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Playbooks by event type

Run ticketing for a music festival

Festival promoters selling day and weekend tickets across several releases, with camping to sell and a crew to accredit, need one plan that runs from the first announcement to the last scan at the gate. One plan, built in this order, opens each release on time, sells what goes with the ticket, keeps touts out and gives your team and your partners what they need when the gates open.

Build the event from the festival template, group day and weekend tickets, offer instalments, sell camping with the ticket, keep resale at face value, open each release on time and give your crew and partners what they need on site.

For
Selling a multi-day music festival from announcement to the gate
Takes
20 minutes

Before you start

  • You're a brand owner or admin. You can create events, change tickets, add-ons and passes, and publish.
  • You have agreed your ticket classes, the price releases inside each, the camping and travel you sell, and whether buyers may pay in instalments.
  • You know which advertising networks you buy from and who on your crew, artist and press lists needs a pass.

  1. Build the event from the festival template

    Create a new event and start from the multi-day festival template, which asks for your dates and stages and lays out day and weekend tickets for you to price. The page, tickets and settings it builds are yours to change in the steps below.

    Note: A festival you ran last year is quicker to duplicate than to rebuild: the copy keeps the tickets, add-ons and settings and you change the dates.

    Ticket Fairy multi-day festival template questions before the event is built
    Events, Create Event, Multi-day festival.

  2. Group tickets by what a buyer can hold

    Create a ticket category for each class of ticket, such as Weekend, Saturday and Sunday, by entering its Category Name and put every price release for it inside. Buyers then choose the day first and the price second, and the gate knows who is allowed in when.

    Note: A release is a ticket type inside the category with its own price, allocation and sale window, so early bird and general release are two releases of one class. The multi-day setup guide walks every field.

    Ticket Fairy Create Category dialog with the Category Name and Resale Type fields
    Tickets, Ticket Categories, Create Category.

  3. Let buyers pay for a weekend ticket in instalments

    Turn on a payment plan for the event, with the deposit that reserves the ticket, the number of payments and the date the last one is due. A buyer who cannot pay the whole price at once buys in month one instead of waiting for payday and forgetting.

    Note: Payment plans run on card payments in the currencies that support them. An order that stops paying is cancelled after the grace period you set, and its tickets go back on sale.

    Ticket Fairy payment plan settings with the deposit, instalments and cancellation grace period
    Event, Payments, Payment plan.

  4. Sell camping, parking and travel with the ticket

    Open Add-Ons and create one add-on for each thing sold beside admission, such as weekend camping, a parking pass and the shuttle, each with its own price and stock. Buyers add them in the same checkout, so a camper never buys the ticket and forgets the pitch.

    Note: Limit an add-on to the ticket types it belongs with, so a Sunday-only buyer is not offered weekend camping. A campervan permit can be withheld from resale.

    Ticket Fairy add-on form for weekend camping, with its price, stock and limit per order
    Event, Add-Ons, Weekend Camping.

  5. Put a name on every ticket and keep resale at face value

    Turn on names and ID on every ticket and switch resale on, so a ticket that changes hands does so through your page at the price the seller paid. The waiting list is offered the ticket first, and the old barcode stops working the moment the new holder has theirs.

    Note: The seller gets the face value back less the resale fee, which your event page states. Add-ons can be withheld from resale separately.

    Ticket Fairy event settings with names required, ID required and resale switched on
    Event, Settings, Names and ID.

  6. Open the on-sale at the minute you announced

    Select Publish, choose the date and time, and select Schedule Publish so the page goes public on the minute your announcement promised. Each release inside a category then opens on its own date, so demand is spread instead of hitting one moment.

    Note: A hot on-sale is easier with the crowd split: an invitation-only presale for last year's buyers, then the public releases, with a waiting list for whoever misses out.

    Ticket Fairy Schedule Publish dialog with the date and time the festival page goes public
    Publish, Schedule Publish.

  7. Reward buyers who bring their friends

    Keep the Disable Rewards System switch off and choose the reward each sales tier earns, so a buyer who brings a carload of friends gets part of their ticket back. Every confirmation email then carries the buyer's own referral link.

