A better fan experience at Coachella and Stagecoach
Lyte and Elevate Tickets combine tech and partnership to reduce secondary market tactics and protect festival fans
May 23, 2019, 08:00 ET
SAN FRANCISCO, May 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Lyte, the technology platform putting the secondary market back in the hands of rightsholders and fans, and Elevate Tickets, the ticketing company pioneering festival and event technology, are working together to provide a better experience for those who attend live events – especially festivals like Coachella and Stagecoach.
"Elevate as a primary ticket provider is so well-suited for the needs of festivals, from the planning stages to the last artist who takes the stage on the final day," says Lyte CEO Ant Taylor. "That's what makes partnering with them really fun and rewarding, both for us and for the great festivals we work with."
Elevate has sold as many as 13 million tickets and four million RFID wristbands for some of the biggest and best festivals out there – Coachella, Electric Forest, Country Thunder, Camp Flog Gnaw, Stagecoach, Just Like Heaven and more.
Lyte is powering the official waitlist of each festival.
"We are fortunate enough to have a number of clients that have very successful events and find themselves in a sellout scenario, but they also find a lot of meaning in the fan experience and the reputation of their brands," says Elevate Tickets President Jack McCarty. "There is a secondary market out there that exists around these events, along with fake tickets and exorbitant pricing. Our clients were interested in Lyte because it offers an alternative to the traditional secondary market that fits in with the festival brands and their fan-based reputations."
The Lyte platform gives fans who missed the onsale the opportunity to buy tickets from fans who can't go at a totally fair market price. Ticketing partners like Elevate issue new, valid tickets with a new barcode or wristband to the fans who made the purchase.
It's all safe, legitimate and puts ticketing back in the hands of fans – and away from the secondary market.
Lyte and Elevate worked together for the first time at Stagecoach 2018. Lyte was involved in eight Elevate events last year and has powered 10 in the first four months of 2019 alone, including Coachella and Stagecoach. Lyte "has become part of our entire event preparation process. It makes sense," McCarty says.
Lyte also offers clients a way to capture important post-sellout and waitlist data they can use to evaluate success, build consumer databases, and make changes if needed, McCarty says, which is a huge benefit.
Working on Stagecoach resulted in an unexpected, yet exciting outcome: the discovery of just how much impact Lyte's presence and availability has on ticket buyers. Fans who purchased through Lyte for Stagecoach 2018 were given early access to this year's passes. Remarkably, a full 50 percent of those fans bought their GA passes at the earliest possible time. Lyte, Elevate, and Stagecoach made it easy to return them if need be, no questions asked.
"We give our festival partners the control they need to counteract the negative impact of the secondary market on the fan experience," Taylor says. "Festivals sell out so fast – and that increases the likelihood of fans' plans changing. We're doing everything we can to improve what happens from when fans buy tickets until the gates open."
SOURCE Lyte
