The other night, my friend Meghan and I went to an opening party for the Bicycle Film Festival at the Gladstone (which, on a side note, has stopped offering water in plastic bottles — hoorah!). We didn’t have tickets for the screenings on Friday yet, so while I frantically threw on some deodorant and eyeshadow, she went online and got that sorted out.
Well, turns out, they were being provided by this cool company called Brown Paper Tickets, the “first and only fair-trade ticketing service,” wherein you get an electronic ticket rather than a real one (which saves paper) and a portion of every purchase goes to charity (Meg said she chose the Animal Welfare Institute because she knew I liked small furry things).
They have a Ticketing Bill of Rights, too, which explains their mandate, where the money goes, and how the whole system works.
Finally, a green alternative to all those corporate ticketing agencies with their processing fees, shipping and handling crap, and glossy, laser-printed ticket stubs. From now on, I’ll be looking for options like this whenever I plan on going to an event.
What’s the implication? That you’re going to go only to events with Green ticketing practices in the future?
I wish you many happy church suppers and garden fetes and not a note of rock music (except, I suppose, that played by eco-metal bands).
In France there’s a popular service called Digitick (http://www.digitick.com/) that sends you barcoded tickets by e-mail and mms. Provided your phone supports images (as 99% now do, at least in Europe) you just show up at the venue and and they “beep” you in by scanning the barcode displayed on the phone’s screen.
Hi Matt!
I was crazy to see the Rammstein concert, the tickets in Belgium was already sold out… my last hope was digitick( to see it in Paris!)! the price was fair.. but to my surprise I will not get the tickets at my home! I will print it! that’s so new to me that I m afraid if the people at concert entrance will accept my ticket!
Have you used this service? was OK? no problem at all? please help me?
wow, that french thing is amazing. but here, don’t you just end up printing your e-ticket?
i paid an $8 service fee yesterday for a ticket to see the dalai lama. amazing. that’s over 25% of the ticket price.
That is so cool, Matt — thank for pointing that out. I never would have thought about scanning codes on cell phone screens… you French are so ahead of the times! And senseofbalance, I basically am just saying that I’ll be trying to look for the most eco-friendly route possible when buying tickets. But yeah, probably won’t be going to so many rock concerts
Brown Paper Tickets made me want to plan an event and sell tickets just so I could use them. See you tonight for more eco-boy-hunting
The roller derby league here in Salt Lake uses Brown Paper Tickets. Their bouts are definitely no church supper. It’s really nice not to have to remember to print out a ticket; they just have a list of names at the event and check you off when you get there.
kelley,
E-tickets here often end up being printed, but it’s because many people don’t have good mobile phones and because…as is often the case…nobody thinks about the alternative to paper.
The mobile I’m developing at Motorola (the Motorola Q9h) can display PDF files easily and has a nice screen. A barcode is a barcode, on screen or paper, so you just open the PDF file, hold it up to the person’s barcode scanner, and it works. The system could be more elegant, using more modern wireless technologies or even USB thumb drives, but since box offices will likely always have to honor paper tickets, it’s a good compromise solution.
Seriously…if you have a laptop or a mobile phone that can display images or PDFs, try it once. Bring a paper ticket as backup if it fails, but if it works, you won’t need a paper ticket again.
I love Brown Paper Tickets. I live in Seattle, which is where they are based, so there are quite a lot of people around here who use their service, and I have been fortunate enough to order tickets from them several times. And senseofbalance, you couldn’t be more wrong – while there are churches around here who use them, it isn’t for suppers. It’s for music performances, and fund raisers. A lot of the local clubs sell show tickets through Brown Paper Tickets – and yes, for rock shows, too. There is a local Oktoberfest celebration coming up – guess where I bought my ticket!
I recently bought tickets to see Tori Amos in December at the Paramount Theater, a local venue that sells through Ticketmaster. I bought two tickets, for $45 each. Ticketmaster tacked on a $15 service charge. PER TICKET. One third of the price of the original ticket! That is madness. I’m glad that companies like Brown Paper Tickets are around. Maybe eventually, the larger venues will start using them too, and then I can go and see my lovely Tori without going broke.
I think the band Guster uses Brown Paper Tickets from time to time. Maybe more bands will start using the company too!
If you have to print tickets, Vanessa, don’t forget… you can just print them on the back of a piece of already-used paper.
haha, in response to the first comment- what’s wrong with Eco-metal bands!?!? I happen to play in one. myspace.com/exhaustedprayer
there is a growing metal scene in the vegan-bicycle-environmental community, and as soon as we can make it to online ticket sales, I’m certain we’ll enlist BPT’s services. haha, gotcha.
I am a recently retired Providence Roller Derby girl & we used Brown Paper Tickets for all our bouts. They were a great company, really easy to work with & VERY user-friendly. You can use their site to search for events in your area. You are not stuck going to church pancake breakfasts & bingo nights, I promise!