    Note: Rewards are paid as a refund on the buyer's ticket once their friends have bought. The Influencers report shows who brought in the most.

    Ticket Fairy Rewards System settings with the sales tiers and the reward for each
    Tickets, Settings, Rewards System.

  8. Connect the networks you advertise on

    Open Integrations and connect each network you buy ads from, starting with Connect Meta, so every ticket sale reaches the ad account that earned it. The campaign that sold the weekend tickets then shows in the network's own reporting.

    Note: Each network has its own short guide, and the pixel is set once per brand rather than per festival.

    Ticket Fairy Integrations with the Connect Meta button for conversion tracking
    Brand, Integrations, Meta conversion tracking.

  9. Issue passes to crew, artists and press

    Open Multi-Entry Passes, create a pass type for each group with the number of entries it carries, then add each person by name and select Enter Recipient. Every pass scans at the same gate as a ticket, so nobody carries a paper list.

    Note: That number is the whole event, not one day, so a three-day festival needs it budgeted across all three. Send the passes once the list is final and each holder receives theirs as a PDF.

    Ticket Fairy Issue a pass form with the pass type and the recipient to add
    Brand, Multi-Entry Passes, Issue a pass.

  10. Follow the arrival rush during the festival

    Open Check-In and view Hourly on each day while the gate team scans. Arrivals by hour show you when the rushes come and when the last one has passed.

    Note: The figures cover the whole event rather than one entrance, so read them for when to put more staff on the gates rather than which gate to move them to. The same report reads per day for a multi-day ticket, so Saturday's picture never hides Sunday's.

    Ticket Fairy hourly check-in report with arrivals by hour on a festival day
    Event, Check-In, Hourly.

Or have it done for you

Fai can build the festival from the template, create the ticket categories and releases, turn on a payment plan, add the camping and travel add-ons, switch on names, ID and resale, publish on a schedule, issue crew passes and report arrivals. She shows you the setup before she creates anything and asks you to approve each change.

In your dashboard, with Fai

Help me set up ticketing for our festival; ask about our days, ticket classes and price releases, instalments, camping and travel, resale, crew and press passes and our on-sale date, then show me the proposed setup before changing anything

From your terminal

Install the CLI from our CLI page, sign in with ticketfairy auth login, and choose the brand you are working on with ticketfairy brand use <BRAND_ID>. ticketfairy brand list and ticketfairy event list show the IDs the other commands use.

Use the CLI to create each price release and add-on, publish the event and read arrivals. Categories, the payment plan, names and ID, resale, passes and pixels are set up in the dashboard.

Create the first weekend release.

ticketfairy ticket create <EVENT_ID> --name "Weekend - First Release" --price 149 --max-inventory 2000

Create the camping add-on.

ticketfairy addon create <EVENT_ID> --name "Weekend Camping" --price 45 --quantity 800

Publish the event.

ticketfairy event publish <EVENT_ID>

Read arrivals during the festival.

ticketfairy checkin status <EVENT_ID> --output json

Questions you might have

Should a weekend ticket be a separate ticket type or a category?
A category. Weekend, Saturday and Sunday are each a category, and the price releases inside each are the ticket types. Buyers see one clear choice per day and your reports still show every release.
Can buyers pay for a festival ticket in instalments?
Yes, where the event takes card payments in a supported currency. You set the deposit, the number of payments and the last date, and a plan that stops paying is cancelled after the grace period you choose.
Is camping a ticket type or an add-on?
An add-on, sold beside the admission ticket in the same checkout with its own stock. Limit it to the ticket types it belongs with so a day-ticket buyer is not offered a weekend pitch.
How do I stop touts reselling festival tickets?
Require a name and ID on every ticket and switch resale on. A ticket that changes hands does so through your page at face value, the waiting list is offered it first, and the old barcode stops working.
Do crew and artists need tickets?
No. Give them a multi-entry pass, which scans at the gate like a ticket and lets them in and out as many times a day as its pass type allows.
How do I keep a big on-sale from crashing into one minute?
Schedule the publish time, split each class into releases that open on their own dates, sell to last year's buyers by invitation first and collect a waiting list for the people who miss out.

Related guides

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