Front Gate Tickets - Inside News

Merle Haggard in the Hospital with Pneumonia

2012-01-25T08:42:00.000-08:00

Doctors found the 74-year-old had several other ailments while he was recovering in a Macon, Ga., hospital. Spokeswoman Tresa Redburn says they diagnosed him with three stomach ulcers, eight polyps in his colon and diverticulitis of the esophagus.

“Thanks to all the wonderful people all over the world that prayed their special prayers. I’m a new man,” Haggard said in a statement issued through Redburn. “Another special thanks to the folks of Macon, Ga., for their kindness, intelligence and probably saving my life.”

Haggard checked into a hospital and postponed his January tour dates last Tuesday after contracting pneumonia.

He checked himself out Friday and tried to make the ride home to Redding, Calif., on his tour bus. Haggard quickly realized he wasn’t up to the trip and returned to Macon, Redburn said.

Haggard is now undergoing a more aggressive antibiotic treatment for pneumonia.

The “Okie from Muskogee” singer had part of a lung removed a few years ago while fighting cancer. It’s unclear at this point how Haggard’s tour schedule to support his latest album, “Walking in Tennessee,” will be affected. His website shows his next date is Feb. 28 in Tuscon, Ariz.

Wishing you well!

Front Gate Tickets Concerts Now on Spotify

2011-11-30T11:58:00.001-08:00

Guest post by Brendan Moore - Product Manager at Front Gate Tickets

During their press conference today, Spotify announced the launch of the App Gallery and an open Javascript API for HTML5 developers to create apps to be used within Spotify.

So what does this mean for live music? Discovery.

Through the applications in the App Gallery, specifically the Songkick app, Spotify will list tour dates for the artists you are currently listening to, with a link to buy tickets to the show.

Through Front Gate Tickets' integration with Songkick, all of our client's concerts will now be automatically listed on Spotify with a link to buy tickets, seamlessly putting your shows in front of 10 million active Spotify users.

What else can these apps offer? The possibility is really up to the creativity of the developers. We are sure to see a number of innovations, but immediately there are taste-maker apps (like Rolling Stone, Pitchfork), song and album charts (Billboard, We Are Hunted), lyric databases (TuneWiki), and music discovery (Last.fm), to name a few.

Some fun iterations are already being released as well, such as Moodagent: tell them what kind of mood you are in, and they will dynamically created a playlist to match your mood.

We're excited to see what creative ideas are in the works. Check out all of the apps available now over at spotify.com/apps.

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-8oHqnAChc

Coachella 2012 On Sale

2011-06-06T07:51:00.000-07:00

Last Friday, Front Gate Tickets went on sale with layaway tickets for 2012 Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival. The demand was incredibly high and some fans waited for a long time to buy tickets. To prepare for the event, we created a waiting room designed to keep fans as informed of their progress as possible. Historically, waiting rooms for high demand events provide concise information so that fans know where they are and why they are in wait. But this year, Front Gate took steps to improve that user interface (better aesthetics) and messaging ("plenty of tickets are still available"), and even providing fans a game of Pong to play to help pass the time. Front Gate will use feedback we received from fans to improve its waiting room experience for the many high demand events we ticket including Coachella, Lollapalooza, Foo Fighters and Yo Gabba Gabba fan club tickets, and Austin City Limits Music Festival. Hopefully everyone who wanted to buy tickets on Friday did so. If not, there are still tickets available for both weekends. Visit Coachella's website for links to buy.

Also, check out the recent feature in the LA Times that mentions Front Gate, shows a screen shot of our recent waiting room (with Pong) and talks about opportunities for artists and fans resulting from a second weekend of Coachella.

Payback Could Be a Lollapalooza for Concert Promoters

2011-02-16T07:39:00.000-08:00

Article about Front Gate's technology in RFID Journal:

Front Gate Tickets, a provider of promoting, ticketing and managing services for live events, has developed a radio frequency identification system to help concert producers track the flow of ticket holders entering their events, as well as offer a variety of additional services, such as VIP access, social networking for ticket holders, and demographic information regarding ticket buyers. The solution features tickets in the form of RFID-enabled wristbands that can be read at entrance gates, with the capability of being read by fixed or handheld interrogators throughout a park.

The company is based in Austin, Texas, and the first customer for its RFID solution was events-management firm C3 Presents, for use during the Austin City Limits Music Festival, held in October 2010. Passive high-frequency (HF) 13.56 MHz inlays, compliant with theISO 15693 standard, were embedded in Laminex wristbands worn by the festival's approximately 25,000 attendees. Front Gate Tickets indicates it selected HF inlays (in this case, those made with chips provided by Texas Instruments) rather than ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) inlays because the HF versions are considerably less expensive.

Read more

Front Gate Tickets launches RFID and payment plan technology for top U.S. music festivals

2011-01-14T00:01:00.000-08:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Austin, TX – January 13, 2011 – Front Gate Tickets today announced that it has started offering RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) wristbanding and scanning to the U.S. music festival market in order to improve fraud detection measures. RFID technology is common at festivals in Europe but until now hasn’t been widely available in the states. Front Gate will soon launch new marketing and operations initiatives built around the technology to improve the fan and promoter’s festival experience. The Austin-based ticketing and technology company first used RFID technology at the 9th annual Austin City Limits Music Festival held this past October 8-10. There the company, which will sell tickets for more than a dozen of the top U.S. music festivals in 2011, deployed RFID readers at the gates to authenticate and validate artist and guest credentials. While RFID technology is a bit more expensive than typical barcode scanning, promoters see the value and applications of the technology.

“Concertgoers will always try to circumvent the systems in place for festival ingress when in such high demand,” says Maura Gibson, Director of Ticketing for C3 Presents, which produces Austin City Limits Music Festival, Lollaplaooza, and Wanderlust Festival. “RFID makes it nearly impossible for this activity to continue.”

In addition to launching its RFID technology, Front Gate has recently built a layaway feature into its ticketing system. Layaway tickets, or payment plans, have become an important tool in helping festivals maintain or even increase their attendance in the current economic climate. To date, the company has seen roughly 10% of all participating festival tickets sold this way. Ticket buyers can spread out payments over time rather than take one big hit on their credit card. Front Gate ticketed festivals including High Sierra Music Festival, Wakarusa Festival, Mountain Jam, Jazzfest West, and Delfest have successfully offered payment plans to its customers in the past. Front Gate is currently on sale with 2011 layaway tickets for Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and Stagecoach Festival among others.

About Front Gate Tickets
Front Gate Tickets provides integrated ticketing, website, marketing, and talent buying software solutions to the live entertainment industry. The Austin-based company is one of the largest independently owned companies of its kind with clients including Meatcamp Productions/Camp Bisco, C3 Presents (Austin, TX), Port City Music Hall (Portland, ME), The Snow Ball (Vail, CO), Belly Up (Aspen CO and Solana Beach, CA), Higher Ground (Burlington, VT), Warehouse Live (Houston), and Boulder Theatre (Boulder, CO). Front Gate Tickets is owned by Front Gate Solutions, a software development company, whose mission is to build the most innovative and efficient solution for promoting, ticketing and managing live events.

Front Gate Tickets processes its ten millionth customer order

2010-12-13T12:09:00.000-08:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Austin, TX – December 13, 2010 – Front Gate Tickets today announced that, over the weekend, the Austin-based company processed its ten millionth customer order. The company, founded in 2003, sells tickets for venues, festivals, artists, and promoters including C3 Presents, Higher Ground (Burlington, VT), Lollapalooza, Pipeline Productions (Lawrence, KS), The Palladium (Dallas), Further, Wilco, Belly Up (Aspen, CO and Solana Beach, CA) and Port City Music Hall (Portland, ME).

“We’re humbled by this accomplishment,” says Jeff Kreinik, Director of Sales and Marketing at Front Gate Tickets. “All credit is due to the promoters who have been with us and stayed loyal to us over the years.”

Front Gate Tickets has seen an increase in sales in each year since its inception due, in part, to its commitment to creating the most innovative and efficient solutions for promoting, ticketing and managing live events. The company continues to innovate by integrating with social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, leveraging analytics tools like Google Analytics, building custom websites based on open sourced code such as WordPress, and providing its own offer management/talent buying software that helps improve a promoter’s ability to make smarter and more profitable deals.

About Front Gate Tickets
Front Gate Tickets provides integrated ticketing, website, marketing, and talent buying software solutions to the live entertainment industry. The Austin-based company is one of the largest independently owned companies of its kind with clients including C3 Presents (Austin, TX), Belly Up (Aspen CO and Solana Beach, CA), Higher Ground (Burlington, VT), Warehouse Live (Houston), and Boulder Theatre (Boulder, CO). Front Gate Tickets is owned by Front Gate Solutions, a software development company, whose mission is to make entertainment organizations more efficient.

Everyone Hates Ticketmaster — But No One Can Take It Down

2010-11-11T12:33:00.000-08:00

No, this is not a title I created. It is, however, the title of an article in the current issue of Wired Magazine that mentions Front Gate Tickets and the state of the ticketing industry. Interesting read.

Billboard Touring Conference Update

2010-11-03T17:34:00.000-07:00

The first day of panels at the Billboard Touring Conference was an interesting one. Check out the link at Billboard.biz for a summary. The ticketing panel this year focused more on social media, marketing, and mobile than anything. No more debate about "who's ticket is it" or "the secondary market nemesis." Everyone played nicely and agreed that ticketing companies need to integrate with more third party sites (i.e. social networks) and provide promoters with tools to understand their buyer's behavior and interests. Front Gate continues to develop these and other features including marketing data filters/segmentation tools, websites that integrate with the ticketing system, mobile ticket sales, and tools to automate publishing of event data to Twitter, Facebook and other social networks.

