The joy of live music is becoming a costly luxury in large part due to exorbitant fees tacked on by ticketing platform giants like Ticketmaster and AXS, not to mention the outrageous markup by resellers who manage to profit off the system. Local software developer Adam Land has created Ticketbase, a passion project that aims to be a friendlier and more fair platform.
As a ticketing platform, Ticketbase charges a $1 fee for all transactions and houses its own resale of tickets. Keeping the transfer of tickets within Ticketbase helps ensure that no one will have to pay more than $1 to digitally move any ticket. The resale rules, like how much someone can charge to resell their ticket, would be up to individual venues and bands. This is also how many of the major platforms work, but large venues and bands fail to set safeguards.
“I grew up in the ‘90s. I remember when Pearl Jam and Eddie Vedder were railing against Ticketmaster, and they filed a suit back then,” says Land. “The world of ticketing was a lot different, but the pain points, I think, were the same. They were frustrated and mad about the amount of money paid to ticket providers. That obviously in my mind has kind of just gotten worse over the years… I’ve experienced that as a fan my whole life. I’ve heard bands complain about it.”
The goal of Ticketbase is to make the process transparent and user-friendly. The intent is to keep it simple and not require buyers to share a lot of personal information that’s then stored in the app. By design, a lot of the power—and the profits—are put back into the hands of the musicians that people are eager to support in the first place.
Ticketbase held an official launch party on Feb. 24 at the 40 Watt Club featuring Futurebirds with Fantastic Negrito. Selling out within 24 hours, this was the platform’s first priced show following a successful free RSVP event with Heffner. Now Ticketbase has partnered with the UGA Music Business Program as the official ticketing platform for its student-organized annual festival to be held on Sunday, Apr. 27 at The Foundry.
This year’s festival is named Dawgstock, embracing a psychedelic Woodstock-inspired theme, and benefits the MBUS Summer Opportunity Fund, a scholarship that helps music business students secure summer internships at major music companies. One of the festival’s priorities is to work with locally owned businesses, and the event’s board of directors felt Ticketbase was a great fit after Land gave a presentation in an MBUS class.
“Everyone loved the idea of supporting an Athens-based software start-up and appreciated the $1 per ticket fee, which helps keep costs low for attendees,” says Georgia Hartley, a current journalism and music business student at UGA. “We’ve learned so much in the music business program, but putting together Dawgstock has been a whole new level of hands-on experience. Working with Ticketbase gave us a real-world look into how ticketing operates and how important it is in the overall planning and success of a show.”
Hartley adds that Land has been very helpful throughout the planning process, and he’ll even be on site to assist with ticket sales. The eight-hour event will feature Elijah Johnston, Florence Cardigan, Patio, Barbe+, Sunday Driver, Alien Funk Academy, Swing Theory, Sepia Dream, The Wraps, Oxystar, Handholder, Raleigh’s Garden, Amelia Duffner, Sweet Jane, The Getters, Public School, Kimbo Nave, Tori McAllister, D.jat, Crazy Tree, Ava Wilds, Ward Burke and the Bizness, Cam Smith, Sunset Strappers, Chloe Cox and Fossils for Brunch.
“As an avid concert-goer, I’ve definitely felt the frustration of high ticketing fees and scalpers driving up resale prices on platforms like AXS, Ticketmaster and StubHub. That’s why a platform like Ticketbase holds real value, especially in a music-centric town like Athens,” says Hartley. “It encourages more people to get out and support live music, which ultimately benefits artists, venues and the community… I’d love to see it expand to more venues in Athens and beyond—it feels like a step in the right direction for making live music more accessible and fair.”
WHO: Dawgstock
WHEN: Sunday, Apr. 27, 12 p.m. (doors)
WHERE: The Foundry
HOW MUCH: $15
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