• Oxjam/WeGotTickets Partnership Raises £6.7k, With Record Donations by Customers
• Radio Station Launches in Kenya Through WeGotTickets/ActionAid Christmas Appeal

• WeGotTickets Reaches 1m Customers

16 February , London:- In its fifth year of drumming up funds for charity Oxfam, the month-long music festival Oxjam raised £6722.87 in October through UK paperless ticketing agency WeGotTickets. The £3556 received in donations on top of the ticket price from Oxjam fans also broke the largest amount of customer donations to any charity project processed by WeGotTickets.

Charity ActionAid also raised £3473.37 for Kenyan radio project Muziq Speak in a 2011 Christmas appeal through a mixture of customer donations and WeGotTickets booking fee donations.

WeGotTickets reached a high point last week as it served its one millionth customer, a decade after its launch as a pioneer of transparency and innovation in the ticketing sector. Paperless ticketing, an example of such innovation, was initiated by WeGotTickets to increase convenience and reduce ecological impact, subsequently becoming an industry standard.

Thanks to the generosity of this year’s Oxjam patrons, customer donations rose to £3556 compared to £3255 in 2010 despite a dip in overall ticket sales. This brought the total amount raised to £6722.87 from a mixture of donations and WeGotTickets contributions. 2011′s Oxjam was a huge success with more shows taking place than 2010, as well as ‘Takeover’ events, for which the festival has become known. WeGotTickets succeeded in training more Takeover managers than ever, and the expectation is to expand this further in 2012.

WeGotTicket’s Christmas appeal steamed ahead of their 2010 effort raising £3473.37 for this year’s ActionAid project Muziq Speak, a radio and recording studio in the slums of Korogocho, Kenya. Run in conjunction with the local partner Koch FM, the community radio station now addresses issues of poverty and social exclusion in the region through music, information sharing and education. The project was made viable with a combination of customer donations in a ‘donation box’ when buying tickets through WeGotTickets in December and 100% of the booking fees on Christmas day which WeGotTickets donated to the project.

Said Nick Bryer, Oxjam Manager, “We’re so grateful for the money that WeGotTickets and their customers raised for Oxfam last October.  It’s money thatwill genuinely change lives around the world. The Oxjam festival is all about using their love of live music to really make a difference. WeGotTickets share ourethos and our passion, and that’s what makes them such a great partner for us to work with”

Commented Stuart Fowkes, ActionAid ”This money will make a huge difference to tens of thousands of people living in the Korogocho slum in Kenya -their community radio station is a vital lifeline for them, and WeGotTickets and their customers have given it a massive boost this Christmas. Everyone atActionAid is looking forward to working with WeGotTickets in all sorts of new ways in 2012.”

Said  Dave Newton, WeGotTickets “One million customers and over £10,000 raised for these great charity projects – doing it right and doing the right thing”

About WeGotTickets

WeGotTickets is the UK’s leading paperless ticketing agency. Launched in 2002, WeGotTickets works with over 4,000 event organisers placing it in the top five ticketing agencies in the UK.

WeGotTickets has made it possible for organisers of events of all shapes and sizes to benefit from advance ticket sales, and now sells more than 750,000 tickets a year; from art events and underground restaurants to traditional live music and comedy shows and festivals.

Since its launch, WeGotTickets has consistently pushed for innovation, transparency and best practice across the ticketing industry, with many of the company’s ideas becoming standard industry practice.

The company’s 10% maximum ticket commission rate has helped to lower fees across the business, whilst its pioneering paperless ticketing system has been a major factor in reducing the live music industry’s carbon footprint.

Over the years WeGotTickets has been proud to work on a number of special campaigns with charities such as Oxfam, Macmillan, Youth Music and Warchild, and regularly donates a percentage of their booking fees back to these groups. In 2009 the company launched a unique feature allowing ticket buyers to quickly and easily make a donation to a featured charity whilst purchasing tickets.

WeGotTickets is now proud to be a full member of STAR (Society of Ticket Agents and Retailers) and is fully behind the organisation’s new fraud prevention kite mark.

www.WeGotTickets.com

• WeGotTickets Launches Festival Site – WeGotFestivals

5^th January 2012, London:-WeGotTickets is expanding their festival offering in 2012 with the launch of their custom-built festival ticketing site, WeGotFestivals.

WeGotFestivals will offer customers easy access to WeGotTickets’ 200 plus music and non-music festivals, many of which might otherwise go undiscovered. Already on the site are Field Day, Bearded Theory, Electric Elephant, Meadowlands, Wychwood, All Tomorrow’s Parties (curated by Jeff Mangum), I’ll Be Your Mirror and Soundwave Croatia with many more to follow.

The design of the site is a step away from the current WeGotTickets site and is intended to engage directly with customers, encouraging them to browse and discover festivals with ease.

Certain independent festivals can be featured on the WeGotFestivals homepage, through which customers can click right through to purchase. Ticket selling clients are also able to integrate RSS feeds displaying a scrolling front page feed which allows automated festival news updates such as line-up announcements or competitions.

