What Would You Do Without Access To the Internet?

March 4, 2013
By Barb

Most Americans consider having Internet access as necessary as having heat, water or food in the house, but the surprising truth is that thousands in Washington State do not have regular, high speed access, or have no ability to interact on the World Wide Web.

Brown Paper Tickets is proud to announce its involvement with the State of Washington 2013 Digital Inclusion Summit. One of our Doers, Sabrina Roach, is on the steering committee for The Summit on Thursday, March 14 in Seattle, which will will provide a forum to share policy, curriculum research, and other resources, as well as promote digital inclusion efforts and needs in Washington State. Tickets are $50 and can be purchased right over here. Those without internet access, or who just prefer a live person to online registration, can call Brown Paper Tickets’ 24-hour live customer service hotline at 1-800-838-3006. Just another way Brown Paper Tickets builds community as a matter of doing business, guided by our Not-Just-For-Profit business model.

Digital Inclusion has focused on access, literacy, and providing meaningful content and services to the communities currently not using the Internet. The Digital Inclusion Summit is an opportunity to highlight solutions that will continue to drive broadband access and adoption and provide training and access to Internet facilities that help to make internet access a part of the human experience, not just for those in urban areas with enough financial privilege and education, but for all. The Summit will unveil some of Washington State’s achievements and setbacks in broadband adoption, a critical goal in an era when broadband is central to education, job search and training, economic development, and the information needs of communities.
Read More…

News >

Part 1: Hard Tickets? What You Talking About!

February 11, 2013
By Jerry Seltzer

Today, we have a guest post from Jerry Seltzer, often referred to as “The Commissioner” of Roller Derby. His father, Leo Seltzer, invented the sport in 1935 and Jerry has followed in his footsteps since 1957, going from Roller Derby promoter (SF Bay Bombers) to television syndicator, to co-founder of BASS tickets, to Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Ticketmaster and now, finally, to Brown Paper Tickets, where he is serving a role as an Outreach and Sales Representative. We are honored to have a living legend as part of our team and Jerry has a ton of great stories on Derby history and the history of the modern ticketing industry as we know it today.

Today’s post is the first in what, we hope, will be an ongoing series. So, without further ado, I give you Jerry Seltzer, the Roller Derby Jesus!

I first handled box office for Roller Derby in San Diego in 1957. They were having games every night at Jack Murphy Stadium, and we ordered 20 sets of tickets from Globe Ticket Company, which included all 3000 reserved seats; the remaining General Admission tickets were sold off of rolls, different colors each night.

We would have to “rack” the tickets in wood holders, by section and row, which took an endless amount of time, put on sale a week of games at a time. Tickets had to be counted out and given to cashiers for each night. Customers would have to go from cashier to cashier to get the section they wanted, and then we checked them in, did a box office statement after counting the unsold tickets (“deadwood”) and putting them in a box to save for any IRS or city tax audits.

In 1959 when I started operating Roller Derby in the San Francisco Bay Area, we established some outlets at various private box offices around the area, and paid them commission for each ticket they sold. Again, customers who wanted a specific section had to chase around to find it. And we had to pick up unsold tickets the day before the event so we could have all tickets on hand for the cashiers, losing sales in outlying areas.

Tuesday Tease: 3 Hidden Gems for Producers and Ticket Buyers

February 5, 2013
By James Ulness

I’d like to take a few moments to pull back the curtain and expose some of the inner workings of Brown Paper Tickets in order to help ticket buyers and event producers meet up more easily. I spend a lot of time reviewing burlesque shows and there are a ton of great overlooked tools on the site that producers and ticket buyers can use to find shows and sell tickets.

After consulting with several producers about what features of Brown Paper Tickets they use most, I have compiled a list of the top 3 “hidden gems” on Brown Paper Tickets’ site that producer’s and customers can use to sell tickets and find shows. This being Tuesday Tease, I am going to be highlighting features used by burlesque producers but everything listed here will apply to almost every kind of event.
Read More…

Arts >

Mid-Week Beat: 2013 – The Year of the D.I.Y. Musician?

January 23, 2013
By Barb

2013 is starting to look like a very good year for D.I.Y. musicians.

There was once a day when most musicians longed to be “discovered,” which really meant “marketed and paid very, very well” simply for performing, creating and sharing their art. Those musicians had no interest in becoming entrepreneurs, and gratefully allowed others to take the reins of the business side of their career, in exchange for a cut of the profits. Using that model, both the artist and the fans were paying quite a bit for the privilege of finding each other. Most times, it also meant compromising your artistic vision in order to become more accessible to a mainstream audience.