Drivers of Online Behavior

2010-10-12T08:48:00.000-07:00

There's a great research paper on consumer behavior and trends in online and mobile behavior - just published by TNS Digital Life. Some interesting stats that speak to why Front Gate Tickets is dedicating resources to integrating with Facebook, Twitter and other social networks -- both online and via mobile phones. All mobile optimized ticketing sites Front Gate Tickets creates for venues, promoters, and festivals simply provide customers a way to purchase tickets at the end of the mobile event discovery process. This discovery has increasingly been via mobile -- at the expense of the more traditional computer session. The following stats support what we are seeing:

* Mobile users spend on average 3.1 hours per week on social networking sites compared to just 2.2 hours on email.

* 26% of online consumers expect their use of social networking on a computer to increase in the next 12 months.

* 36% of survey respondents expect social networking via their mobile phone to increase in the next 12 months.

* Online consumers are, on average, spending more time on social networking sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn than on email.

Front Gate Tickets makes Inc. Magazine List of America’s Fastest-Growing Private Companies

2010-09-13T13:33:00.000-07:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Austin, TX, September 13, 2010 – Front Gate Tickets today announced that it has earned a spot on Inc. Magazine’s 2010 list of the fastest-growing U.S. private companies. The list represents a comprehensive look at the most important segment of the economy—America’s independent-minded entrepreneurs. Front Gate is in good company, with music website Pandora, 7-Eleven, Brooklyn Brewery, and Radio Flyer making the list.

The Austin-based company has further gained momentum recently with the launch of its mobile ticketing platform and integrated ticketing, social marketing, website, and talent buying offering. Promoters use Front Gate’s web-based software to create and manage talent offers, put event tickets on sale, and promote shows instantly on their website and to social networks including Facebook and Twitter. The company offers the most complete solution designed improve the efficiency and profitability of music venues, promoters, festivals and touring artists.

About Front Gate Tickets
Front Gate Tickets provides online ticketing and marketing solutions to the live entertainment industry. The company, based in Austin, TX, is one of the fastest growing independently owned ticketing companies with clients including C3 Presents (Austin, TX), Higher Ground (Burlington, VT), Lollapalooza Festival (Chicago), Belly Up Aspen (Aspen, CO), High Sierra Festival (Quincy, CA), Warehouse Live (Houston), and Boulder Theatre (Boulder, CO). Front Gate Tickets is owned by Front Gate Solutions, a software development company, whose mission is to build the most innovative and efficient solution for promoting, ticketing and managing Live events.

Billboard Touring Conference Panel

2010-08-25T08:36:00.000-07:00

In case you will be in NYC for the 2010 Billboard Touring Conference, I will be speaking on the Ticketing: Managing The Keys To The Kingdom panel. This is always an interesting discussion and there will be some great representation from Front Gate's competitors. See you in New York November 3-4!

For an Aspen events company, mobile is the ticket

2010-07-23T15:47:00.000-07:00

From Internet Retailer Magazine:

Belly Up Aspen, a performance arts center, finds mobile commerce wins over customers.

“I was surprised how many sales we had very quickly after doing a minimal amount of marketing,” says Kimberly Kuliga, general manager of Belly Up Aspen, which manages a performing arts center in the ski resort town of Aspen, CO.

Belly Up Aspen, which puts on musical concerts ranging from Beatlemania Live to Snoop Dogg, has developed a mobile commerce presence with Front Gate Tickets.

More

Recent Internet Retailer Magazine Profile on Front Gate Tickets

2010-06-25T08:30:00.000-07:00

June 24, 2010

Front Gate opens up mobile ticketing
The provider of online ticketing technology integrates content on web portals and more.

The provider of online ticketing technology integrates content on web portals, mobile sites and social networks.

With its recently expanded suite of online ticketing technology and services, Front Gate Tickets is enabling ticket sellers to enter content about events and tickets once into a software-as-a-service online ticket management system for immediate distribution to their own e-commerce site, mobile commerce applications and social media networks as well as to the hosted online tickets portal Front Gate provides to its clients at FrontGateTickets.com.

Read more at http://www.internetretailer.com/2010/06/24/front-gate-opens-mobile-ticketing

Front Gate Tickets joins the race toward mobile ticketing

2010-06-22T12:55:00.000-07:00

From Ticketnews.com:

Front Gate Tickets, an independent ticketing and marketing solutions provider based in Austin, TX, is making a move into mobile ticketing.

The new Web-based application will allow Front Gate's clients—which include venues, promoters and events—to directly tie their Web-based marketing into sales by giving fans the opportunity to respond to tweets, Facebook apps, or whatever Web-based marketing tools used to promote an event. Fans will not only be able to view the content on their computers, but on their mobile phones as well.

Read the rest of the story here.

Mobile Commerce Daily Feature on Front Gate Tickets

2010-06-22T07:05:00.000-07:00

Mobile Commerce Daily put together a nice feature on the Front Gate Tickets mobile ticketing release. Check out the story at http://www.mobilecommercedaily.com/front-gate-tickets-uses-mobile-site-to-drive-ticket-sales/

Thanks to Pollstar!

2010-06-21T20:01:00.000-07:00

Thank you Pollstar for the feature today about mobile ticket sales and our WordPress plug-in!

http://www.pollstarpro.com/NewsContent.aspx?cat=3&ArticleID=16355

Front Gate Tickets Goes Mobile and Plugs-in to WordPress

2010-06-18T12:53:00.000-07:00

Austin, TX - June 18, 2010 - Front Gate Tickets today announced it has released both mobile ticketing and its WordPress plug-in to the live entertainment industry. These efforts are on the heels of the Austin-based company’s first quarter launch of its geo-located portal at www.frontgatetickets.com. Clients including Lollapalooza Festival (Chicago), Higher Ground (S. Burlington, VT), Stubbs BBQ (Austin), Belly Up, Aspen (Aspen, CO), and Warehouse Live (Houston) have already started allowing its customers a quick and easy on-the-go ticket purchase via cell phones.

“Mobile ticketing is a key component to selling shows in our market,” says Michael Goldberg, owner of Belly Up, Aspen. “While Aspen is a small town, our clientele wants to buy tickets via their mobile phones because it’s timely, easy and convenient. Plus, with Front Gate, our customers can store their credit card information to simplify future purchases.”

“We’re proud to be one of the first independent ticketing companies to launch mobile ticket sales,” offers Jeff Kreinik, Director of Sales and Marketing at Front Gate Tickets. “We’ve worked with clients, such as Belly Up, Aspen, to thoughtfully optimize the purchase process for mobile devices so that promoters can market, sell, and track activity through this channel. Many of our clients are building custom iPhone apps for their clubs and festivals. We add value to that investment by extending the mobile marketing process through to the sale. Few other ticketing companies can do that let alone extend a promoter’s branding throughout the session.”

According to Juniper Research, in 2009 roughly 2 million mobile tickets were sold worldwide. While these numbers are not staggering, Front Gate is signaling to the market its commitment to innovation and industry leadership. With the release of mobile ticketing, Front Gate now enables venues, festivals, and promoters to sell tickets through five channels – online, via its toll free call center, at a venue’s box office, on mobile phones and at outlets in select states.

“There’s much more to ticketing today than even two years ago,” suggests Kreinik. “Promoters look to their ticketing company to provide sales and marketing tools that fully integrate into one solution. We’ve recently launched our WordPress plug-in for clients to use with their own WordPress websites. Those promoters are immediately able to realize the benefits of having their event details appear automatically on their website. No more duplication of effort.”

Front Gate Tickets also offers clients custom website design services that seamlessly connect ticketing operations with website management. Front Gate started offering design and hosting services to promoters in 2007 with clients such as Antone’s (www.antones.net) and Warehouse Live (www.warehouselive.com) on board today. The ticketing company recently moved to WordPress to take advantage of the platform’s flexibility, open source nature and seamless integration with social networks like Facebook and Twitter.

Other key tools that fill out Front Gate’s offering today include connection of its web-based ticketing system and websites to Google Analytics, on-demand multi-channel sales reports, web-based event building tools, automated ticket count alerts, on-demand customer data reports, stored credit cards to encourage repeat purchases, localized portal promotions at www.frontgatetickets.com, and automation with social networks. For more information about these and other services, visit www.frontgatesolutions.com or www.frontgatetickets.com.

About Front Gate Tickets

Front Gate Tickets provides online ticketing and marketing solutions to the live entertainment industry. The company, based in Austin, TX, is one of the largest independently owned ticketing companies with clients including C3 Presents (Austin, TX), Wanderlust Festival (Lake Tahoe, NV), Lollapalooza Festival (Chicago), Belly Up Aspen (Aspen, CO), High Sierra Festival (Quincy, CA), Warehouse Live (Houston), and Boulder Theatre (Boulder, CO). Front Gate Tickets is owned by Front Gate Solutions, a software development company, whose mission is to make entertainment organizations more efficient.

Boulder Theatre and Fox Theatre to Merge

2010-06-16T14:45:00.000-07:00

Long time Front Gate Tickets client, Boulder Theatre, announced today that it has merged with the Fox Theatre -- also in Boulder. This is a big win for Boulder and the touring industry in general! Bands that start out at the Fox can move up to the larger Boulder Theatre and provide fans with a better experience throughout. Congrats to all! Tickets for shows at the Fox are available at http://foxtheatre.frontgatetickets.com/index.php. Tickets for the Boulder Theatre are available at http://bouldertheater.frontgatesolutions.com/.

