Billboard (02/11/19) Mims, Taylor
The Lyte platform has a reputation for allowing fans to safely purchase, sell, and exchange event tickets after sell-outs, teaming with Coachella and unveiling related new features this year. “What we give our festival partners is control where those big gaps [between onsale and event] are, and a lot of the pain that we know as the secondary market has sort of crept in to the fan experience,” says Lyte founder Ant Taylor. “For all partners on average, we're doing 60 percent of all transaction activity after the onsale. If you look at the festival space, we're doing higher than that: 60 to 70 percent.” Lyte is triggered at high-demand events, and fans can enroll to be alerted when others return a pass, or when passes become available after a sponsor or rights holder releases them. For Coachella, Lyte also is permitting fans to exchange weekend one tickets for weekend two, and vice versa, as well as upgrade passes if VIP or other sold-out packages become available. “It is a really interesting and unique position to be in as a live event producer when you can be programmatic and think in terms of multiple years, think about building a community,” notes Lyte executive Lawrence Peryer. He adds that primary ticket providers' lack of refund allowances is due to a commitment to help event partners and defray risk.
Read the full article on Billboard.