WeGotTickets work closely with festival promoters and have an extensive background in hands on support of festivals. Over the years WeGotTickets staff have aided with many ins and outs of running an event from providing consultancy on customer entry and door infrastructure through to staffing the box office. WeGotTickets has run ticket redemption at events such as Field Day, 1234 Shoreditch and Oxfordshire’s community event Fiesta in the Park

Edd Lewington, Sales Manager WeGotTickets says “We’d been thinking about ways we could provide customers easier access to our fantastic independent festivals – and WeGotFestivals was born. As well as providing marketing support to our festival clients we are offering festival goers an opportunity to discover those hidden gems we all know are there, but only occasionally hear about”

Tom Baker, Eat Your Own Ears (promoter of Field Day) said “WeGotTickets has been such an invaluable partner of Field Day over the years, and we particularly look forward to using their new WeGotFestivals feature of the site to make 2012’s Field Day the best year yet”

www.WeGotFestivals.com

About WeGotTickets

WeGotTickets is the UK’s leading paperless ticketing agency. Launched in 2002, WeGotTickets works with over 4,000 event organisers placing it in the top five ticketing agencies in the UK.

WeGotTickets has made it possible for organisers of events of all shapes and sizes to benefit from advance ticket sales, and now sells more than 750,000 tickets a year; from art events and underground restaurants to traditional live music and comedy shows and festivals.

Since its launch, WeGotTickets has consistently pushed for innovation, transparency and best practice across the ticketing industry, with many of the company’s ideas becoming standard industry practice.

The company’s 10% maximum ticket commission rate has helped to lower fees across the business, whilst its pioneering paperless ticketing system has been a major factor in reducing the live music industry’s carbon footprint.

Over the years WeGotTickets has been proud to work on a number of special campaigns with charities such as Oxfam, Macmillan, Youth Music and Warchild, and regularly donates a percentage of their booking fees back to these groups. In 2009 the company launched a unique feature allowing ticket buyers to quickly and easily make a donation to a featured charity whilst purchasing tickets.

WeGotTickets is now proud to be a full member of STAR (Society of Ticket Agents and Retailers) and is fully behind the organisation’s new fraud prevention kite mark.

www.WeGotTickets.com

• WeGotTickets to Fund Kenyan Radio Project for ActionAid
  • WeGotTickets Christmas appeal to fund Muziq Speak radio project
  • WeGotTickets official ticketing partner for new ActionAid Live initiative

  1^st December 2011, London:- WeGotTickets will on December 1^st launch a Christmas appeal with anti-poverty charity ActionAid set to fund  Muziq Speak, a community radio station in the Korogocho district of Kenya. WeGotTickets is also proud to be the official ticketing partner of the recently unveiled ActionAid Live, the world’s first ever emergency music network.

   

  As a result of last year’s Christmas Appeal, WeGotTickets raised £2k for Youth Music and this year hopes to raise the entire £5k price tag for Kenya’s Muziq Speak programme.  Run in conjunction with the local partner Koch FM, the community radio station aims to address issues of poverty and social exclusion in the region through information sharing, education and communication.

   

  UK gig goers can generate income for the charity appeal in two ways; through a donation box when purchasing tickets on the WeGotTickets site throughout December or by buying tickets on Christmas Day, during which 100% of all booking fees will go to the Christmas appeal. Customers can also choose to Gift Aid their donation, maximising the impact by enabling tax-efficient giving.

  An Awareness Advent Calendar will also feature across the site in this year’s Christmas appeal, each day linking WeGotTickets’ home page to a new facet of what ActionAid does.

   

  Last week ActionAid announced ActionAid Live – the world’s first ever emergency music network. Backed by stars such as The Wombats,Everything Everything and Huw Stephens the initiative has also proudly been supported by their official ticketing partner WeGotTickets.

  Should a humanitarian disaster strike WeGotTickets will launch an ActionAid Live portal as part of an overall support scheme which will include a promoter’s option to donate a percentage of their own takings to the charity and nominate events. 20% of all booking fees for Action Aid Live events will go to the charity and, for the duration of any appeal, customers across the site will be given the opportunity to add a donation when buying their tickets. WeGotTickets also will be helping to recruit event organisers to sign up with ActionAid and hold a fundraising event.

  Said Graeme Murray, WeGotTickets’ fundraising coordinator, “We’re really looking forward to getting involved in a project this year with such direct and tangible results.  Muziq Speak is a truly noble cause and gives us another opportunity to work with our ActionAid Live partners to improve life for those struggling during this festive season”

  Said Stuart Fowkes from ActionAid “WeGotTickets is a brilliant way for promoters of all sizes to make the most of their events, and we’re really excited that they’re able to back one of our cultural projects in Koch FM. Now people can do their Christmas shopping for gig tickets and help us make a real difference to the lives of poor young people in Kenya, so everyone wins.”

   

  About WeGotTickets

  WeGotTickets is the UK’s leading paperless ticketing agency. Launched in 2002, WeGotTickets works with over 4,000 event organisers placing it in the top five ticketing agencies in the UK.

  WeGotTickets has made it possible for organisers of events of all shapes and sizes to benefit from advance ticket sales, and now sells more than 750,000 tickets a year; from art events and underground restaurants to traditional live music and comedy shows and festivals.

  Since its launch, WeGotTickets has consistently pushed for innovation, transparency and best practice across the ticketing industry, with many of the company’s ideas becoming standard industry practice.

  The company’s 10% maximum ticket commission rate has helped to lower fees across the business, whilst its pioneering paperless ticketing system has been a major factor in reducing the live music industry’s carbon footprint.

  Over the years WeGotTickets has been proud to work on a number of special campaigns with charities such as Oxfam, Macmillan, Youth Music and Warchild, and regularly donates a percentage of their booking fees back to these groups. In 2009 the company launched a unique feature allowing ticket buyers to quickly and easily make a donation to a featured charity whilst purchasing tickets.

