Topspin Media Now Sells Tickets
Some might be privy to this if they follow either the developments at Topspin Media or the marketing efforts of Band of Horses, The Pixies, Eminem, and The Dandy Warhols, among others, but the direct-to-fan platform now sells tickets.
In once such instance with The Pixies, reportedly, the group started out with an email list that was next to nothing and with the help of the team at Topspin, within a year’s time, they were able to grow it into the six figure range.
Next, in May/June of this year the group booked two shows for themselves at London’s Troxy Theatre, put 6,000 tickets on sale on a Web site set up just for fans, sent a single email to this newly accumulated fan list, and sold every ticket in a week. Impressive results. Take a look:
“Then at the venue every single person was checked in via Topspin’s iPhone ticket scanner,” Topspin CEO Ian Rogers writes. “Five iPhones got all 3,000 people through the doors in less than two hours.”
Ian's biggest point and proudest moment, both in the accomplishments with his company and The Pixies: “100% of fans acquired via Topspin, all marketing direct-to-fan via Topspin, every ticket sold via Topspin, and every person entering the venue after being checked in by the Topspin iPhone application.”
Topspin should make Adva Mobile their mobile component — they do the exact same thing, yet they enable fans to purchase not only tickets, but merchandise and content through their mobile phones…
So dope!
How do bands get to sell their own tickets? Don’t the venues have deals in place with ticketing companies? Or will they just let any artist sell the tickets to their shows?
Not to pee on anybody’s corn flakes, but we’re talking more about The Pixies,than the success of any particular direct-to-fan platform. These guys could likely play a “secret show” on a Tuesday morning, in the bathroom of a suburban YMCA, only tell 5 people directly, and still manage to sell a few thousand tickets.
Similarly, here’s another example: The Mighty Mighty Bosstones sold 8,000 tickets, bundled with exclusive VIP merch to a newly acquired and/or re-engaged fan list and made about $40k in a half hour. But they did it with Nimbit …. and they did it last year! Hypebot covered that story here: https://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2010/02/nimbit-shares-mighty-mighty-bosstones-case-study.html
The lesson in all of this is that (obviously…) working smart is key, and direct-to-fan platforms like Nimbit (and Topspin) can do great things for artist teams willing to work smart and hard. Here at Nimbit we’ve got thousands of artists doing just that. But in the case of The Pixies, it’s worth mentioning that they’ve already sold a couple million records over a 20 year career including some stints on a couple big/major labels. As cool as this all sounds, their history is as much, if not more, responsible for this particular success.
Let’s do the same thing, but instead of the Mighty Mighty Bosstones or the Pixies, let’s try it with a newer, emerging band. One that hasn’t already had 20 years of indie acclaim and hipster praise. When they breakthrough, then it’ll be time for some chest-thumping and legit hyperbole.
Dear Ticketmaster, here is what I like to call a virtual cue!
What happened when someone forgot to bring their printed receipt? I can almost guarantee that happened.
If not, I’m more interested in how the hell they got everyone to remember THAT instead of scanning a barcode via smartphone.
Hans: most likely the same thing that happens when you don’t have a ticket to a show since time immemorial.
-G.