Today, it has become easier for a gifted artist to keep control of the reins of his or her career: booking gigs and tours, selling recordings, interacting with fans and avoiding the “middlemen” of the industry. Artists can do this armed with nothing more than a solid work ethic, a laptop and a sufficiently large core of faithful supporters and fans.

A recent example of this is Seattle rapper Ben “Macklemore” Haggerty and producer Ryan Lewis. The duo have taken a D.I.Y. approach to gradually building a fan base. They shot and edited their own video for “Thrift Shop” which now boasts more than 50 million YouTube views. Macklemore and Lewis avoided signing with a major record label, turning down potentially large advances to put out “The Heist,” their second album, which debuted at #1 on iTunes and #2 on the Billboard charts. In the past, it would have been literally unheard of for a self-released album to achieve this level of success. Also, Macklemore and Ryan decide for themselves which shows they will play and which services they will buy/use to promote themselves. By doing this, they stay true to their art, and the messages they are sending through their music.
Read More…

Music >

Introducing the Cafe Racer Artist Tickets!

December 10, 2012
By Jimmy Berg

About six months ago, on May 30, 2012, the Seattle artistic community was dealt a massive blow.

A lone gunman, Ian Stawicki, walked into the University District artist haven Cafe Racer and opened fire, killing two prominent members of the Seattle music scene, Drew Kariakedes and Joseph Albanese (known to most by their stage names Shmootzi the Clod and Meshuguna Joe) as well as Donald Largen and Kimberly Layfield. An employee of the Cafe, Leonard Meuse, was also shot but, miraculously, survived. The shooter then shot and killed Gloria Leonidas, a mother of two, in the Downtown/First Hill neighborhood about 30 minutes later, while stealing her SUV. He then drove the stolen vehicle to West Seattle where he killed himself in front of Seattle Police officers. It was a day of terror and tragedy that many of us in Seattle will never forget.

Drew and Joe were good friends of mine as our bands had played together often over the last 15 years. In fact, the last show that their band, God’s Favorite Beefcake had played, had been with my band The Bad Things, the Saturday before the shootings. The loss of these incredible musical talents cast a dark shadow over our tight-knit musical community and six months later, their absence is still felt every day.

The shooting struck a chord with Brown Paper Tickets as well. I had first heard of Brown Paper Tickets from Drew and Joe’s previous project, the Circus Contraption and everyone here felt a strong kinship with the folks in the Circus, who had used Brown Paper Tickets when the company was just starting out. Many others in the company had known Drew and Joe, had spent time at the Racer or seen God’s Favorite Beefcake, so this tragedy was something we all felt deeply passionate about.
Read More…

News >

Thrash/Punk Legends D.R.I. Need Your Help!

November 15, 2012
By Barb

If you are a punk, metal or thrash fan, here’s a chance to help a great band and a great cause.

Legendary hardcore/thrash band Dirty Rotten Imbeciles (D.R.I.) formed in Houston, Texas in 1982 and, alongside bands like Suicidal Tendencies, Corrosion of Conformity and Stormtroopers of Death, were one of the main groups to spearhead the “crossover” movement of the late 80s, which melded hardcore punk with thrash metal. While never earning widespread commercial success, the band is legendary amongst fans of US hardcore and thrash metal due to classic albums like “Dealing With It” and “Crossover.”

In March 2006, lead guitarist Spike Cassidy was diagnosed with colon cancer, but this did not keep him down. After surgery and treatment, he got back out on the road, doing what he loves: playing with D.R.I.

* WARNING! This video contains explicit language. *

Last month, D.R.I.’s management had to cancel several tour dates, just a few days before the shows. Spike’s cancer treatments had caused an emergency hospital visit and further treatment. (See photos here.) Brown Paper Tickets’ 24 hour service team took the call from D.R.I.’s management, and communicated with all the ticket buyers for them, making the refunds. In a show of support, Brown Paper Tickets donated the full amount of all tickets refunded as a contribution to the fund for Spike’s medical bills.
Read More…

Music >

Donate to Seattle Radio Station C89.5 Today

November 7, 2012
By Barb

Funny story: if it weren’t for C89.5, there may have been no Brown Paper Tickets.

Growing up in Seattle, our founder William Scott Jordan was able to listen to Electronic Dance Music (EDM) on one of only 8 stations nationally. His passion for EDM eventually led him to create Brown Paper Tickets as the go-to ticketing option for the dance community over a decade ago. Today, C89.5 continues to spread cutting-edge dance music to the international masses from Seattle’s own Nathan Hale High School, and Brown Paper Tickets continues to provide low-cost ticketing to a wide, and ever-growing, variety of events all over the world.