For more on this story, visit http://www.coloradodaily.com/ci_15305321?IADID=Search-www.coloradodaily.com-www.coloradodaily.com#axzz0r7naC9vp.

Mountain Jam VI Show Review

2010-06-07T15:02:00.000-07:00

I spent a few days at Mountain Jam last weekend at Hunter Mountain in upstate NY. The event, co-promoted and owned by WDST radio Woodstock and Warren Haynes, was held right on the mountain where weekenders in the NY winter ski and snowboard. Although I grew up just a few hours from Hunter Mountain, this was my first visit to the area. A great time was had by all (including me) with over 10,000 hard core music fans dancing, singing, and enjoying sets from Gov't Mule, The Avett Brothers, Drive By Truckers, Grace Potter, Trombone Shorty, Leon Helms (& special guests), and Alison Krauss and Union Station among others. Highlights included the Mule's take on Jimi Hendrix "Wind Cries Mary", Zach Deputy's "Tube Steak", and the Avett Brothers "I and Love and You."

Front Gate Tickets sold tickets for the 3-day event and setup our barcode scanning rig for the weekend. Thanks to Ben and Desha for working long hours and ensuring the event was a success for all! Hope to see some friendly faces out there next year.

Front Gate Tickets expands its presence in Dallas with The Loft, Palladium Showroom and Gilley’s

2010-05-18T21:18:00.000-07:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Austin, TX – May 19, 2010 – Austin, TX-based Front Gate Tickets today announced it has signed an exclusive ticketing deal with The Loft, Palladium Showroom and Gilley’s in Dallas. While the seven year-old ticketing company has maintained a strong presence in the Dallas/Fort Worth area since the company’s inception, this new partnership will provide ticket buyers with more options, lower fees, and a fresh experience.

“We are excited to join the ranks of venues that use Front Gate Tickets to serve their customer’s ticketing needs,” says Nate Binford, Manager of Business Development for The Palladium Dallas, Gilley's Dallas and The Loft. “Front Gate Tickets allows us to consolidate ticket sales for all of our in-house bookings, enabling us to offer significantly lower ticket prices to our customers, and benefit from the best-in-class features that Front Gate Tickets offers such as email and social marketing, excellent reporting features and partnerships with local retailers like Good Records.”

While Front Gate Tickets sells tickets for events across the country, including Lollapalooza (Chicago) and Hangout Music Festival (Gulf Shores, AL) and those at venues including Higher Ground (Burlington VT), Casbah (San Diego), and Boulder Theatre (Boulder, CO), the Austin-based company focuses attention on working with Texas businesses. Front Gate clients in the Lone Star State include Stubb’s BBQ (Austin), Tree’s (Dallas), Warehouse Live (Houston), River Road Ice House (New Braunfels), and Ridglea Theater (Fort Worth).

Tickets for upcoming events at The Loft, Palladium and Gilley’s are for sale at http://palladiumdallas.frontgatetickets.com and include Hawthorne Heights, Lou Barlow, Delta Spirit, and Roger Creager.

About Front Gate Tickets
------------------------
Front Gate Tickets provides online ticketing solutions and event management to the live entertainment industry. The company, based in Austin, TX, is one of the largest independently owned ticketing companies with a client list that includes C3 Presents (Austin, TX), Antones (Austin, TX), Austin City Limits Music Festival, Tree’s (Dallas) The Casbah (San Diego, CA), Stubb’s Bar-B-Q (Austin, TX), Boulder Theatre (Boulder, CO), Mountain Jam (Hunter, NY), and The Wescott Theatre (Syracuse, NY). Front Gate Tickets is owned by Front Gate Solutions, a software development company whose mission is to make entertainment organizations more efficient through constant innovation and advancement in the online concert ticketing industry.

First Annual Hangout Beach, Music & Arts Festival Wrap

2010-05-17T10:37:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I checked out the first annual Hangout Beach, Music & Arts Festival in Gulf Shores, AL. Front Gate Tickets sold tickets for the event along with lending a hand at the box office and at the gates with our wireless barcode scanning rig. While this may have, on the surface, seemed like another new festival with high hopes, I have to say, it is now one of the premier festivals in the U.S. To start, the festival site is beautiful. With two stages right on the beach, a great boardwalk with vendors, well run transportation to/from the event, and water and waves as a backdrop, the atmosphere was like nothing I'd experienced before. The artists loved playing the event and the fans were talking about next year's event before this one finished.

There were great sets from Robert Randolph, Grace Potter, Gov't Mule, Girl Talk, John Legend and other artists. One of the most enjoyable sets for me came from the New Orleans' based Honey Island Swamp Band. Also, seeing Warren Haynes and Grace Potter sitting in with Preservation Hall Jazz Band was inspirational (see photo to the left.

To the left are some additional pics from the Blackberry -- not the best quality, but should give you an idea for the experience. Looking forward to next year's fest!!! Congrats to AJ, Bennett, Todd, Scott and the rest of the Hangout crew... And great job Kerstin, Simon and Dave from Front Gate! You guys make it look easy.

Ticket sales now moving at the speed of Twitter, Facebook

2010-05-12T08:11:00.000-07:00

From the Austin American Statesman May 12 issue:

On March 11, when tickets for Friday night's Conan O'Brien performance at Austin Music Hall went on sale, it was followers of the talk show host on Twitter who first heard about it.

The 30-city tour was announced in a Tweet from O'Brien that read, in part, "Hey Internet: I'm headed to your town."

Within hours, the shows — including the Austin performance — were sold out before many people had time to hear about them on blogs or e-mail.

Don't like Twitter, Facebook or missing out on performance tickets to those who do? It might be something to get used to, especially in the case where there's high demand for tickets and an artist is willing to get the word out first on a social networking service.

Jeff Kreinik, director of sales and marketing for Front Gate Tickets, the ticket vendor for the O'Brien performance, called the Twitter-driven ticket sale "a huge, huge success. Tickets went through the roof.

Read more from the Statesman on Conan and Front Gate's social marketing activities.

ACL Fest 3 day passes sold out

2010-04-23T07:18:00.000-07:00

This week was a good week for sales at Front Gate Tickets. In particular, there was tremendous demand for 3 day passes for Austin City Limits Music Festival, which will take place at Zilker Park in Austin October 8-10. Three day tickets sold out in a record 14 hours this time around. However, both the lineup announcement and single day tickets are out on May 18. That will be yet another fun day for us over here. More information about the festival can be found at the Austin City Limits Music Fest website.

The Engaged User: Bridging Your Web Site And Social Networks

2010-04-13T20:46:00.000-07:00

Here's a great article on social marketing:

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=125954&nid=113222

Hipster Bingo

2010-03-15T15:19:00.000-07:00

For those of you at SXSW looking to pass some time between panels or shows, check out a little game one of our developers put together in his spare time.

http://hipsterbingo.frontgatetickets.com

Enjoy the week and the sites!

Front Gate Tickets announces exclusive ticketing deal with Eastern Artists in Upstate NY

2010-03-05T08:56:00.000-08:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Austin, TX – March 5, 2010 – Austin, TX-based Front Gate Tickets today announced an exclusive ticketing deal with Eastern Artists, a premier concert promotion company based in Syracuse, New York that serves the greater upstate New York region, including Syracuse, Rochester, Utica and Albany. Eastern Artists, which was established in 1992, has upcoming shows from artists including Further, Alison Krauss and Union Station and moe.

“We are very excited to announce our partnership with Front Gate Tickets as we look towards the future of promoting concerts,” stated Chuck Chao, owner of Eastern Artists. “We feel that Front Gate Tickets offers the best experience for us, as promoters, as well as to the fans who will be coming out to see the shows. Front Gate is committed to delivering quality ticketing services with lower service fees than our previous ticketing company. In addition, Front Gate has a reputation for constantly innovating within the industry. We feel this puts us in a very good place for years to come.”

This partnership also serves to continue the expansion of Front Gate Tickets into the Northeast region of the country. In the Northeast, the independent ticketing company serves Greenbelt Events (Harrisburg, PA), Higher Ground (South Burlington, VT), The Wescott Theatre (Syracuse, NY), Mountain Jam, (Hunter, NY) and Barre Opera House (Barre, VT).

“Front Gate Tickets is looking forward to working with Chuck and Eastern Artists,” says Jeff Kreinik, Director of Sales and Marketing at Front Gate. “I’ve known Chuck for a long time and he has a track record with delivering great shows and great experiences for his fans. This is a great partnership for us.”

Tickets for all Eastern Artists Events will be available at http://easternartists.frontgatetickets.com.

About Front Gate Tickets

----------------------------------

Front Gate Tickets provides online ticketing solutions and event management to the live entertainment industry. The company, based in Austin, TX, is one of the largest independently owned ticketing companies with a client list that includes C3 Presents (Austin, TX), Wanderlust Festival (Lake Tahoe, NV), Belly Up Aspen (Aspen, CO), The Casbah (San Diego, CA), Stubb’s Bar-B-Q (Austin, TX), Boulder Theatre (Boulder, CO), and the Wescott Theatre (Syracuse, NY). Front Gate Tickets is owned by Front Gate Solutions, a software development company whose mission is to make entertainment organizations more efficient through constant innovation and advancement in the online concert ticketing industry.

Front Gate may profit from Ticketmaster/Live Nation merger

2010-01-25T07:37:00.000-08:00

Check out a recent article on Front Gate Tickets in the Austin Business Journal.

"Front Gate Tickets is preparing for growth as venues take a closer look at independent ticket agencies in light of a potential merger between Ticketmaster and Live Nation Worldwide Inc.