  WeGotTickets is now proud to be a full member of STAR (Society of Ticket Agents and Retailers) and is fully behind the organisation’s new fraud prevention kite mark.

  www.WeGotTickets.com

  About ActionAid

  ActionAid’s vision is a world without poverty and injustice in which every person enjoys the right to a life with dignity. ActionAid improves people’s lives every day. But we know that’s not enough. So we work relentlessly to change whatever is keeping them trapped in poverty. This means we have a better chance of ending poverty… for good.

  We work with and support the poorest and most vulnerable people to fight for and gain their rights to food, shelter, work, basic healthcare and a voice in the decisions that affect their lives. We also champion poor people’s rights through international campaigns on food rights, HIV & AIDS and education as well as providing emergency relief during conflicts and after natural disasters.

  Working with more than 2,000 partners worldwide and in over 40 countries, ActionAid’s fight against poverty has reached over 10 million people across Africa, Asia and the Americas. At ActionAid we take advantage of almost 40 years of knowledge and experience in fighting poverty. We don’t impose solutions, but work with communities over many years to strengthen their own efforts to throw off poverty.

  About Muziq Speak

  Muziq Speak in Nairobi, Kenya seeks to establish a community radio station in the Korogocho district. Run in conjunction with our local partner, Koch FM, the mission of this project is to provide a platform for the community to address issues of poverty and social exclusion through information sharing, education and communication to promote their social, economical and political wellbeing.

  The project will establish and equip a recording studio, providing a centre in which young people can be trained in music recording, production and marketing and will act as a platform for new and aspiring artists to be able to develop their skills and make themselves heard.

  This will be accompanied by skills building workshops in which members of the community will be able to come together to discuss the problems that affect their community and work with government ministries to develop sustainable solutions to the chronic unemployment rates which affects area like Korogocho, making them prone to crime and youth violence.

  Above all, Muziq Speak aims to allow the people of Korochogo to harness their creativity to find solutions to poverty and to change their lives for the better, for good.

   

  About ActionAid Live

  Action Aid is the world’s first ever emergency music network, backed by music stars including The Wombats, Everything Everything, Chapel Club, Cancer Bats and Radio 1’s Huw Stephens. ActionAid Live is a nationwide network of bands, musicians, promoters and venues primed to spring into action and raise funds the next time a humanitarian emergency strikes in one of the world’s most vulnerable areas.

  Bands and promoters can register at www.actionaid.org.uk/live from 22 November and will then be able to access resources including template posters and flyers, guides on how to put on a successful fundraiser and banners and badges for use on their websites and social media spaces. They will also be able to receive updates on ActionAid’s humanitarian emergency work and will be among the first to know when the charity is responding to the next disaster.

  In an emergency situation:

  • £50 could feed an entire family for a fortnight.
  • £100 could provide temporary shelter for two families – all critical, lifesaving support in the first days and weeks after an emergency.

   

•    Sector Holds Its Own Against a Flat Economy
•  Festival Long Tail Growing Strong

6 October 2011, London:- WeGotTickets, the UK’s leading paperless ticketing agency, emerged upbeat today from what was a challenging season for some UK festivals.

With over 200 festivals on their books, and not all music, WeGotTickets revealed that their sales “tail” was longer and larger this year with the total sales in 2011 for the hundred or so festivals outside their Top 100 best sellers being over four times the corresponding figure for 2010.

There is no denying that growth has slowed in 2011. A glance at WeGotTicket’s Top 20 selling festivals shows a slump of 15% from the previous year, however a major contributing factor is likely to be the cancellation of a couple of boutique festivals in 2011 that had been amongst the Top 10 best sellers in 2010.

That said, results stand in contrast to the company’s 2010 festival ticket sales, which were up 44% on 2009, following 2009 ticket sales up 34% on 2008.

The Top 50 comparison however of 2010 to 2011 shows a drop of only 9% and the Top 100 shows a drop of 3%.

Director Dave Newton says:

“It is clear that some festivals have struggled in 2011 and I think that we’re probably seeing a ‘correction of the market’ this year. It was widely predicted that this would happen last year but it never came to fruition probably because quite a few events were still running through on the momentum of previous years.  But some events have still done fantastically well – and not just the ones that we sell tickets for! Shining examples such as End Of The Road sold out in record time this year.

“From the perspective of the festivals that we have regularly sold tickets for over the past few years, we’re seeing that sales are holding up well. I wouldn’t want to speak on behalf of the festivals themselves but overall we’ve already sold 110% of what we sold in total during 2010 and there’s still a little way to go in the 2011 festival season – a few more outdoor weekend events into early October and then ATP wrapping the festival year up in December.

“If I were to make prediction then I think we will be close to 20% up on 2010 by the end of the 2011 season – and with WeGotTickets growing at around 20% then you could conclude that festivals in our sector of the market are holding their own.”

About WeGotTickets

WeGotTickets is the UK’s leading paperless ticketing agency. Launched in 2002, WeGotTickets works with over 4,000 event organisers placing it in the top five ticketing agencies in the UK.

WeGotTickets has made it possible for organisers of events of all shapes and sizes to benefit from advance ticket sales, and now sells more than 750,000 tickets a year; from art events and underground restaurants to traditional live music and comedy shows and festivals.

Since its launch, WeGotTickets has consistently pushed for innovation, transparency and best practice across the ticketing industry, with many of the company’s ideas becoming standard industry practice.

