Eventbrite’s Summer Of Disruptive Innovation Extends Into Fall As Ashley Capps Joins Board

A number of Eventbrite announcements over the summer, including an integration with ThingLink and the introduction of Eventbrite At The Door, have been keeping this disruptive innovator in the news. With the recent addition of Ashley Capps to the board, beefing up their music expertise, Eventbrite continues to dominate the alternatives to Ticketmaster even as they creep up on Ticketmaster's sustaining innovations.

Last week's announcement from Eventbrite that Ashley Capps has joined their Board of Advisors signaled their interest in extending their presence in the world of music. Capps is the founder of AC Entertainment and is a cofounder of the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival.

Earlier this summer, Eventbrite showed what they could do to support Vans Warped Tour at the Ventura Country Fairgrounds. Warped Tour's Kevin Lyman stated:

"Partnering with Eventbrite improved our experience before, during, and after the concert. Our sales were up; check-in with Eventbrite's on-site operations team kept the crowd moving through the gates quickly; and the data that Eventbrite was able to provide offered far more insight into our attendees than any ticketing platform we've used before."

Just as Ticketmaster's integration with Facebook, a sustaining innovation, beefs up their competitive stance because it is likely to increase sales, Eventbrite's support of the Vans Warped Tour shows they can benefit major events which may be predisposed to look for Ticketmaster alternatives. Ashley Capps will bring a great deal of insight into this process.

Earlier this summer, the introduction of Eventbrite At The Door extended their ticketing service to sales at the door. Combined with their iOS checkin app, they now offer a total solution for creating a box office tied into Eventbrite.

Last month they announced an integration with ThinkLink, a company that allows for adding rich media tags to images. It's a neat way to have a direct sales presence on promotional imagery and indicate that Eventbrite is willing to experiment.

Taken as a whole, such developments show that Eventbrite MAY be able to continue to ward off emerging competitors such as GigsWiz while positioning themselves as disruptive innovators of such companies as Ticketmaster. Though they continue to claim that their focus is on markets that Ticketmaster does not serve, they are clearly disruptive innovators with the potential to present a challenge that Ticketmaster may be unable to withstand.

Hypebot contributor Clyde Smith is a freelance writer and blogger. He is currently relaunching Flux Research to pursue his long-standing obsession with web business models. To suggest music services and related topics for review at Hypebot, please contact: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.