Independent ticketers such as Austin-based Front Gate, which operate in a long shadow cast by Ticketmaster, hope to pick up business that may arise from the proposed union between that company and Live Nation, the largest concert promoter in the country. The merger is awaiting approval from the Department of Justice."

(visit the Austin Business Journal for the complete article).

2009 Was a Good Year in Touring. What's Next?

2010-01-18T18:14:00.000-08:00

According to Pollstar Magazine, 2009 was a record year for the touring industry. According to the publication, concert ticket sales revenue for North America increased by roughly 10 percent to $4.6 billion! The Top 100 tours alone sold nearly 40.5 million tickets. But, "the average ticket price for the Top 100 Tours declined for the first time since [Pollstar] began compiling such data in 1996 when the average ticket cost only $25.81." That's a good thing for Taylor Swift and Springsteen fans alike!

So what's in store for the music business in 2010? How will the impending Ticketmaster/Live Nation merger affect the industry? I think the uptick in ticket sales will continue this year, as more fans will want to experience their favorite bands in a live setting (I certainly do). Listening to music on an iPhone, after all, is pretty one dimensional.

Front Gate Tickets launches new website with improved functionality and better discovery tools.

2010-01-11T12:10:00.000-08:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Austin, TX – January 11, 2009 –
Front Gate Tickets today announced that it has re-launched its ticketing portal with an updated look and enhanced functionality. The site, located at www.frontgatetickets.com, provides visitors an easier way to discover events and buy tickets for Front Gate ticketed shows. The website will also set the stage in early 2010 for both a front-end refresh of its client ticketing sites and integration with third party marketing and communication tools (i.e. Facebook, Twitter) that provide ticket buyers with a more social shopping experience.

“We made a conscious decision over the past few years to build a powerful ticketing platform capable of handling heavy volume on-sales,” says Front Gate’s Director of Technology, David Avery. “While we will continue to evolve the core functionality of the software, we recognized that front-end improvements were long overdue.”

Some of the new portal functionality about which Avery speaks includes the geo-location of each user to provide dynamic delivery of content based on where in the U.S. a user originates. Accordingly, shoppers will see shows that are most relevant to them but have the option to search for shows in any metro area or on a national level. Other new features to Front Gate’s portal include more promotional space for events and enhanced filtering of events by date, artist, venue, event type/category, music genre, and more. In 2010, look for Front Gate to launch its mobile ticketing application and provide promoters the ability to automate event marketing to social networks, their own websites, and other relevant properties.

About Front Gate Tickets
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Front Gate Tickets provides online ticketing solutions, box office management, barcode scanning and event management services to the live entertainment industry. The company, based in Austin, TX, is one of the largest independently owned ticketing companies with clients including C3 Presents (Austin, TX), Wanderlust Festival (Lake Tahoe, NV), Lollapalooza Festival (Chicago), Belly Up Aspen (Aspen, CO), High Sierra Festival (Quincy, CA), Warehouse Live (Houston, ), and Boulder Theatre (Boulder, CO). Front Gate Tickets is owned by Front Gate Solutions, a software development company, whose mission is to make entertainment organizations more efficient.

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Contact:

Jeff Kreinik
jeff@frontgatetickets.com
512.674.9342

Happy Holidays from Front Gate Tickets!

2009-12-15T15:58:00.000-08:00

Enjoy the holiday music play list -- all great songs by great Texas artists!

Happy Holidays from Austin

Front Gate Tickets announces ticketing deals with Belly Up Tavern and Viejas Entertainment

2009-12-10T12:43:00.000-08:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Austin, TX – December 10, 2009 – Front Gate Tickets, a leading provider of ticketing solutions for music festivals, venues, artists, and the Performing Arts, today announced its continued expansion into the San Diego market through its exclusive ticketing deals with Belly Up Tavern and Viejas Entertainment.

“Belly Up is very excited to partner with Front Gate Tickets,” said Steve Goldberg owner of the Belly Up Tavern. “The move to Front Gate is a win for us and the customer and better reflective of our vibe as the non-corporate approach to entertainment.”

The Austin-based Front Gate Tickets first established a presence in San Diego in 2004 when it became the exclusive ticketing provider for the Casbah. Since, then, the independently owned and operated Front Gate Tickets has provided ticketing services for Street Scene, CityBeat Festival of Beers, North Park Music Thang, Epicentre, Jumping Turtle, Independence Jam, and Hard Rock Hotel among others.

“We are excited about our relationship with the Belly Up Tavern and Viejas Entertainment,” says Jeff Kreinik, Director of Marketing and Business Development at Front Gate Tickets. “These are two of the premiere venues in the San Diego area and two of the more forward thinking organizations around.”

Tickets for Belly Up Tavern can be purchased at http://bellyupsolanabeach.frontgatesolutions.com. Upcoming shows there include Average White Band (12/13), The Greyboy Allstars (12/23), and Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven (12/29). Tickets for Viejas Entertainment are available at http://viejas.frontgatetickets.com. Upcoming shows at Viejas include Tower of Power (12/12), Zapp (1/16), and David Sanborn (2/19).

About Front Gate Tickets
-------------------------------
Front Gate Tickets provides web-based ticketing solutions and event-management services to entertainment organizations in the United States. The company, based in Austin, TX, is one of the largest independently owned ticketing agencies with clients including C3 Presents (Austin, TX), San Diego Street Scene (San Diego, CA), Belly Up Aspen (Aspen, CO), The Long Center for the Performing Arts (Austin, TX), Warehouse Live (Houston, TX), and Boulder Theatre (Boulder, CO). Front Gate Tickets is owned by Front Gate Solutions, a software development company, whose mission is to make entertainment organizations more efficient.

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Contact:

pr@frontgatetickets.com
512.674.9342

Front Gate Tickets announces ticketing deal with Greenbelt Events

2009-12-02T12:54:00.000-08:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Austin, TX – December 2, 2009 – Austin, TX-based Front Gate Tickets today announced an exclusive ticketing deal with Greenbelt Events, the leading mid-size event producer, concert promotion and talent buying firm in the greater Harrisburg, PA area. The company, a joint venture between independent music promoter and blogger, Mike Van Jura, and Sarah Staub is an offshoot of their last promotion company, Roundtable Presents. Roundtable produced more than 2,500 concerts and events over the last five years including Cracker, The Hold Steady, Mike Doughty, Lotus, and Hot Buttered Rum.

"We're really excited to be working with Front Gate as we push forward in producing concerts in the coming years,” offers Van Jura. “In our experience, fans want lower service fees and a simple solution to purchasing tickets. And as a promoter, we were looking for the support and professionalism that we found were lacking with previous ticketing providers.”

With this partnership, Front Gate Tickets continues its expansion in the Northeast. The independent ticketing company already features clients in the area such as Higher Ground (S. Burlington, VT), The Westcott Theater (Syracuse, NY), Mountain Jam (Hunter, NY) and Barre Opera House (Barre, VT). Tickets for Greenbelt Events’ New Year’s Eve show and beyond are available at http://greenbeltevents.frontgatetickets.com.

About Front Gate Tickets
Front Gate Tickets provides online ticketing solutions and event management services to the live entertainment industry. The company, based in Austin, TX, is one of the largest independently owned ticketing companies with clients including C3 Presents (Austin, TX), Wanderlust Festival (Lake Tahoe, NV), Belly Up Aspen (Aspen, CO), The Long Center for the Performing Arts (Austin, TX), Warehouse Live (Houston, TX), and Boulder Theatre (Boulder, CO). Front Gate Tickets is owned by Front Gate Solutions, a software development company, whose mission is to make entertainment organizations more efficient.

Billboard Touring Conference Wrap Up

2009-11-13T07:51:00.000-08:00

Last week, Shawn Nelson and I attended the Billboard Touring Conference in NYC. I wasn't exactly sure what to expect going into it, but I was pleasantly surprised by the depth of panel discussions. Most conferences are little more than industry folks touting their businesses -- but that was not a common theme here. On one panel, managers for Coldplay, Beyonce, Dave Matthews Band, Buckcherry, Patty Griffin, and My Morning Jacket debated topics such as fan club ticketing and record label issues and practices. Some of these managers believed in fan club ticketing, while others thought it was a waste of time. On another panel, folks from AEG walked the industry crowd through the process of convincing Michael Jackson to play 50 shows at O2 Arena in London and the aftermath of the tragedy. Apparently, Jackson originally agreed to 31 shows in an effort to trump Prince's run of 21 dates at O2 Arena by 10 shows. If there is any good news to come out of the tragedy, fans are coming out in droves to see "This Is It" -- the film, which documents rehearsal footage and interviews from the months leading up to the King of Pop's death. And, Jackson is selling CDs!

But, perhaps the most interesting discussion for me was a debate on ways promoters are targeting consumers through online marketing. Charles Attal of C3 Presents talked about how this year C3 dedicated 90% of its marketing efforts for its Lollapalooza Festival and Austin City Limits Music Festival to digital promotions . Front Gate Tickets sells tickets for both of these events, so we are intimately familiar with C3 's efforts. As a result, we work closely with that organization and others like Warehouse Live and Belly Up Aspen to better understand their marketing processes and tactics. This is helping us develop tools within our ticketing system that automates repetitive promotional tasks like publishing events to Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and other social networks. Our ticketing system is moving more towards a full featured event management and marketing platform from simply a ticketing system. The market is demanding this, and we are having fun developing it.

In short, the 2009 Billboard Touring Conference was a great experience. I had a chance to hit my hometown of NY for a week while meeting some industry legends and many forward thinkers who are reshaping the music industry into a viable and sustainable business. There is a light at the end of the tunnel -- maybe not for record companies as they operate today, but certainly for the live music industry.

