Questions organisers ask
How do you manage backstage access passes for an event?
Crew, artists, production and guests get a named pass rather than a ticket, with a limit on how often it works and the same scanner on the door.
- For
- Anyone handing out crew, artist or guest access for an event
- Takes
- 5 minutes
Backstage access can be a ticket type you only give to crew, an add-on sold on top of a normal ticket, or a pass. A pass is the one built for people who come and go: it is issued to a named person, works as many times as you say, and can carry across a run of events. Crew on shift all day, production, security and press usually want that; a guest coming backstage once after the show can be simpler as an add-on on their ticket.
Passes live on the Multi-Entry Passes screen. You define a type for each kind of access you hand out, issue passes of that type to people by name, and the holder gets theirs by email. On the night the same scanner app your door team already uses reads a pass as a pass and checks it against its own limit.
How Ticket Fairy handles it
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A pass type for each kind of access
Create one per role -- crew, artist, production, press -- with a name, a description and the number of times a pass of that type may be used at one event. That number is what stops a crew pass becoming a way in for a queue of friends.
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Passes issued by name, in bulk
Issue one at a time by first name, last name and email, or upload the whole crew list as a CSV. Each pass belongs to the person named on it, which is what makes it answerable afterwards.
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One door team, one app
A pass is recognised at the gate by the same scanner that reads your tickets, and by the code itself rather than by anything your staff have to select. Your door team learns one thing, not two.
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Access beside your ticket sales
Issue a pass from the event, the venue or the brand it's for. It carries the holder's name and email, and every scan is kept against it. You read access and ticket sales in one place instead of a spreadsheet beside the ticketing.
How to set it up
What you need before you start
- You're an owner or an admin on the event or the brand.
- Multi-Entry Passes is in your menu. It appears once passes are turned on for your brand or your event -- ask us if you cannot see it.
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Open Multi-Entry Passes
Find it in the menu on the event you are working on. A brand can also hold passes that work across its events, on the same screen under the brand rather than the event.
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Create a type for each kind of access
Select Manage types, then Create Pass Type. Give it the name your team says out loud -- Crew, Artist, Production -- and set Type to Member for people working the event or Season for access that runs across a series.
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Say how often each one works
Set Maximum number of uses per event on the type, and set it on every type you create.
Crew who come and go all day need a number that covers the whole day -- count the trips to the van and add some. Left empty, a pass of that type works once per event and the second scan is refused, which is the opposite of what an all-day pass is for.
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Issue the passes
Select Create New Pass, pick the type, and add people under Enter Recipient by first name, last name and email. For a crew list, switch to Upload Recipients and add a CSV of first name, last name and email address with no header row.
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Send them out
Each pass emails to the person it belongs to. Send All does the whole list at once, and Notes on a pass is where to record who approved it.
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Tell your door team what to expect
A pass scans in the same app as a ticket, and the app tells the two apart by the code. Your staff scan whatever is presented and read the answer on the screen.
A pass is checked against the event, the brand or the venue it was issued for, and against its own limit. It is not restricted to one entrance, so a crew gate is a matter of who you hand a pass to rather than of what that gate will accept.
Questions you might have
- What is the difference between a pass and a guest-list ticket?
- A guest-list ticket is a ticket somebody did not pay for: one person, one entry. A pass is issued to a named person, can be used as many times as its type allows, and can be made to work across a run of events rather than one.
- Can one pass work across every event we run?
- Yes. A pass is issued at brand, venue or event level, and one held at brand level works at the events under that brand -- which is what a season crew pass needs. A venue-level pass works at the events at that venue.
- How do I stop a backstage pass being passed around?
- Set the uses per event on the type to the number you expect that role to use, so a pass meant for one entry can't be walked back out and used again. Every pass carries the name of the person it was issued to, so your door team has something to check it against.
- Can I upload a crew list rather than adding people one at a time?
- Yes. Upload Recipients takes a CSV of first name, last name and email address with no header row, and issues a pass to each row.
- Do my door team need a second app for passes?
- No. The same scanner reads a pass and a ticket and recognises which is which by the code itself, so your staff scan whatever is put in front of them.
Where to go from here
Do this on your own event
Create your account, build your event, and follow these steps in your own dashboard. No sales call first.