Tikly, the first flat-rate ticketing platform of its kind that puts artists, venues and event organizers in direct contact with ticket buyers, announced on May 21 that they have reached their 150th client on the company’s one-year anniversary.
Founded by 22-year-old CEO Emma Peterson, the idea for the Des Moines, Iowa-based ticketing company came about when Peterson was working with nationally recognized band The Nadas, who has utilized Tikly since 2011 for 80 percent of their performances. Tikly was created from the “artist and venue-owner perspective” and provides clients with a “direct-to-fan” experience, Peterson told TicketNews in a recent email.
According to a Tikly press release announcing the milestone, artists, venues, and ticket buyers are often charged up to 50 percent per ticket fees, forcing ticket sellers to either lower their profit margin or pass on the cost to the ticket buyer leaving the purchaser to pay the extra fee or choose not to attend the event altogether.
With this in mind, Tikly created their unique and simple flat-rate ticket fee that is added to each purchase upon checkout. Ticket buyers are charged $1 per ticket for under $10, a 10 percent fee per ticket for tickets costing between $10 and $75 and a flat-fee of $7.50 per ticket over $75. In addition to providing ticket buyers with a more affordable way to purchase tickets, sellers are not required to sign a contract or pay a sign-up fee and the artist gets the full face value of the ticket.
Tikly is unique in that the company not only offers low fees, but also gives their clients complete control over the marketing and promotion of their event, unlike most ticketing platforms that offer automated, “one-size-fits-all” social media marketing.
“We provide our clients with the ability to upload background and description images to their events while submitting their own promotional copy & details,” said Peterson in an email to TicketNews. “No two Tikly pages have to look the same, your page is your own. We want Tikly to expand upon each band’s brand while offering a streamlined ticketing experience. At the end of purchase, the ticket buyer is prompted to share the event through Facebook and Twitter.”
According to Peterson, Tikly will soon be launching their Facebook application that will allow clients to sell tickets and merchandise directly to fans via the app helping artists to generate increased revenue.
Venues also benefit from the ticketing platform that places much of the ticketing responsibility in the hands of the artist and event organizer. “The artist knows how best to reach their fans,” said Peterson to TicketNews. “Plus, people bring people and people buy drinks, food, and return to a venue if they have a positive experience.”
The company also strives to give customers several payment options. In addition to accepting all major credit cards, Tikly is the first and only ticketing platform to be fully integrated with online and mobile cash platform Dwolla, which charges a flat 25 cent transaction fee and works in and outside of social networking sites.
Peterson explained that the company’s success over the past year has come from their ability to hit a nerve with artists, venues, and event organizers who are tired of being forced to pay unreasonable fees from corporate ticketing platforms. Tikly currently provides their services to artists and events in Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota, Colorado, Indiana, California, Illinois, New York, Texas, and Australia, but continues to expand.