The company’s 10% maximum ticket commission rate has helped to lower fees across the business, whilst its pioneering paperless ticketing system has been a major factor in reducing the live music industry’s carbon footprint.

Over the years WeGotTickets has been proud to work on a number of special campaigns with charities such as Oxfam, Macmillan, Youth Music and Warchild, and regularly donates a percentage of their booking fees back to these groups. In 2009 the company launched a unique feature allowing ticket buyers to quickly and easily make a donation to a featured charity whilst purchasing tickets.

WeGotTickets is now proud to be a full member of STAR (Society of Ticket Agents and Retailers) and is fully behind the organisation’s new fraud prevention kite mark.

www.WeGotTickets.com

WeGotTickets offer VIP passes for Field Day and exclusive Underage Festival goodie bags to ticket buyers donating to Youth Music

22^nd July 2011, London:- One of the UK’s top five ticketing agencies, WeGotTickets, is offering festival goers the chance to win two ‘money-can’t-buy-prizes’, a goodie bag including a limited edition Underage Festival T-shirt and VIP passes for Field Day Festival.

Customers can enter the draw by purchasing tickets to the festivals via WeGotTickets and making a donation of at least £1 to Youth Music. Festival goers will have the chance to win one of five pairs of VIP Field Day ticket upgrades or one of the ten Underage Festival goodie bags on offer.

Good Luck!!

• WeGotTickets offer 20% donations from booking fees and site wide donations throughout June

• Saturday 18th June sees London’s Shoreditch host ‘The Big Mix’, a one day festival in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support

8th June 2011, London:-  WeGotTickets is teaming up with Macmillan Cancer Support as part of their ‘Big Mix’ event this June and donating 20% from its booking fee for Big Mix ticket sales back to the charity throughout the month.  In addition, there will be site-wide donation options for all customers who wish to contribute. This partnership is the latest charitable support from WeGotTickets, who have also helped War Child, Oxfam and Youth Music in recent months, raising thousands of pounds for their causes.

The Big Mix, formerly known as The Brick Lane Takeover, broadens its appeal this year by introducing a host of new talent from the world of fashion, art and comedy in addition to its musical acts.

Artists performing include Brit-Award nominee Newton Faulkner, voice of 2011 Clare Maguire, Music Week championed electro-pop CocknBullKid and indie stars Kid British, plus DJ sets from the likes of Radio 1’s Edith Bowman, The Charlatans frontman Tim Burgess and chillout heroes Zero 7. They will be appearing at popular venues throughout Shoreditch including Cargo, The Brickhouse, Rich Mix, Spitalfields, Vibe and many more.

Celebrity Juice favourite Rufus Hound heads up the comedy with Kevin Eldon and Joel Dummet amongst a host of others. A fashion market with exclusive discounts at local fashion retailers, plus the delightful burlesque chanteuse, Lady Beau Peep will be compère for the evening’s cabaret delights. Photography exhibitions will include The Big Picture exhibitions and Le Scratch presenting live art courtesy of St Martin’s emerging talent. That’s not all, with karaoke, silent disco, swing dancing and bowling, the huge range of entertainment will run from midday ‘til late.

Steven Endersby, Project Manager at WeGotTickets commented: “This is such a great event, raising money for a cause close to the hearts of us all here at the company.  The various entertainments on offer at The Big Mix are what we help to promote and sell tickets for here at WeGotTickets – all in one place, for one night only… it should be brilliant!”

Alex Blair, Macmillan’s Big Mix event organiser said: “We are hoping to raise £40,000 from this year’s festival and all proceeds from The Big Mix will go to help Macmillan make the difference between a good and a bad day for people affected by cancer, through giving practical, emotional and financial support.  Big thanks to WeGotTickets for their support and generous booking fee donations!”

Ticket Information

Big Mix – Early Bird – £15 – SOLD OUT

Big Mix – General Admission – £20 – Available now from www.WeGotTickets.com

Tickets and donations: http://www.wegottickets.com/f/2461

Online: www.thebigmix.co.uk

Facebook: www.facebook.com/thebigmix

Twitter: @bigmixfest

-Ends-

Notes To Editors

The Big Mix

The Big Mix, formerly known as The Brick Lane Takeover, will take place across venues all over Shoreditch including Cargo, The Brickhouse, Rich Mix, Spitalfields, Vibe and many more.

All proceeds from The Big Mix will go to help Macmillan make the difference between a good and a bad day for people affected by cancer, through giving practical, emotional and financial support.

Macmillan Cancer Support is a source of support for people living with cancer, as well as their families, friends and carers and provides practical, emotional and financial support.

Web: www.thebigmix.co.uk

Facebook: www.facebook.com/thebigmix

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bigmixfest

For a taster of what’s in store, check out this short film of last year’s event:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXrxk-MUdgI

About WeGotTickets

WeGotTickets is the leading ticketing agency in the UK for small to medium sized venues and promoters and currently works with over 4,000 such organisations.

WeGotTickets has made it possible for promoters of all manner of events to benefit from advance ticket sales and now sells more than 750,000 tickets a year for a wide range of events; from art events and underground restaurants, to traditional live music shows. Indeed to cater for the growing demand for comedy tickets the company recently launched WeGotComedy.com, the UK’s only dedicated online ticket portal for comedy events.

Since its launch, WeGotTickets has consistently pushed for innovation, transparency and best practice across the ticketing industry, with many of the company’s ideas becoming standard industry practice.