25th Anniversary Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Concert Review

2009-11-02T09:15:00.000-08:00

This past week was the 25th Anniversary Rock & Roll Hall of Fame concert at New York's Madison Square Garden. Performers included U2, Bruce Srpingsteen, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Crosby, Stills and Nash, Metallica, Jeff Beck (replacing an ailing Eric Clapton) and Aretha Franklin, Sting, Lou Reed, Ozzy Osbourne, Ray Davies of the Kinks, Buddy Guy, Jerry Lee Lewis and others. For those of you (including me) who missed the show, on 11/29, HBO will show selections from the event -- accessible from the comfort of your own couch. I know I will tune in! Check out the concert review on The New York Times' website

2009-10-20T11:40:00.000-07:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Austin, TX – October 20, 2009 – Front Gate Tickets, a leading provider of ticketing services for music festivals, venues, artists, and the Performing Arts, today announced it has become the ticketing provider for legendary Dallas rock club, Trees. The venue, which reopened in the summer of 2009 by scene veteran, Clint Barlow, will help bring great music back the Deep Ellum section of Dallas. Upcoming shows at Tree’s include Powerman 5000 (11/11), Hinder (11/28) and The Toadies (12/31). Tickets for these and other great shows are available at http://treesdallas.frontgatetickets.com/.

About Front Gate Tickets
Front Gate Tickets provides web-based ticketing systems and event-management services to entertainment organizations in the United States. The company, based in Austin, TX, is one of the largest independently owned ticketing agencies with clients including C3 Presents (Austin, TX), San Diego Street Scene (San Diego, CA), Belly Up Aspen (Aspen, CO), The Long Center for the Performing Arts (Austin, TX), Warehouse Live (Houston, TX), and Boulder Theatre (Boulder, CO). Front Gate Tickets is owned by Front Gate Solutions, a software development company, whose mission is to make entertainment organizations more efficient.

iPhone Sales increase; mobile ticketing to follow

2009-10-20T06:55:00.000-07:00

It has just been reported that Apple's profits and sales beat Wall Street's forecasts this quarter. This was due, in part, to the continued demand for the iPhone. It seems like everywhere we look, someone is on his or her iPhone talking, listening to music, or using some type of app. As usage of smart phones like the iPhone increase, so will the demand for mobile ticketing. Front Gate Tickets is set to launch its mobile ticketing platform next month. We are already seeing ticket buyers purchasing thousands of tickets with their iPhones; shopping on our current online ticketing website. Once we launch our mobile optimized ticketing website and as Apple/AT&T competitors release new smart phones to compete (i.e. HTC/Sprint/Android), the market for mobile ticketing should skyrocket. Front Gate Tickets is committed to being front and center as this explosion develops. And we expect our ticketing system to provide greater value to the live entertainment industry and ticket buyers as a result.

Front Gate Tickets to sell tickets for Irvin Mayfield's Jazz Playhouse in New Orleans

2009-10-15T11:55:00.000-07:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Austin, TX October 15, 2009 -- Front Gate Tickets, a leading provider of ticketing services for venues, festivals, and promoters, has entered into a partnership with Irvin Mayfield's Jazz Playhouse located in the French Quarter of New Orleans. The venue, which resides in the famous Royal Sonesta Hotel, opened in March 2009 to host some of the country's best jazz including Kermit Ruffins, Leon "Kid Chocolate" Brown, and the Original Tuxedo band.

Mayfield, who has lent his name to the venue and will help book the talent, is a Grammy-nominated and Billboard Award-winning Jazz trumpeter. Irvin is well-known as co-founder and co-leader of the Afro-Cuban jazz group Los Hombres Calientes. Tickets for events at the playhouse can be purchased at http://jazzplayhouse.frontgatetickets.com.

About Front Gate Tickets
Front Gate Tickets provides web-based ticketing solutions and event-management services to entertainment organizations in the United States. The company, based in Austin, TX, is one of the largest independently owned ticketing agencies with clients including C3 Presents (Austin, TX), San Diego Street Scene (San Diego, CA), Belly Up Aspen (Aspen, CO), The Long Center for the Performing Arts (Austin, TX), Warehouse Live (Houston, TX), and Boulder Theatre (Boulder, CO). Front Gate Tickets is owned by Front Gate Solutions, a software development company, whose mission is to make entertainment organizations more efficient.

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Contact:
Jeff Kreinik
512.674.9342
Jeff@frontgatetickets.com

2009 American Music Awards Nominees Announced

2009-10-13T13:56:00.000-07:00

Nominees for the 2009 American Music Awards are in! They were announced today by Paula Abdul, Adam Lambert and Snoop Dog.

 POP or ROCK MUSIC

 
 Favorite Male Artist
 Eminem
 Michael Jackson
 T.I.

 Favorite Female Artist
 Beyonce
 Lady Gaga
 Taylor Swift

 Favorite Band, Duo or Group
 Black Eyed Peas
 Kings of Leon
 Nickelback

 Favorite Album
 Lady Gaga / Fame
 Michael Jackson / Number Ones
 Taylor Swift / Fearless

 COUNTRY MUSIC

 Favorite Male Artist
 Jason Aldean
 Darius Rucker
 Keith Urban

 Favorite Female Artist
 Reba McEntire
 Taylor Swift
 Carrie Underwood

 Favorite Band, Duo or Group
 Rascal Flatts
 Sugarland
 Zac Brown Band

 Favorite Album
 Rascal Flatts/ Unstoppable
 Taylor Swift / Fearless
 Zac Brown Band / Foundation

 RAP/HIP-HOP MUSIC

 Favorite Male Artist
 Eminem
 Jay-Z
 T. I.

 Favorite Album
 Eminem / Relapse
 Jay-Z / Blueprint 3
 T.I. / Paper Trail

 SOUL/RHYTHM & BLUES MUSIC

 Favorite Male Artist
 Jamie Foxx
 Michael Jackson
 Maxwell

 Favorite Female Artist
 Beyonce
 Keyshia Cole
 Keri Hilson

 Favorite Band, Duo or Group
 Black Eyed Peas
 Day26
 Mary Mary

 Favorite Album
 Beyonce / I Am. . .Sasha Fierce
 Black Eyed Peas / The E.N.D.
 Michael Jackson / Number Ones

 SOUNDTRACKS

 Favorite Album
 Hannah Montana: The Movie
 Hannah Montana 3
 Twilight Soundtrack

 ALTERNATIVE ROCK MUSIC

 Favorite Artist
 Green Day
 Kings of Leon
 Shinedown

 ADULT CONTEMPORARY MUSIC
 Favorite Artist
 Daughtry
 Jason Mraz
 Taylor Swift

 LATIN MUSIC

 Favorite Artist
 Aventura
 Luis Fonsi
 Wisin Y Yandel

 CONTEMPORARY INSPIRATIONAL

 Favorite Artist
 Jeremy Camp
 Brandon Heath
 Mary Mary

 ARTIST OF THE YEAR
 Alternative - KINGS OF LEON
 Country - TAYLOR SWIFT
 Pop/Rock - LADY GAGA
 Rap/Hip-Hop - EMINEM
 Soul/R&B - MICHAEL JACKSON

MOBILE BREAKTHROUGH ARTIST NOMINATIONS

Pop/Rock Breakthrough Artist - Kings of Leon, Lady Gaga
Country Breakthrough Artist - Gloriana, Zac Brown Band
Soul/R&B Breakthrough Artist - Keri Hilson, Jermiah
Rap/Hip-Hop Breakthrough Artist - Drake, Kid Cudi

Yo Gabba Gabba Frenzy

2009-10-13T13:48:00.000-07:00

For those of you with small children, Yo Gabba Gabba is a household name. For those of you without kids...well, it's a kids show on nickelodeon. While Front Gate Tickets does not normally sell fan club tickets for events like this (we normally work with artists like Wilco, G. Love, Drive By Truckers, and Randy Travis), this experience provides Front Gate Tickets with an opportunity to expand into a new market and make a different kind of fan happy. But, perhaps the best part about working with the Yo Gabba Gabba tour may very well be that Front Gate Tickets is helping to get tickets into the hands of hard core fans (well...at least in the hands of the parents).

With everyone pointing to the secondary market as being such a problem (and it is), Front Gate Tickets forges partnerships with artists, agents, managers, promoters, and event producers to offer tickets to fans who have supported their favorite artists (or kids shows) without having to pay inordinate amounts of money on the secondary market. In most cases, fan clubs are given access to a presale to ensure those folks have the best chance to buy legitimate tickets from an authorized source --- at face value.

For now, the Yo Gabba Gabba tour hits New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles and Front Gate Tickets is selling tickets for all shows in those markets. Stay tuned for other cities should the tour expand.

For more information about selling tickets to your fan clubs, visit the corporate site for our ticketing company at frontgatesolutions.com. There's plenty of information about our ticketing solutions and services.

3rd Quarter Ticket Sales Are Up -- Imagine that!

2009-10-08T19:51:00.000-07:00

According to Pollstar Magazine, "Worldwide Ticket Sales Charts reveal that total overall sales of 60.15 million tickets are up by about 2.8 million units but much of it comes from increased stadium-level activity." At Front Gate Tickets, we are seeing many of our clients having great years -- even at the club level. I suspect that, even during the economic downturn, folks still need entertainment in their lives -- and a night out, including buying a $10-$20 ticket plus a few beers is still pretty affordable. Our goal at Front Gate Tickets is to provide ticketing solutions that allow venues, festivals, and promoters to keep their service charges as cheap as possible. We'd like to think that this tactic is helping both our clients and Front Gate Tickets have a successful 2009.

