations at Front Gate (Ticketmaster), where she worked with major brands including Coachella, C3 Presents, Outside Lands, X Games Los Angeles and Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival.
An industry leading expert in delivering point-of-sale (POS) solutions to the festival market, Lytle will spearhead the 2018 expansion of the company’s cashless point-of-sale solution: Event Genius Pay.
“It’s great to be working on Event Genius Pay,” says Lytle. “The company is at the forefront of developing this type of technology and I’m hoping to bring new ideas to the table that reveal unexplored verticals to not just that product, but the entire Event Genius portfolio.”
“I’m hoping to bring new ideas to the table that reveal unexplored verticals to not just Event Genius Pay, but the entire Event Genius portfolio”
After a world-wide search for the right candidate, Reshad Hossenally, managing director at Event Genius, was clearly delighted to have made Lytle part of the company: “We cast our net far and wide to find the absolute best candidate for the role. In our industry, it’s difficult to put a price on the sort of experience and knowhow that Lauren can bring to the company. We were excited to hear she was interested and it’s a real coup to make her part of the team.”
“Event Genius is a natural fit with my operational skill and desire to grow into the international festival space,” says Lytle, as she explained why she made the switch across the Atlantic. “My time at Front Gate offered me the chance to work with some of the biggest brands in North America, directly managing huge clients like Coachella, Outside Lands, Bonnaroo, and EDC Las Vegas, so bringing that knowledge overseas to a new company and helping it grow was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.”
Click here to read more about Lytle and Event Genius Pay.
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Lisa Brown joins Ticket Arena as client services director
Ticket Arena and Event Genius, one of the UK’s largest independent event technology providers and ticketing agents, today announced Lisa Brown has been appointed as client services director.
Brown (pictured) joins the Leeds-based company to oversee and support the operational delivery of the business, which includes marketing, client services, customer services and onsite operations.
A prominent figure in the ticketing and event industry with over a decade of experience, Brown was previously with The Ticket Factory where she spent 18 months in a similar role.
Prior to that she worked at AXS for two years as senior ticketing manager and spent over eight years working for Ticketmaster in various roles that included ticketing manager for the London 2012 Olympic Games.
“To be part of an independent business with a huge amount of potential is really exciting”
Speaking about the appointment, Reshad Hossenally, managing director of Ticket Arena and Event Genius, says: “We’re thrilled that Lisa agreed to make the switch to us. With her experience, drive and determination, we’ll be able to build on our recent success with our RFID services and improve the delivery of all of our solutions and services.”
On taking up her new role, Brown adds: “Ticket Arena and Event Genius are already a market leader in their field, so being able to be part of an independent business with a huge amount of potential is really exciting.”
“We are developing some amazing new features that will be rolled out within the next 12 months. The additional functionality will help us grow and expand the business opening us up to new promoters, venues and event organisers. I will be supporting the strategy and delivery of this.”
Read more about Brown and her team on the Event Genius blog.
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