The company’s 10% maximum ticket commission rate has helped to lower fees across the business, whilst its pioneering paperless ticketing system has been a major factor in reducing the live music industry’s carbon footprint. The company has also been involved in numerous initiatives to help develop the grassroots live music industry and in 2009 launched an online forum where the company’s clients can network and share resources and knowledge in private.

Over the years WeGotTickets has been proud to work on a number of special campaigns with charities such as Oxjam, Childline, Youth Music and Warchild, and regularly donates a percentage of their booking fees back to these groups. In 2009 the company launched a unique feature allowing ticket buyers to quickly and easily make a donation to a featured charity whilst purchasing tickets.

Started in Oxford in the early noughties, the company was set up as a result of the founders being unable to sell advance tickets for one of their concerts at a venue that lacked a box office. Originally selling through their music merchandise website www.OxfordMusic.net, the WeGotTickets online box office was fully launched in 2002, selling tickets for The Zodiac (now O2 Academy) in Oxford and other venues.

www.WeGotTickets.com

• WeGotTickets support Youth Music via exclusive competition with Field Day and Underage Festival for VIP passes and goodie bags

• WeGotTickets website campaign planned to raise money for special Youth Music Pioneers project

1^st June 2011, London:- One of the UK’s top five ticketing agencies, WeGotTickets, continues its support of Youth Music with a campaign to raise funds for one of its projects, by teaming up with Field Day and Underage Festival and launching the Youth Music Pioneers initiative.

Youth Music Pioneers is an ongoing celebration of live music, inspiring innovative music performance events for young musicians while helping to transform the lives of thousands of young people across the country, developed by the Youth Music charity. The charity is also launching the Youth Music Pioneers’ ‘Be The Business Handbook’, a resource for young people providing advice on how to put on gigs and events, which is available from their website (www.youthmusic.org.uk/pioneers) now.

Customers who purchase tickets via WeGotTickets to the festivals and make a donation of at least £1 towards Youth Music at point of purchase, will go into a prize draw to win two money-can’t-buy prizes. Field Day festival goers will have the chance to win VIP passes and the Underage Festival winners will receive an exclusive goodie bag.

In addition to the competitions, WeGotTickets will run a site wide campaign for Youth Music Pioneers, in order to fund a project which sees them work with 5-12 year olds at a Short Stay School for those with extreme emotional difficulties. 10 pupils will work over 10 weeks to create new music, inspired by linking to other groups of children and music leaders around the world via Skype and internet broadcasts.

Steven Endersby, Project Manager at WeGotTickets, said: “It’s amazing to have Field Day and Underage Festival offering prizes to our customers, and we hope the donations our customers make to enter those competitions – along with our site wide donation – will make enough money to fund the Youth Music Pioneers campaign at a Short Stay School. It will be great to see WeGotTickets, our customers, and our client’s donations and support make a difference to disadvantaged children through this project. We’re pleased to be supporting a charity that advocates how live music and performance can positively impact and enrich young lives around the UK.”

Tiru Thiruvilangam, Community Fundraiser at Youth Music, says “We are extremely excited about having another opportunity to work with WeGotTickets after our successful Christmas campaign. With this campaign, we hope to be able to raise enough money to deliver a fantastic new project that will help young people facing the risk of social exclusion. By working with Eat Your Own Ears on Underage and Field Day festivals, it’s going to be a great summer for our supporters, gig-goers, and young people alike.”

-Ends-

About Youth Music

Youth Music is the leading UK charity using music to transform the lives of disadvantaged children and young people. We support and develop exemplary music provision at every stage of a young person’s development, whether it’s the first time a mother and baby make music together, or a talented teen’s debut at the Royal Albert Hall. Youth Music has transformed the landscape of musical opportunity in the UK. Since 1999, we’ve reached over two million children and young people through all types of music; both in and out of school. Music has the power to build confidence, broaden horizons and raise aspirations. Our music programmes allow vulnerable young people to find their way, take charge of their lives and unlock their hidden potential.

About WeGotTickets

WeGotTickets is the leading ticketing agency in the UK for small to medium sized venues and promoters and currently works with over 4,000 such organisations.

WeGotTickets has made it possible for promoters of all manner of events to benefit from advance ticket sales and now sells more than 750,000 tickets a year for a wide range of events; from art events and underground restaurants, to traditional live music shows. Indeed to cater for the growing demand for comedy tickets the company recently launched WeGotComedy.com, the UK’s only dedicated online ticket portal for comedy events.

Since its launch, WeGotTickets has consistently pushed for innovation, transparency and best practice across the ticketing industry, with many of the company’s ideas becoming standard industry practice.

The company’s 10% maximum ticket commission rate has helped to lower fees across the business, whilst its pioneering paperless ticketing system has been a major factor in reducing the live music industry’s carbon footprint. The company has also been involved in numerous initiatives to help develop the grassroots live music industry and in 2009 launched an online forum where the company’s clients can network and share resources and knowledge in private.

Over the years WeGotTickets has been proud to work on a number of special campaigns with charities such as Oxjam, Childline, Youth Music and Warchild, and regularly donates a percentage of their booking fees back to these groups. In 2009 the company launched a unique feature allowing ticket buyers to quickly and easily make a donation to a featured charity whilst purchasing tickets.

