About
Why I built FairTickets
Zak Abel
Founder, FairTickets
FairTickets started with a tour that I had to cancel.
I'd put a run of shows on sale and, ultimately, we didn't sell enough tickets to make the tour work. When I announced that I was cancelling it, I expected people to be disappointed. What I didn't expect was how many of the comments would say essentially the same thing:
“I didn't even know you were going on tour.”
That really stayed with me.
I had an audience. There were people who clearly wanted to come and see me play. But somehow, the systems I was relying on to reach those people hadn't connected the two.
Social media increasingly depends on algorithms deciding which of your followers actually see what you post. And at the other end, an artist can play to a room full of people and still come away without the ability to build a lasting relationship with many of the people who were there.
It made me question something pretty fundamental:
If someone cares enough about an artist to buy a ticket and come to a show, why is it still so difficult for the two of them to stay connected?
That was the starting point for FairTickets.
I wanted to build a ticketing company where every show could bring an artist closer to the people who came to see them. Where, with the fan's permission, that intimate connection you have with someone who comes to see you live doesn't have to end when the lights come up.
But the more I thought about it, the more problems I wanted to address.
We're living through a period where live music has become increasingly difficult financially on both sides of the stage. Fans tell me that seeing the artists they love has become too expensive. Artists tell me that touring has become so expensive that they can't put on the shows they want to put on. And ticketing fees can add even more cost in the middle.
I wanted FairTickets to get out of the way of that as much as possible.
Keep the fees low. Let ticket revenue go directly to the people putting on the show. Let artists sell merch without us taking a cut. And give everyone involved the opportunity to build a relationship with the fans who want one.
Ultimately, I built FairTickets because it was something I wanted to use myself.
It came from a very real frustration: having people who wanted to come to my shows, but not having a reliable way to reach them. And it grew into an attempt to solve some of the other problems I kept hearing about from fans and artists alike.
FairTickets won't solve every problem in live music. But if we can make going to shows a little more affordable, make putting them on a little more sustainable, and make it easier for artists and fans who want a relationship to actually keep one, then I think we're doing something worthwhile.