Stereosonic Fans Will Be Able To Sell Their Tickets In Viagogo Deal

Stereosonic have locked in a five-year deal with ticket on-selling platform viagogo who will provide the official ticket exchange platform for punters looking to offload tickets.

Six weeks ago viagogo struck a deal with Stereosonic’s American parent company SFX, who bought the Aussie festival for $75 million last year. The deal will see them work with all of SFX’s festivals globally and Stereosonic, which will visit Sydney, Perth, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide in its two-day format from November, is the first festival off the rank.

Announced last week, Stereosonic tickets go on sale at 8pm tonight, when viagogo will also open its doors for people to sell their purchased Stereosonic tickets.

Today Viagogo’s Alex Levenson told theMusic.com.au that Stereosonic “understand that sometimes [people’s] plans change, and they want to promote a place that’s safe or anyone to sell and anyone to buy.”

Punters will be able to charge whatever they want for tickets, but until the events sell out (last year 360,000 went through the gates around the country) Levenson expects most to be sold below face value.

“Generally, globally, about 60 percent [of tickets] sell at or below face value,” he said. When you factor in tickets that are sold above face value the average mark-up on prices is “about five to ten percent above face value, globally.”

Even though this deal comes from a global arrangement, it is a landmark step for viagogo in Australia. Unlike the US, where secondary ticket markets and on-selling is an increasingly accepted aspect of the industry, Australia still has a fierce opposition to scalping. One of viagogo’s main selling points is that sellers don’t receive money until the event has happened, therefore securing the transactions of those purchasing tickets.

Levenson said the deal is “a clearer sign that there is a need for something like this, and the best way to do this is partnering with something who can provide a professional platform… rather than [fans] going to auction sites. That’s a bad experience for everyone; you don’t know whether [tickets are] going to be sent or whether they’re going to be legitimate. And then you don’t have much recourse.”

Stereosonic’s John Curtin said in a statement, “We looked at other services on offer and firmly believe that viagogo offers the best in category, world-class ticketing service that we want to provide to all of our festival attendees. Viagogo is also providing us with a unique platform to help us reach the global electronic music fanbase and expand Stereosonic’s footprint across the world.”

Viagogo have also partnered with Australian sporting teams from the NRL and AFL and Levenson said they were hoping to talk to other Australian festivals about partnerships.

Stereosonic tickets go on sale 8pm tonight, details in the Gig Guide below and The Music App.

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