Started in Oxford in the early noughties, the company was set up as a result of the founders being unable to sell advance tickets for one of their concerts at a venue that lacked a box office. Originally selling through their music merchandise website www.OxfordMusic.net, the WeGotTickets online box office was fully launched in 2002, selling tickets for The Zodiac (now O2 Academy) in Oxford and other venues.

www.WeGotTickets.com

• Speeds Up Entry Process For Organisers With 200+ Ticket Events
• Road Tested At Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide Awards 2011 And The National

10th March 2011, London:- The UK’s leading paperless ticketing agency, WeGotTickets, has unveiled a brand new, innovative, event entry system which enables clients to run ticket lists electronically and speed up entry to their events.

The system, entitled EASy, will see staff at event entry points using bespoke software holding all ticket holder information for that performance. Customers with etickets will be quickly recognised on the system via the ticket attendant keying in the first few letters of their name or reference number. The system, which consigns rifling through papers to the history books, is designed to cut down entry times at the bigger capacity events that WeGotTickets cater for. No paper, no fuss, speedy entry!

Other functions include the ability for orders to be ‘part redeemed’ in case a party is split up, ‘unredeemed’ should you want to record individuals leaving the building, and also offers the facility for operators to leave notes on an order if required. The electronic system also allows for the EASy customer lists to be printed out, at any point during the entry period; these print outs include all notes that have been added to the orders.

With the EASy system allowing faster search and admission to events, as well as being able to print out the most up to date lists, it offers even further ease to a busy promoter, venue or event manager and their teams.

Feedback on the system to date has been tremendously positive, with freelance rep, Al English, who used the system at the London KOKO, commenting: “The EASy system worked great – it was quick and really straightforward. There were no glitches or delays, it was always really responsive. We found it really useful, especially when there were things like apostrophes or unusual names, as ordinarily that would leave us rifling through bits of paper trying to work out where in the alphabet the system had stuck someone – but now we can find it in seconds!  Overall, I think it’s ace and admissions will speed up massively as a result.”

EASy, which stands for Electronic Admission System, was developed entirely in-house by the WeGotTickets team. It was initially tested in May 2010 at The National’s sold out 1,070 ‘fan club only’ show at the Electric Ballroom in London with WeGotTickets staff and developers on hand to operate the system. Having been tweaked and perfected, WeGotTickets invited current clients to test out the system using dummy sets of data. The stress-free and speedy system was used for the first time without a WeGotTickets employee present at London’s KOKO this January, which hosted the Gilles Peterson Worldwide Awards 2011.

Laura Kramer, Project Manager of WeGotTickets’ EASy said: “Developing the EASy app has been in the pipeline for a while now and it’s great to finally be issuing this out to clients in order to make their events even easier to manage. For bigger venues and events, EASy takes the stress out of ensuring all customers gain entry as quickly as possible – less time queuing and more time enjoying events. We’ve kept our focus on making it really simple to use. v2 is now in development and will include new features to improve the app. even further.”

EASy is available to download from the WeGotTickets client admin area, or from a public installer page hosted on WeGotTickets, for operators working on behalf of clients. The system runs on Adobe Air and can be used on Windows, Macintosh and Linux systems and does not need to be online whilst running ticketing lists at the entrance to the event.

The EASy application is just the latest in a long line of innovations from WeGotTickets, who have also added a donations module to their site having teamed up with the likes of Oxfam and Youth Music, with more to come in the form of vast calendar and website upgrades.

• WeGotTickets Raise Over £2,000 For Youth Music As Part Of Their  Christmas 2010 Campaign
• Support Encompassed Online Calendar With News Of The Charity’s Work And Competitions, With Optional Donations Made By Customers Throughout The Month.
• Partnership Carries On Into 2011 With WeGotTickets Supporting Youth Music Pioneers Project

09.00am, 11^th January, London:- WeGotTickets‘ Christmas campaign for Youth Music raised over £2,000 for the charity as the Oxford based ticketing agent pledged 100% of all booking fees from Christmas Day sales, as well as facilitating optional donations throughout December to be made by customers.

Awareness of Youth Music’s work and their support from musicians via an online advent calendar gave customers the chance to see how the charity’s various teams up and down the country transform the lives of disadvantaged children through music.  The calendar presented photos and videos to see their work in action, a competition to win a Rankin print of indie band Cornershop, information on how to become a Youth Music Pioneer with the support of WeGotTickets, as well as the chance to hear about celebrity musicians who back the cause, such as Ian Brown and the Scissor Sisters.

WeGotTickets has shown charitable support to a range of causes in recent years. Working as the official ticketing agent for Oxfam during their Oxjam season and raising over £12,500 in the last three years, donating almost £5,000 to War Child since 2009 and running site-wide appeals in 2010 for the likes of DEC Haiti Earthquake Appeal, Macmillan Cancer Support, Mind and the MS Society.

The pioneering ticketing agency will continue to support the Youth Music charity as they embark on their Youth Music Pioneers project.  This will be an ongoing scheme to encourage and support young people to open themselves up to even more performance spaces and opportunities. WeGotTickets will support this by selling tickets for all the fundraising events the project puts on through a Youth Music Pioneers branded ticketing portal, which will also carry the optional customer donation option.  In addition to this they themselves will be donating 20% of the booking fee on all Youth Music Pioneers tickets sold back to the charity. WeGotTickets will also assist the scheme by giving advice on the wider issues of digital marketing and event promotion to those involved, including providing an online ‘tool kit’ to assist the recruitment of promoters from WeGotTickets’ customers and clients.

Graeme Murray, who led the Youth Music Christmas activity at WeGotTickets, said: “Firstly a huge thanks to our customers for their purchases on Christmas Day and additional donations made throughout the month.  The advent calendar was a great way to really show the work Youth Music do throughout the year, around the country and with so many different young people and musical styles. It has been great to assist a charity focussed on youth arts in the light of funding cuts so many organisations are facing in 2011. We are looking forward to working with Youth Music on their Pioneers project, raising awareness and funds for the charity through live performances.”