CD Sales continue to decline: Where's the real opportunity?

2009-10-07T09:19:00.000-07:00

Although it probably does not surprise anyone, album sales in the U.S. continue to decline. However, Billboard Magazine reports that this decline slowed to 6% in September. According to the trade publication, "September was the first month since April and only the second in 2009 with a single-digit decline in unit album sales. Year to date, album sales are down 13.7% versus 2008 and 23.9% versus 2007."

But there's a more interesting stat. In 2008 there were more than 115,000 albums released with only 110 selling more than 250,000 copies. In addition, only 1,500 of those releases sold more than 10,000 units. This is an amazingly small number. But what may be the most surprising of all stats is that fewer than 6,000 titles sold more than 1,000 copies.

So, how does this relate to ticketing services and companies that offer ticketing solutions? As revenue from music sales decline, income from touring must increase to make up for this deficiency. This inverse relationship should create opportunities for the live music industry as a whole and for innovative ticketing companies like Front Gate Tickets and parent company Front Gate Solutions.Clearly businesses like Front Gate Tickets / Front Gate Solutions must provide tools that help venues, festivals, promoters, and artists more effectively manage their businesses and sell more tickets as a result. We committed to this tactic years ago and will continue to do so well into the future. Promoters have been asking for mobile ticketing.....next month we will launch our response to their request. Ticket buyers will be able to buy tickets from their iPhones using a simplified interface that gets customers in and out of the purchase as quickly as possible. More details on this and other new tools soon...

The muddy summary of ACL Festival

2009-10-05T10:24:00.000-07:00

Despite the rain and the mud, it seems everyone had a blast at the 2009 Austin City Limits Music Festival. Although I spent most of the weekend working at the Front Gate Tickets manned box office, there were some great highlights from the weekend for me and the rest.

On Friday, the weather was clear and the sellout crowd of 65,000 strong started flowing through the gates at 11AM sharp. All 52 barcode scanners across both gates were humming till 10PM that night. Kings of Leon sounded great and Eddie Vedder hopped on stage with the band to add even more excitement to the set. Then came Saturday. The rain started early but didn't dampen the spirits of the fans. Some were mud sliding on purpose -- others by accident. All, whether covered in mud or not, seemed to have a great time. The rain stopped just in time for Levon Helm's set at 6PM. Unfortunately, Levon wasn't able to sing (doctor's orders), so his band (not The Band) pitched in on lead vocals. Ghostland Observatory had a great live show and sounded amazing from the box office. Hard to believe just two guys can create such a big and engaging sound! Dave Matthews, also sounded great and kept the crowd on their feet till the end..

By Sunday, the rain had stopped but Zilker Park was a mud-pit. That didn't , however, seem to bother anyone. Girl Talk was my highlight of the weekend. The dj from Pittsburgh and his mash-ups welcomed seemingly hundreds of fans on the stage -- bringing the party to him. Michael Franti also sounded great -- as always. Then there was Pearl Jam. Ben Harper and Perry Farrell jumped on stage during Pearl Jam's encores, which was pretty exciting. The New York Times has a great feature on the whole event if you are interested. Definitely work checking out. Until next year!

Gearing up for ACL Festival

2009-09-28T09:00:00.000-07:00

It's that time again! The extensive planning and coordination that goes into managing a large scale box office and multiple gate/barcode scanning setup will move into the execution stage at Zilker Park in Austin, TX beginning today. This year will be the the sixth opportunity for Front Gate Tickets to ensure that ticket buyers at the Austin City Limits Music Festival have a great experience during the 3-day event from Oct. 2-4. The box office opens at 3PM for early wristband redemption -- something that we have done each year to provide customers with greater flexibility. Front Gate Tickets will also have a team at both Austin Bergstom airport and Republic Square beginning Thursday to allow ticket holders a convenient way to turn their 3-day passes into a wristband.

The weekend weather forecast is a good one -- cool temperatures for Austin (in the 80s) and just a slight chance for rain during the weekend. Festival goers will have a chance to enjoy great music, friendly people, excellent food, and lush green grass! My picks are Kings of Leon, John Legend, Levon Helm, Dave Matthews Band, Felice Brothers, Deer Tick, Michael Franti, Pearl Jam, Dan Auerbach, and Arctic Monkeys.The full lineup is available at http://2009.aclfestival.com. The event is sold out, so be sure to buy your tickets early for next year. See you out there this weekend!

16th Annual Telluride Blues & Brews Festival Lineup Announced

2009-06-02T10:15:00.000-07:00

The legendary Joe Cocker, Buddy Guy, Bonnie Raitt, Taj Mahal & The Phantom Blues Band have been added to the 16th Annual Telluride Blues & Brews Festival. More additions coming shortly.

Buy Tickets

Check out the official Telluride Blues & Brews site for the most current Lineup

Solar Powered Concert Series

2009-05-12T11:23:00.000-07:00

April 29 was the start of Austin's own Solar Powered Concert Series. Front Gate is selling tickets for the series of events that features big solar panels on each side of the stage in Republic Park powering everything from the sound system, lights and even the vendor tents. Thanks to the alternative energy, these are 100% pollution free concerts. Joe Ely, Los Lonely Boys and Ozomatli are just a few of the artists slated to perform throughout. There is a great feature on the KEYE-TV news website. Click here to read the story

Monolith Festival on sale soon

2009-04-01T11:25:00.000-07:00

Front Gate Tickets will be the official ticketing company for the 2009 Monolith Festival. The two day event will be held once again at the legendary Red Rocks Amphitheater just outside of Denver. The lineup for 2008 included Vampire Weekend, Band of Horses, Spoon, Kings of Leon, Sharon Jones, and The Kills. Stay tuned for the 2009 lineup and ticket on sale date.

Belly Up Tavern Tickets on Sale

2009-02-27T09:26:00.000-08:00

Tickets for shows at the Belly Up Tavern are now on sale. This, following the launch of a new ticket selling relationship between Front Gate and Belly Up Aspen. The internationally acclaimed Belly Up Tavern, located in Solana Beach, has a long history of bringing great live music to the San Diego area. The Belly Up has been continually voted "San Diego's Best Live Music Venue" by several publications including the Union Tribune, The Reader and San Diego Magazine as well as heralded as one of the hottest clubs on the west coast by Rolling Stone Magazine. The Belly Up Aspen has hosted many musical talents from around the world including: Ben Harper, B.B. King, Paul Oakenfold, Gov't Mule, SEAL, ZZ Top, Xavier Rudd, Chris Isaak, Gomez, G Love, Blues Traveler, Steel Pulse, Method Man and Redman, John Legend, Damian Marley, Stephen Marley, Ky-Mani Marley, Lucinda Williams, Snoop Dogg,Tiesto, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Joe Cocker, Wyclef Jean, Deep Dish (Dubfire + Sharam), Ice Cube, Jurassic 5 and many, many more.

Warehouse Live in Houston Moves to Front Gate Tickets

2009-02-26T10:27:00.000-08:00

Front Gate Tickets announces a long-term ticket selling deal with Houston's premier music venue, Warehouse Live. Warehouse Live is a 1920's era warehouse repurposed as a one-of-a-kind concert and event venue. The complex encompasses two fully-independent spaces - the Ballroom and the Studio. Artists performing at Warehouse Live include Snoop Dogg, Chris Cornell, Of Montreal, Ben Folds, Gavin DeGraw, Rancid, and Adele

Front Gate Tickets will sell all advance tickets for the well-known venue and providce box office software and a barcode scanning network for door entry. Tickets are available at http://warehouselive.frontgatetickets.com/

Austin Aztex Soccer Tickets on Sale

2009-01-15T11:28:00.000-08:00

Tickets to Austin's newest and only professional soccer franchise are on sale now at frontgatetickets.com. The new club will play in the United Soccer Leagues (USL) First Division beginning in the 2009 season. The Aztex will play host to teams from all across North America, including Montreal, Atlanta, Minnesota, Vancouver and Miami. The Austin Aztex U23 team will compete in the USL Mid South Division PDL play in 2008.

Aztex President Phil RawlinsThe new franchise is held by Austin Football Holdings LLC, (AFH) under the ownership of British born business entrepreneur Phil Rawlins. An Austin resident, Rawlins is also an owner and director of Stoke City F.C. who play in the English Championship. He has had an ownership interest in Stoke City for more than seven years and brings a wealth of management experience in soccer operations.

The Austin Aztex have an official affiliation with Stoke City FC. The affiliation includes the English club holding their summer training camp in Austin, scouting for talent both locally and across the US, exchanging players with the Aztex and sharing best practices between the two clubs.

"I am delighted to have the opportunity to bring a top class professional soccer franchise to Austin," says Aztex President Phil Rawlins. "Central Texas has long been a hot-bed of young soccer talent with over 35,000 kids playing the game locally. Ouor club gives these youngsters and talented players throughout Texas something to aim for and the chance of playing soccer at the very highest level. I am very excited about the affiliation agreement with Stoke and the European exposure that gives both the Aztex and our players. My goal is to make the Aztex a community-based club that the Austin area can be proud of".

FanMail Marketing and Front Gate Tickets Announce Partnership

2008-11-05T11:30:00.000-08:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

November 5, 2008 -Two industry leaders announced that they will combine forces today: FanMail Marketing and Front Gate Tickets have partnered to provide an enhanced Fan Relationship Management (FRM) and marketing software platform for ticketing and online stores. This platform will enable promoters, venues, festivals, sports teams and artists to better manage ticket and merchandise sales while also providing tier one direct to fan marketing and communication tools.

