Dainty Buys Into Premium Ticket Provider BangTango

Major touring company the Dainty Group have bought into controversial premium ticket provider BangTango in a formalisation of their ongoing business partnership.

It is believed that Paul Dainty’s Dainty Group had an existing financial stake in the company, which was launched in August last year and aims to leverage sponsorship for first-access tickets, although a representative from the PR firm handling the announcement was unable to confirm to theMusic.com.au what that stake has grown to.

Telco giant Telstra had come on board with BangTango as a start-up partner in 2012 and the latter became part of Telstra’s ‘Thanks’ loyalty program, offering exclusive ticketing and concert packages to Telstra customers. Through that program Telstra have sponsored tours promoted by Dainty, including Bon Jovi and Katy Perry.

The new investment will not hinder BangTango’s ability to work with other promoters, however.

Today Dainty identified sponsorship and fan engagement opportunities as an increasingly important part of major tours.

“It’s not uncommon for BangTango-driven sponsorships to sell over 50,000 tickets, the equivalent to an additional, incremental, arena show in each market,” he said.

BangTango’s Founder and Director Dan Popic described Dainty as an “integral client’ since formation.  

“Of course, BangTango will continue working with a range of  live entertainment promoters,” he said. “In fact, we launched our sponsorship work with a Nine Live tour in April 2013 which has led to a potentially record breaking pre-sale for British group, One Direction.”

Popic – a veteran of Ticketek, HMV and Sanity prior to BangTango – indicated they will be extending into musical theatre, lifestyle and sporting events.

After launching with some fanfare in 2013, BangTango found itself involved in an ACCC investigation into ticket re-selling, with claims that venue giant AEG Ogden were stifling their sponsorship-for-tickets model. By only allowing 15 percent of tickets available for re-sale purposes, AEG Ogden – who manage venues like Allphone Arena and Perth Arena – were stifling the BangTango model.

BangTango Directors publicly accused venues of killing the corporate sponsorship market in Australia before they began to look beyond Telstra amid the investigation in October 2013.