Grania Hyde-Smith, Youth Music’s PR and Media Strategy Officer, said: “It has been great working with WeGotTickets on this campaign and we are delighted with the money raised. This will go towards giving high quality music access and opportunities to some of the UK’s most disadvantaged kids. We look forward to working with WeGotTickets and their assistance with the 2011 Youth Music Pioneers project.”

- end -

NOTES FOR EDITORS

About WeGotTickets

WeGotTickets is the leading ticketing agency in the UK for small to medium sized venues and promoters and currently works with over 4,000 such organisations.

WeGotTickets has made it possible for promoters of all manner of events to benefit from advance ticket sales and now sells more than 750,000 tickets a year for a wide range of events; from art events and underground restaurants, to traditional live music shows. Indeed to cater for the growing demand for comedy tickets the company recently launched WeGotComedy.com, the UK’s only dedicated online ticket portal for comedy events.

Since its launch WeGotTickets has consistently pushed for innovation, transparency and best practice across the ticketing industry, with many of the company’s ideas becoming standard industry practice.

The company’s 10% maximum ticket commission rate has helped to lower fees across the business, whilst its pioneering paperless ticketing system has been a major factor in reducing the live music industry’s carbon footprint. The company has also been involved in numerous initiatives to help develop the grassroots live music industry and in 2009 launched an online forum where the company’s clients can network and share resources and knowledge in private.

Over the years WeGotTickets has been proud to work on a number of special campaigns with charities such as Oxjam, Childline and Warchild, and regularly donates a percentage of their booking fees back to these groups. In 2009 the company launched a unique feature allowing ticket buyers to quickly and easily make a donation to a featured charity whilst purchasing tickets.

Started in Oxford in the early noughties, the company was set up as a result of the founders being unable to sell advance tickets for one of their concerts at a venue that lacked a box office. Originally selling through their music merchandise website www.OxfordMusic.net, the WeGotTickets online box office was fully launched in 2002, selling tickets for The Zodiac (now O2 Academy) in Oxford and other venues.

www.wegottickets.com

About Youth Music

Youth Music is the leading UK charity using music to transform the lives of disadvantaged children and young people. We support and develop exemplary music provision at every stage of a young person’s development, whether it’s the first time a mother and baby make music together, or a talented teen’s debut at the Royal Albert Hall.

Youth Music has transformed the landscape of musical opportunity in the UK. Since 1999, we’ve reached over two million children and young people through all types of music; both in and out of school. Music has the power to build confidence, broaden horizons and raise aspirations. Our music programmes allow vulnerable young people to find their way, take charge of their lives and unlock their hidden potential.

Youth Music Ambassadors:

Ian Brown

Jarvis Cocker

Goldie

Little Boots

Tom Chaplin of Keane

Tom Morello of Rage Against The Machine

Sir James Galway OBE

Dame Evelyn Glennie

About Youth Music Pioneers
Youth Music Pioneers is a celebration of live music, opening up performance spaces for young musicians and raising funds for the charity Youth Music.

Supporting young talent is at the core of Youth Music’s work and with the generous support of WeGotTickets, Youth Music Pioneers will debut in 2011.

For updates either ‘like’ the Youth Music Facebook page (www.facebook.com/youthmusicuk) or sign up to the e-newsletter (www.youthmusic.org.uk/subscribe )

Youth Music is the leading UK charity using music to transform the lives of disadvantaged children and young people.

If you run a venue, a particular live music night, or are a musical act yourself, and want to sign up as an official Youth Music Pioneers partner, email info@youthmusic.org.uk

Press Contact

Kayleigh Watson, Name PR

• WeGotTickets Partners With Youth Music For Christmas 2010 Campaign And Beyond

• Launch With Online Calendar Sharing Success Stories Of Their Work, Photos, Videos, Messages From The Charity’s Ambassadors And A Competition To Win A Collaborative Piece Of Artwork By World Renowned Photographer Rankin And A Musician

• Optional Donation To Youth Music Available For Every Event On Sale On WeGotTickets Throughout December

29th November, London:- This Christmas marks the beginning of a new partnership between WeGotTickets and leading UK charity Youth Music.

From 1st December, WeGotTickets will be hosting a Youth Music advent calendar on their homepage, with each day linking though to new content from the charity, which aims to transform the lives of disadvantaged children through music.

From advice, downloadable desktops, videos and photos, as well as messages from Youth Music’s ambassadors who include indie legends Ian Brown and Jarvis Cocker, flautist Sir James Galway OBE, drum n bass star Goldie, electropop starlet Little Boots, lead vocalist Tom Chaplin of Keane, as well as Grammy Award winning Tom Morello of Rage Against The Machine and Dame Evelyn Glennie.

There will also be a competition to win a very special Rankin artist print taken as part of their Destroy project which celebrated the charity’s 10th Birthday by having 70 of the world’s greatest musicians and visual artists create collaborative artwork based on Rankin’s iconic musician portraits. Others from the collection have previously been auctioned to raise money for the charity.

Throughout December, WeGotTickets’ customers will be asked to make an additional donation to the charity whenever they purchase a ticket for any event. On Christmas Day itself WeGotTickets has pledged to donate 100% of all booking fees to Youth Music. Christmas 2009 saw £3,000 raised for War Child and WeGotTickets run a similar initiative with Oxfam every October for their Oxjam events and this year raised almost £7,000.