Front Gate Tickets, the exclusive ticketing provider for premier entertainment organizations including Lollapalooza, Belly Up Aspen, The Austin City Limits Music Festival, Higher Ground and Stubb's BBQ offers one of the only fully integrated online ticketing and merchandise platforms in the industry. Fans are able to buy tickets and merchandise simultaneously while the promoter or manager can easily add, update and track it all on the web-based backend. Now, teamed up with FanMail, an added component is available to target and segment fans and promote directly to them seamlessly and efficiently based on their interests and history while tracking campaign effectiveness along the way.

The premise for this partnership was simple; the person who bought a ticket to a previous event, will likely be the first in line to buy a ticket to a similar event next time. The Front Gate / FanMail partnership brings transparency to a fan's behavior as well as the marketing tools to affordably turn that behavior into more sales.

"Our partnership with FanMail stems from a common goal of helping venues, festivals, bands, and other entertainment organizations strengthen relationships with their customers," said Jeff Kreinik, Director of Sales & Marketing at Front Gate Tickets. "Several FanMailclients are also Front Gate Tickets clients. It just made sense to join forces, integrate our technologies, and help our collective clients become smarter marketers."

FanMail offers a variety of Fan Relationship Management (FRM) and direct to fan communication solutions for labels, promoters, festivals, websites, artists and their managers. The flexibility of the technology lends itself to easily integrate with other systems. This integrated platform will allow Front Gate clients to easily track fan behavior and segment fans by interest, frequency and history. The result is highly targeted, highly relevant, interest-driven communications that sell more tickets and deliver a better fan experience.

(FRM) is the process of building deeper and more meaningful fan relationships through technology solutions that manage fan profiles and permissions, track sales and interaction behaviors, and enable highly targeted and personalized outreach.

"FanMail is very excited to partner with Front Gate," said David DeVore, FanMail's General Manager. "When promoters are able to get a transparent view of their fan's needs and are able to see how their direct to fan campaigns get massive results, it fundamentally changes the way that they do business. It is better for the fan and better for the promoter. We love that."

Instead of using traditional mass media, advertising, or "batch and blast" email campaigns, the FanMail / Front Gate integration can help promoters to easily build fan segments based on actual purchase behavior, genre interests, and personal preferences. Promoters can have the ability to "rifle shot" personalized messages to the right fan at the right time and track ticket revenue generated from each campaign using ROI tracking tools. The Front Gate ticketing platform and ecommerce capability are enhanced with web-based marketing tools that enable any organization to acquire, retain, and grow fan relationships via direct-to-fan communications. Advanced marketing tools that were until recently only affordable for large organizations are now available to any business through the FanMail/ Front Gate partnership.

"A venue like Stubb's can quickly target fans according to their personal interests and buying habits with a targeted email alert," offers Kreinik. "We can literally help promoters sell out shows before they spend a dime on any other marketing activity."

"These tools are about giving entertainment marketers deep transparency and understanding of their customers and the needs of fans. That translates into more intelligent marketing, better ROI and happier fans." commented David DeVore.

About FanMail Marketing (www.fanmailmarketing.com):
Since 2003, FanMail has been providing best-of-breed software and marketing services for fan management and direct-to-fan communications for some of the nation's most innovative music marketers including Another Planet Entertainment, JamBase.com, William Morris Agency, SCI Fidelity Records and The Dandy Warhols. Highly robust software and unparalleled customer service enable FanMail clients to efficiently find their fans, know their fans, reach their fans and drive continued fan loyalty.

About Front Gate Tickets (www.frontgatetickets.com / www.frontgatesolutions.com)
Since 2003, Front Gate Tickets has been providing privately and co-branded ticketing and merchandise stores for some of the nation's top promoters, festivals, venues and artists including C3 Presents, Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits Music Festival, Slightly Stoopid, The Casbah, The Long Center for the Performing Arts, Higher Ground and Stubb's BBQ. Innovative technology and fan-centric servicing are the cornerstones of Front Gate's ability bridge the gap between promoter and fan and deliver great experiences every time. Front Gate Tickets is owned by Front Gate Solutions, a software development company, whose mission is to make entertainment organizations more efficient.

Westcott Theatre in Syracuse signs with Front Gate Tickets

2008-10-13T11:36:00.000-07:00

The Westcott Theatre in Syracuse, NY has agreed to partner with Front Gate Tickets for all of its ticketing solution needs. The theater, which is an old cinema that has been reconstructed and transformed into premiere live music, has a capacity of 700. The venue is located 2 miles from Syracuse University and will host national, regional and local acts throughout the year.

Texas Outlaws Soccer selects Front Gate Tickets

2008-10-02T11:39:00.000-07:00

The Texas Outlaws Soccer team of the Professional Arena Soccer League have selected Front Gate Tickets as their ticketing software company for the 2009 and 2010 seasons. The team will play its home games at the NYTEX Sports Centre in Fort Worth, TX. The Austin, TX-based ticketing company also sells tickets for the Texas Brahmas Hockey team of the CHL and Texas Renegaes Jr. Hockey Team - both of which play their home games at the NYTEX Sports Centre.

San Antonio's Cameo Theatre Signs on With Front Gate Tickets

2008-09-29T12:03:00.000-07:00

San Antonio's Cameo Theatre Signs on With Front Gate Solutions as a Private Label Client. The historic theatre has a brand dedicated ticketing page through Front Gate's fully integrated ticketing system.

The Cameo Theatre is steeped in the history of old San Antonio. Built in 1940 to serve the needs of the East side of San Antonio, it had both a vaudeville stage and a movie screen. Louis Armstrong, B.B. King and Fats Domino were among the early performers who commanded the stage during it's heyday. More recently, the likes of Jazz great Stan Getz, pop artist Suzanne Vega, and such diverse acts as Metallica and Guns 'n' Roses have played the facility. The Cameo has multifunctional capabilities from film to multimedia to live theatrical performances, from live music concerts to fabulous theme parties. The decor is dramatic Egyptian Art Deco with deep burgundy walls, gilt columns and polychrome accents throughout.

Front Gate Tickets to manage Box Office & Gates for San Diego Street Scene

2008-09-15T11:47:00.000-07:00

Front Gate Tickets will head to San Diego this weekend to manage the box office and gates technology for the 24th annual San Diego Street Scene. The two-day festival, which touts headliners including Beck and the Black Crowes, is back in downtown San Diego after several years at neighboring locations. Other artists slated to perform this weekend include MGMT, Spoon, Vampire Weekend, and The National.

Front Gate Tickets to manage Box Office & Gates for San Diego Street Scene

2008-09-15T11:43:00.000-07:00

Front Gate Tickets To Manage Lollapalooza Box Office & Gates

2008-07-31T11:48:00.000-07:00

Front Gate Tickets will manage the on site box office at this weekend's Lollapalooza Festival in Chicago's Grant Park. The company will also use it's barcode scanning technology, ScanOne(TM), at the gates to both validate and authenticate tickets. This is the fourth consecutive year Front Gate will sell tickets and handle box/gate technology operations for the multi-day festival.

Official Austin City Limits Music Store Launches

2008-07-10T11:50:00.000-07:00

Front Gate Tickets has just launched the official ACL music store. In partnership with KLRU in Austin, Front Gate will handle online sales and fulfillment for CDs and DVDs from the original Austin City Limits television show. In the coming weeks, the entire catalog of live CDs and DVDs will be available. This will include performances from Norah Jones, Willie Nelson, Ghostland Observatory, Steve Earle, John Mayall, Dwight Yoakam and Merle Haggard. Unique t-shirts and other branded merchandise will be for sale online as well. Go Shopping!

Front Gate Tickets partners with San Diego Street Scene

2008-06-01T11:51:00.000-07:00

Front Gate Tickets will be selling tickets, managing the box office, and utilizing its gate technology for the 2008 San Diego Street Scene music festival, which will be held in San Diego September 19-20. The two-day event will be back downtown after a few years at other locations including Qualcom Stadium. This will be the 25th year of Street Scene, which has in the past had headliners including REM, De La Sol, The Killers, White Stripes, and Panic! at the Disco. Tickets will be on sale soon!

Front Gate Tickets Marketing Module Launches

2008-04-21T11:52:00.000-07:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Austin, TX - April 21, 2008 - Front Gate Solutions today announced that it has launched a set of marketing tools to help users of its web-based ticketing and online store software better understand its customers and their interests. The marketing module includes a list segmentation analyzer so that venues, performing arts centers, touring artists, sports teams and other Front Gate Solutions clients can initiate more targeted email marketing campaigns to customers based on criteria such as purchase history, geographic location, and general interests. This module integrates with Front Gate's newsletter solution so that once a desired customer grouping has been identified an HTML newsletter can be easily created, sent, and tracked for campaign effectiveness.

"Technology has made both marketers and consumers more sophisticated," points out Mellie Price, President and CEO of Front Gate Solutions. "Because of this, we have defined a set of marketing tools to help our clients be smarter about how they communicate with their customers."

Another feature of the marketing module is a customizable marketing survey builder. Users of Front Gate Solutions' ticketing and online store software can administer a custom survey during the transaction process. Look for additions the Front Gate Solutions marketing tool kit in the coming months.

Front Gate Solutions Integrates eMailer Application with Ticketing System

2008-04-15T11:56:00.000-07:00

The Front Gate Solutions Newsletter Solution now integrates with the company's ticketing and online store solutions. Clients can segment their customer lists using Front Gate's recently launched marketing outreach tools before creating and sending HTML newsletters to a targeted list. This Newsletter Solution is offered in conjunction with our partner, Exact Target, which is the email technology behind companies including Fanmail by Jambase, T-Mobile, The Home Depot, and Chase bank.

