Solving event ticketing problems
How do you manage accreditation and backstage passes for your event?
Venue teams, festival production and touring crews accrediting staff, crew, press, artists and guests want the passes issued from the same event as the tickets and scanned by the same door team. A pass type for each group, each department's list uploaded in one go, and gate teams who know which pass admits whom keep the entrances moving.
Give staff, crew, press, artists and guests a named pass with the entries each of them needs, then scan it with the same door app as your tickets.
- For
- Handing out staff, crew, press, artist and guest access for an event
- Takes
- 4 minutes
Backstage access and accreditation can be a ticket type you give only 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: you issue it to a named person, it works as many times as you allow, and it can be valid across a run of events. Staff, crew, production, security, press and artists on site all day 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 page. You create a type for each group you accredit, issue passes of that type to people by name, and each holder gets theirs by email. On the night the same scanner app your door team already uses recognises the pass and confirms whether it is valid.
How Ticket Fairy helps
-
A pass type for each group you accredit
Create one type for each group: staff, crew, production, security, press or artists. Give it a name, a description and the number of entries each pass allows at one event.
-
Passes issued by name, in bulk
Issue one at a time by first name, last name and email, or upload a whole department's list as a CSV. Each pass belongs to the person named on it, so your door team can compare the name on the pass with the person holding it.
-
One door team, one app
The same scanner accepts your tickets and passes, and it tells the two apart by the code rather than by anything your staff have to select.
-
Access and approval kept beside your ticket sales
Issue a pass from the event, the venue or the brand it's for. Each pass shows the holder's name and email and any note about who approved it, and the issued-pass list stays with the brand, venue or event where you issued it instead of in a separate spreadsheet.
Set it up
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 we turn passes on for your brand or your event. Ask us if you cannot see it.
-
List the groups you accredit
List each group that needs its own access rules, such as staff, crew, production, security, press, artists, partners or contractors.
-
Create a pass type for each group
On Multi-Entry Passes, select Manage types, then Create Pass Type.
Note: The name is what your gate staff see on the scanner, so keep it to the group's everyday name, such as Press. The guide to issuing reusable event passes to crew and artists covers the description, the entries each pass allows and the rest of the form.
Multi-Entry Passes, Create Pass Type. -
Upload each department's accreditation list
Add the list under Upload Recipients as a CSV of first name, last name and email address with no header row.
Note: The same guide covers adding people one at a time, recording who approved a list and emailing the passes.
Multi-Entry Passes, Create New Pass.
Try these steps on your own event
Create a free account, build your event and follow the steps above in your own dashboard. It takes a few minutes and you do not need to book a sales call.
No setup fees. No required monthly ticketing fee. No credit card required.
Questions you might have
- Do we have to run accreditation and ticketing as two systems?
- No. Issue passes from the event and scan them with the same app as tickets. Pass holders and ticket buyers remain in separate lists under that event.
- What is the difference between a backstage pass and a guest-list ticket?
- A guest-list ticket gives one guest a single entry without payment. You issue a backstage pass to a named person, it works as many times as its type allows, and you can set it to work across a run of events rather than one.
- How do I stop a backstage pass being passed around?
- Set the uses per event on the type to the number you expect that group to use, so a one-entry pass cannot be taken outside and used again. Every pass shows the name of the person you issued it to, so your door team can compare the name with the person presenting it.
- Can accreditation run across a whole season?
- Yes. A brand-level pass works across that brand's events. A venue-level pass works only at events linked to that saved venue; typing the venue address instead does not create that link.
- What record is kept for each pass?
- Each pass keeps the name you issued it to and any note about who approved it. Every scan records the pass, when it was scanned and who scanned it.
Still have a question?
Book a demo and we will answer it on a call, on your kind of event. Or create your account and see it for yourself.
No setup fees. No required monthly ticketing fee. No credit card required.
Related guides
Do this on your own event
Create your account, build your event and follow the steps in your own dashboard. You do not need to book a sales call.