Graeme Murray, who is leading this Christmas’ activity at WeGotTickets, said “Youth Music is such a worthy and relevant charity for us to work with this Christmas and beyond. The work they do with disadvantaged children and young adults is so wide ranging and we want to help them continue to reach out and help so many more to reach their full musical potential. This support over the Christmas period is the start of a new relationship to encourage the UK’s musical talent to develop even further.”

Youth Music supporter Tom Morello of Rage Against The Machine said about the importance of getting and playing gigs at a young age: “Frankly, being able to perform live has been essential for me since the days I’d been hustling to get gigs in the clubs. The music industry has changed dramatically several times over since then. A good rule of thumb though is to play as often as you can, everywhere you can. If you love what you’re doing than you are already a ‘success’ just because you’re out there doing it – expressing yourself through your music to whatever size audience. And there is NO better way to improve than playing live.”

The Youth Music Pioneers project is due to commence early 2011, an ongoing scheme which will encourage and support young people to open themselves up to performance spaces and opportunities. This project will also be supported by WeGotTickets who will assist by selling tickets for all the fundraising events the project puts on through a Youth Music Pioneers branded ticketing portal, which will also carry the additional donation option. In addition to this they will be donating 20% of the booking fee on all Youth Music Pioneers tickets sold back to the charity. WeGotTickets will also assist the scheme by giving advice on the wider issues of digital marketing and event promotion to those involved.

Grania Hyde-Smith, Youth Music’s PR and Media Strategy Officer, commented “the support from WeGotTickets this Christmas is fantastic. It is a great opportunity for people going to events to see work that goes on in nurturing young musical talent and offering support to keep the UK’s music scene rich and prosperous. The money raised will go towards supporting our various projects for disadvantaged children, from singing pprogrammes for primary children, sessions with under-5s where they can learn and develop so many skills through music, right through to showcasing young talent on our own stage at the Underage Festival. Moving forward we’re keen to get the WeGotTickets team involved in our new projects launching next Spring, Youth Music Pioneers, where young people can learn about the business side of the music industry and how to forge successful careers within it.”

NOTES FOR EDITORS

About WeGotTickets

WeGotTickets is the leading ticketing agency in the UK for small to medium sized venues and promoters and currently works with over 4,000 such organisations.

WeGotTickets has made it possible for promoters of all manner of events to benefit from advance ticket sales and now sells more than 750,000 tickets a year for a wide range of events; from art events and underground restaurants, to traditional live music shows. Indeed to cater for the growing demand for comedy tickets the company recently launched WeGotComedy.com, the UK’s only dedicated online ticket portal for comedy events.

Since its launch WeGotTickets has consistently pushed for innovation, transparency and best practice across the ticketing industry, with many of the company’s ideas becoming standard industry practice.

The company’s 10% maximum ticket commission rate has helped to lower fees across the business, whilst its pioneering paperless ticketing system has been a major factor in reducing the live music industry’s carbon footprint. The company has also been involved in numerous initiatives to help develop the grassroots live music industry and in 2009 launched an online forum where the company’s clients can network and share resources and knowledge in private.

Over the years WeGotTickets has been proud to work on a number of special campaigns with charities such as Oxjam, Childline and Warchild, and regularly donates a percentage of their booking fees back to these groups. In 2009 the company launched a unique feature allowing ticket buyers to quickly and easily make a donation to a featured charity whilst purchasing tickets.

Started in Oxford in the early noughties, the company was set up as a result of the founders being unable to sell advance tickets for one of their concerts at a venue that lacked a box office. Originally selling through their music merchandise website www.OxfordMusic.net, the WeGotTickets online box office was fully launched in 2002, selling tickets for The Zodiac (now O2 Academy) in Oxford and other venues.

www.wegottickets.com

About Youth Music

Youth Music is the leading UK charity using music to transform the lives of disadvantaged children and young people. We support and develop exemplary music provision at every stage of a young person’s development, whether it’s the first time a mother and baby make music together, or a talented teen’s debut at the Royal Albert Hall.

Youth Music has transformed the landscape of musical opportunity in the UK. Since 1999, we’ve reached over two million children and young people through all types of music; both in and out of school. Music has the power to build confidence, broaden horizons and raise aspirations. Our music programmes allow vulnerable young people to find their way, take charge of their lives and unlock their hidden potential.

Youth Music Ambassadors:

Ian Brown
Jarvis Cocker
Goldie
Little Boots
Tom Chaplin of Keane
Tom Morello of Rage Against The Machine
Sir James Galway OBE
Dame Evelyn Glennie

About Youth Music Pioneers
Youth Music Pioneers is a celebration of live music, opening up performance spaces for young musicians and raising funds for the charity Youth Music.

Supporting young talent is at the core of Youth Music’s work and with the generous support of WeGotTickets, Youth Music Pioneers will debut in 2011.

For updates either ‘like’ the Youth Music Facebook page (www.facebook.com/youthmusicuk) or sign up to the e-newsletter (www.youthmusic.org.uk/subscribe )

Youth Music is the leading UK charity using music to transform the lives of disadvantaged children and young people.

If you run a venue, a particular live music night, or are a musical act yourself, and want to sign up as an official Youth Music Pioneers partner, email info@youthmusic.org.uk

Press Contact

Kayleigh Watson, Name PR
kayleigh@namemusic.net
020 8357 7305