The Fairmount in Fort Worth signs on with Front Gate Tickets

2008-03-20T11:59:00.000-07:00

The Fairmount, a live music venue in Fort Worth, Texas, has signed on with Front Gate for its ticketing. The venue, which is located in historic southside Fort Worth, offers live music 7 nights a week The club is an intimate music venue showcasing the best national, regional, and local musical acts.

Front Gate Solutions Launches Offer Management / Talent Buyer Software

2008-02-04T11:59:00.000-08:00

Front Gate Solutions today announced that it will debut its new Offer Management Software at the 2008 Concert Industry Consortium in Los Angeles this week. The software is a web based offer management application that makes the talent buying process more efficient. Users can quickly and easily create and send offers to agents while storing all data so that it is easily accessible and searchable from any PC or Mac computer with Internet connection. Talent buyers interested in a demo should visit booth #203 at CIC.

"We are very excited to launch this product," says Mellie Price, co founder and President of Front Gate Solutions. "We have been hearing talent buyers talk about the need for a better way to manage offers. So we decided to build a better way."

"[Front Gate's Offer Management Software] is vital to the success and growth of C3 presents," says Amy Corbin of C3 Presents. "It allows our buyers to communicate more effectively and efficiently with each other since we all have real time access to the data. The offer sheet is nice and organized and the deal calculator allows us to determine our break-evens so we feel comfortable with our offers."

Austin's Long Center PAC Partners with Front Gate Solutions

2008-01-10T12:01:00.000-08:00

Austin's Long Center for the Performing Arts partners with Front Gate Solutions as a private label client. The performing arts center will utilize Front Gate's privately branded ticketing page as well as print at home features and barcode scanning.

The Long Center for the Performing Arts will provide a state-of-the-art venue for a broad array of regional performing arts groups, Texas musicians and a permanent home to the Austin Symphony Orchestra, Austin Lyric Opera and Ballet Austin. Underscoring the Long Center's mission to make the arts accessible to everyone, the facility also includes the AT&T Foundation Education Rooms for community arts education programs, workshops and meetings.

Drawn together by our rich and varied tapestry of dance, film, theatre and live music, Austin is a city that clearly appreciates the arts. The construction of the Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long Center for the Performing Arts will provide our region with its first true community performing arts center. A place that will expand educational opportunities and contribute to our diverse culture.

Harrah's Ak-Chin Signs on with Front Gate Tickets

2007-10-18T12:02:00.000-07:00

Harrah's Ak-Chin, a Harrah's property near Phoenix, AZ, signed on with Front Gate Tickets this week as a full service client; joining Harrah's properties in Council Bluffs, IA and Bossier City, LA.

Harrah's Ak-Chin is more than just a casino. It is a place to indulge all your senses. From exciting gaming to fine dining and everything in between, Harrah's Ak-Chin is a resort destination to satisfy every taste.

You'll always find great live entertainment at Harrah's Phoenix Ak-Chin. Visit the Oasis Lounge for the best in entertainment, featuring blues, high-energy swing, variety and the best of the '50s and '60s - you'll find it all at Harrah's Phoenix Ak-Chin!

Front Gate Solutions Brings Design Team in House

2007-10-03T12:04:00.000-07:00

Front Gate Solutions brings Outcasters Design in house; Website design service added to ticketing, online stores, and newsletter offerings. Austin, TX - September 24, 2007- Front Gate Solutions today announced that is has brought the Outcasters Design team in house to compliment its ticketing, online store, and email marketing services with custom web and graphic design.

Users of Front Gate's ticketing and online store software, such as concert venues, touring artists, sports teams, and festivals, will now benefit from custom design services that merge these solutions into well designed websites. The end result is a streamlined and efficient solution for clients looking for a highly integrated and professional presence on the web.

"We are proud to welcome Outcasters to our family," says Front Gate Solutions President/CEO Mellie Price. "They have great design and programming skills that will help us expand our opportunities."

Brothers Evan and Dustin Bozarth launched their Austin, TX based company in 2001. Since its inception Outcasters has focused on compelling design for the web and print. Past clients have included AEG Live, Direct Events, Sweet Leaf Tea, Bruce Robison, and Gibson Guitars. The addition of an in-house design team will not only allow Front Gate Solutions to offer custom website design, but also help the company update the look of its existing software products and web sites including frontgatetickets.com and frontgatesolutions.com.

"This is a great opportunity for us," offers Dustin Bozarth of Outcasters. "It just made so much sense to come in house with Front Gate when we realized that we shared a common vision. We look forward to helping Front Gate refine its image through compelling design on the web and we are excited that we can continue to offer our existing services to a broader base of clients"

Front Gate Succesfully Launches Full Access Control at Lollapalooza and ACL Festival

2007-09-20T12:05:00.000-07:00

Front Gate Tickets and Front Gate Solutions successfully launched their Full Access Control systems at this year's Lollapalooza Music Festival in Chicago and Austin City Limits Music Fest ival. Full Access Control includes PrintPass™ and barcode scanning.

PrintPass™ is Front Gate's in-house designed print at home system. Customers can print their tickets at home, which are exchanged for wristbands at the event. PrintPass™ cut down on will call lines and customer service issues during the 3-Day festivals. All paper tickets and wristbands were created with barcodes to avoid duplicate print outs and ticket scamming.

"Full Access Control proved to be a major step forward for Front Gate and our ticketing operations at huge festivals like Lollapalooza and ACL," says Operations Director Jack McCarty. "It really went off without a hitch this year, so next year should be even easier."

White Stripes ACL Aftershow Breaks Front Gate Tickets Record

2007-07-30T09:06:00.000-07:00

Austin City Limits 2007 performer, The White Stripes, will play with the Cold War Kids at a sold out show at Stubb's BBQ on Sunday, September 16, after the 3 day festival wraps up.

The show went on sale Saturday, July 28 at 10am, selling out in two minutes on FrontGateTickets.com. The sale set a record for the company according to CEO Mellie Price.

Other ACL aftershows include:

Paolo Nutini w/ Peter Bjorn and John @ Stubb's BBQ

Queens of the Stone Age w/ Dax Riggs @ La Zona Rosa

Spoon w/ Sound Team @ La Zona Rosa

Robert Earl Keen @ Hogg Auditorium.

Front Gate Solutions launches online store business; the industry's first fully integrated online store and ticketing solution

2007-07-25T09:09:00.000-07:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Austin, TX - June 25, 2007 - Front Gate Solutions of Austin, TX today announced the launch of MerchManager™, a web-based e-commerce application that has been designed specifically for the entertainment industry. The solution enables artists, bands, festivals, film studios, sports teams and other event producers to sell t-shirts, hats, CDs and more from a privately branded online store. Organizations can either license the software to run their own operations or outsource store management and fulfillment operations to Front Gate Solutions' full service agency, Front Gate Tickets.

"As a software company, it is always gratifying to bring a new product to market," says President/CEO Mellie Price. "This one is special because it changes the online store and ticketing landscape bringing us one step closer to our vision of providing tools that make entertainment organizations run more efficiently."

MerchManager™ is the fifth module in the Front Gate Solutions family and can be used as either a standalone application or one that integrates with the Front Gate Solutions ticketing system. This means that any company that sells tickets and merchandise can offer their customer the experience of dropping tickets and any number of other items in the same online shopping cart.

"The research we have shows that many of our competitors setup standalone ticketing and merchandise stores on behalf of their clients," notes Price. "Some ticketing companies will bundle a new CD or a t-shirt with tickets, but we haven't seen any other organization offer a full-featured ticketing system and large scale merchandise store in one place."

Front Gate Solutions launched MerchManager™ in early June with clients including Stubbs BBQ, Jack Ingram, Blues Traveler, and Ben Kweller. The coming weeks will see stores open for the likes of Austin City Limits Music Festival, Lollapalooza, Austin-based ME Television, Grammy Award winning Texas swing band, Asleep At The Wheel, and indie rock favorite, Dax Riggs.

About Front Gate Solutions
Front Gate Solutions is an Austin, TX based technology company that provides solutions that make entertainment organizations more efficient. The company currently offers a ticketing solution, online store application, and newsletter campaign management software to clients including Austin City Limits Music Festival, Harrah's Stir Cove (Council Bluffs, IA), Lollapalooza, Stubbs BBQ (Austin, TX), Casbah (San Diego), Higher Ground (Burlington, VT), Rob Zombie, The String Cheese Incident, Boulder Theater (Boulder, CO), and Minnesota Ripknees Basketball of the ABA. In 2006, Front Gate Solutions powered sales of tickets in nearly 2,000 venues, 650 cities, and 50 states.

Harrah's Riverdome signs on with Front Gate Tickets

2007-07-11T09:08:00.000-07:00

Harrah's Riverdome in Bossier City, LA has signed on with Front Gate Tickets to sell tickets through a privately branded site on the Front Gate system. See riverdome.frontgatetickets.com for details. Shows at Harrah's Riverdome this year include Buddy Guy, Better than Ezra, Sister Hazel, Pete Yorn and Los Lonely Boys.

Big State Festival featuring Tim McGraw, Willie Nelson, Lynyrd Skynyrd

2007-07-11T09:07:00.000-07:00

Big State Festival will be the first of its kind in Texas. Held in College Station at the Texas World Speedway, the 2 day festival will feature 50 bands on 5 stages, plus stock car racing, a Barbecue showdown, beer, sunshine, and a bunch of other fun stuff. Check www.bigstatefestival.com details or buy tickets at frontgatetickets.com.