Thwarting Bots: How Pretty Lights, The Caverns, Seated & Tixr Partnered For The ‘Soundship Spacesystem Tour’

As music venues and artists grapple with how to ensure that coveted concert tickets end up in
the hands of loyal consumers and devoted fans, independent venues like The Caverns in
Pelham, Tennessee, are forging partnerships that are generating income and positive results.
Recently The Caverns partnered Pretty Lights (aka Derek Vincent Smith), ticketing company
Tixr and artist services platform Seated for the “Soundship Spacesystem Tour,” Pretty Lights’ three day, above-and-below-ground festival with a full lineup at the venue, which includes an
expansive, 5,500-cap amphitheater and a subterranean concert hall that can accommodate
1,200.

The team created an integrated on-sale and communications strategy with the goal of
thwarting bots and resellers. With high demand, the three-day event sold out in minutes with
11,000 tickets and add-ons for Pretty Lights at The Caverns grossing $1.4M.

“In today’s digital environment fans are often being outcompeted by bots and scalpers causing
chaotic on-sales,” said Grace Winton, ticketing and box office manager at The Caverns. “We are proud to be able to work creatively with our artists and partners to help get more tickets into the hands of real music fans.”

When the tour was announced in April, 30,000 fans – who had waited five years since the
artist’s last tour – signed up with Seated for The Cavern dates Nov. 3-5. Everyone who
registered via Seated received a unique access code by email and text message 20 to 60
minutes before the primary on-sale on Tixr. The access codes unlocked up to 4 tickets per Tixr
Order.

Once inventory of any given ticket type was exhausted, Tixr’s built-in waitlist triggered, allowing fans to pre-authorize their credit cards should additional tickets become available. With waitlist on, bots were unable to hold tickets and exhaust inventory, keeping fans off the resale market and destroying the scalper risk profile.

The evening of the on-sale, July 28, Tixr’s bot defenses ran another analysis, scrubbing orders to identify and refund tickets purchased by obvious bots and known resellers. Tixr’s waitlist
automatically assigned reclaimed inventory denied to bots and resellers back to real fans who’d preauthorized their cards.

Tixr confirmed orders, however scannable tickets will not be issued until 48 hours before the
events and at the shows, the name on the ticket must match a valid ID.

“The Pretty Lights on sale was a success, thanks to The Caverns team’s willingness to think
outside the box and activate our fan-friendly toolset to make it happen,” said Sara Mertz, vice
president of venue partnerships for Tixr. “Unique access codes, waitlists, delayed ticket
delivery, and fan-to-fan transfers – on top of the predictive algorithms and risk detectors built
by our data scientists and payment processor – all packed a powerful punch to combat bots,
fraud and resellers.”

During the camp-friendly festival, Pretty Lights will perform three nights above ground at The
Caverns Amphitheater with visual collaborations by Anti-Alias and The Lazershark plus special
guest Glass Crane and Psybernautics. The event will include late night performances inside The Caverns cave venue by several artists including Manic Focus, Michal Menert, Maddy O’Neal, Break Science, Marvel Years, Chris Karns, Eliot Lipp, Motifv and Thought Process. Additional sets will take place above ground at the amphitheater each day, featuring AS Eliptek, Mossy Projects, Mantra Sounds, Zen Selekta, Nelli, Mikey Thunder and Mux Mool.

“As one the country’s top ‘destination’ music venues, The Caverns understands fans’ passion for music-based travel and the stress of securing tickets when the demand heavily outweighs the supply,” said Jeff Meltesen, marketing director for The Caverns. “Fans don’t mind missing out to fans, but missing out to bots and scalpers is something we and our partners at Tixr work hard to mitigate.”