Ticketmaster has opened up face-value festival ticket resale through CashorTrade, giving fans a way to sell unwanted passes without hiking prices. The deal brings Front Gate Tickets into the setup, with buyers able to get verified passes at or below what the first buyer paid.
That covers some big names on the festival scene. Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits, Bourbon & Beyond, Lost Lands, and Ultra Music Festival all use Front Gate for ticket sales, giving their fans access to the resale option.
Here's how it works. CashorTrade checks the pass against Front Gate's sales data, then sets a price limit based on the first sale, fees, and all. Once a fan buys it, the app issues a fresh ticket in that person's name.
No seller can ask for more than the verified amount. CashorTrade also keeps its fan-to-fan model and applies its Face Value Policy to each listing, rather than letting users set any price they want.
Brando Rich, who runs CashorTrade with co-founder Dusty Rich, sees the deal as a way for fans to pass on tickets when plans fall through. The aim is to make resale fair and keep buyers sure that their passes are real.
Andrew Sider, Ticketmaster's festival and general admission executive, backs the same idea. He says fans need safe places to trade passes without the risk of fake tickets or inflated resale costs.
The two firms had already linked up for standard concert tickets. That first deal let fans list verified Ticketmaster passes on CashorTrade, with each price tied to the first sale rather than the seller's choice.
David Marcus, Ticketmaster's music executive, later said the plan was to let CashorTrade handle resale for every event on the main platform. The first test had involved just a small group of acts, and artists wouldn't need to sign up one by one.
Ticketmaster also has its Face Value Exchange, which lets artists place limits on resale prices. CashorTrade uses a separate system called Verified Face Value Resale, built with Ticketmaster, to check prices through an API before a listing goes live.
Front Gate has been part of Ticketmaster since 2015, when the firm bought it along with Universe. Before that deal, the Austin-based ticket company had handled more than $300 million in annual sales.
But Ticketmaster has legal issues on another front. The US Federal Trade Commission and seven states accuse it of letting brokers dodge ticket limits and resell passes through its marketplace. They also claim buyers saw mandatory fees late in checkout.
Live Nation and Ticketmaster reject those claims. They say they have spent more than $1 billion fighting scalpers and protecting access to tickets, rather than helping brokers get around the rules.
A separate federal jury in Manhattan found that Ticketmaster held an illegal grip on major concert venue ticket sales, while Live Nation dominated large amphitheaters. That case involved 33 states and Washington, DC, after the Justice Department settled its part.
Both firms want the court to scrap the jury's decision or allow another trial. Stephen Parker of the National Independent Venue Association has also argued that Ticketmaster should stay out of the resale business.
CashorTrade, which the Rich brothers started in 2009, works with acts such as Phish, Stick Figure, Waxahatchee, and The Disco Biscuits. Its latest deal adds festival passes to a service built around keeping ticket trades at their first-sale value.
That covers some big names on the festival scene. Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits, Bourbon & Beyond, Lost Lands, and Ultra Music Festival all use Front Gate for ticket sales, giving their fans access to the resale option.
Here's how it works. CashorTrade checks the pass against Front Gate's sales data, then sets a price limit based on the first sale, fees, and all. Once a fan buys it, the app issues a fresh ticket in that person's name.
No seller can ask for more than the verified amount. CashorTrade also keeps its fan-to-fan model and applies its Face Value Policy to each listing, rather than letting users set any price they want.
Brando Rich, who runs CashorTrade with co-founder Dusty Rich, sees the deal as a way for fans to pass on tickets when plans fall through. The aim is to make resale fair and keep buyers sure that their passes are real.
Andrew Sider, Ticketmaster's festival and general admission executive, backs the same idea. He says fans need safe places to trade passes without the risk of fake tickets or inflated resale costs.
The two firms had already linked up for standard concert tickets. That first deal let fans list verified Ticketmaster passes on CashorTrade, with each price tied to the first sale rather than the seller's choice.
David Marcus, Ticketmaster's music executive, later said the plan was to let CashorTrade handle resale for every event on the main platform. The first test had involved just a small group of acts, and artists wouldn't need to sign up one by one.
Ticketmaster also has its Face Value Exchange, which lets artists place limits on resale prices. CashorTrade uses a separate system called Verified Face Value Resale, built with Ticketmaster, to check prices through an API before a listing goes live.
Front Gate has been part of Ticketmaster since 2015, when the firm bought it along with Universe. Before that deal, the Austin-based ticket company had handled more than $300 million in annual sales.
But Ticketmaster has legal issues on another front. The US Federal Trade Commission and seven states accuse it of letting brokers dodge ticket limits and resell passes through its marketplace. They also claim buyers saw mandatory fees late in checkout.
Live Nation and Ticketmaster reject those claims. They say they have spent more than $1 billion fighting scalpers and protecting access to tickets, rather than helping brokers get around the rules.
A separate federal jury in Manhattan found that Ticketmaster held an illegal grip on major concert venue ticket sales, while Live Nation dominated large amphitheaters. That case involved 33 states and Washington, DC, after the Justice Department settled its part.
Both firms want the court to scrap the jury's decision or allow another trial. Stephen Parker of the National Independent Venue Association has also argued that Ticketmaster should stay out of the resale business.
CashorTrade, which the Rich brothers started in 2009, works with acts such as Phish, Stick Figure, Waxahatchee, and The Disco Biscuits. Its latest deal adds festival passes to a service built around keeping ticket trades at their first-sale value.