Like with most non-profit radio stations, community support keeps C89.5 running. This is why we have pledged to match the first $1,000 in donations to this year’s pledge drive! Nathan Hale students will be accepting donations in any amount, and also giving away CDs of the radio station’s content for a donation of $89.50. Supporters can either call (206) 421-8989, or make a donation online to help them to reach their goal – the first $1,000 of which will be matched by us.

C89.5 is, in William’s own words, “an amazing example of what public radio can do,” adding “C-89.5 was one of the few place to hear the new and fantastic dance music that was coming out of places like Chicago, New York, Europe, and the UK…it’s really the only radio station in the city that offers this kind of programming.”

C89.5 KNHC-FM is one of the 8 stations nationally that help determine Billboard‘s Top 40 Dance Music chart and it has been named “the largest and most influential educational radio station in the country” by Rolling Stone magazine. They were also named the “Best High School Radio Station” by the Village Voice. The station serves over 250,000 loyal listeners in the Pacific Northwest alone and its internet stream has been accessed by more than 220,000 individual IP addresses worldwide, earning them international recognition. “Our biggest audiences are here in the Pacific Northwest, London, Germany and Brazil,” said General Manager Gregg Neilson.

C89.5’s 10-day pledge drive helps them continue to be self-sustaining station, and a beloved community staple. Support community media: lend your support!

News >

More than 1,000 Tickets Donated to Veterans in Just 3 weeks!

September 17, 2012
By Barb

More than 1,000 tickets have been donated to veterans, active military and the families of those who gave their lives in U.S. military service in the first 3 weeks of a partnership forged between Veteran Tickets Foundation, and Brown Paper Tickets.

Veterans are eligible for donations of tickets given by event producers and ticket buyers through Brown Paper Tickets. This is the only ticketing company partnership whereby tickets are being donated instead of sold to veterans at a discounted military rate.

“Our partnership seems to be in full swing,” said Michael A. Focareto, a veteran of the U.S. Navy and Chief Executive Officer/Founder of Veteran Tickets Foundation.

“Here are some ‘thank you’ messages we received from veterans who have used tickets donated through the producers on Brown Paper Tickets.”

“A big thank you for the passes to the Rose City Comic-Con. If it wasn’t for you I would not have been able to take my sons to this event. They had such a good time. I remember going to this event when I was about their age and it was priceless to see the look on their faces as we walked around and looked at the different exhibits. Thank You!” – Posted by Jim on September 10, 2012. Jim is currently serving in the US Military and attended Rose City Comic-Con in Portland, Oregon on September 8, 2012.

“Thanks for the ticket to the comedy show. The show is hilarious…haven’t laughed that hard in a long time. Greatly appreciated!” – Posted by Edgar on August 28, 2012. Edgar is currently serving in the US Military and attended “Reinforcing Stereotypes – A Night of Stand Up Comedy” in San Francisco, California on August 24, 2012.

“Brown Paper Tickets is proud to help event producers and ticket buyers to donate their tickets to veterans and their families,” said William S. Jordan, president and founder of Brown Paper Tickets. “As a company founded on the principals of fair-trade, we look for opportunities such as this partnership with Vet Tix to give to our community, and specifically, to give back to those who put their lives on the line for our freedom. This is our way of saying, ‘thank you.'”

News >

The Business Accelerator Suite – Your “Ticket” to Economic Recovery

September 3, 2012
By Barb

Wondering how to grow your business in this economy? According to business experts, the answer is simple and, surprisingly, free: start producing events.

Events can increase a consumer’s purchase intent by up to 52 percent, according to the Advertising Research Foundation’s study, “Engaging Events Pay Out,” referenced in AdWeek.

Classes, tours, fashion shows, seminars, tastings, “pop-up” gallery events, workshops, open houses, and more – producing events is the new trend for businesses competing for market share and customer loyalty in an economy where consumers are being more careful about where and how they spend their hard-earned income!

What are you good at? What can you share? Need to start generating revenues before the doors open?

Produce a class or an event; our Business Accelerator Suite has everything you need, and our 24/7 customer service team will show you the way to start making sales in as little as 20 minutes.

Brown Paper Tickets has made it easier for you with our new Business Accelerator Suite – FREE tools proven to help you to build event marketing into the mix of how you bring customers to your door.
Read More…

News >

Cash Bonus, Anyone?

August 6, 2012
By Barb

Did you know that Brown Paper Tickets pays you a 2.5% cash bonus on every ticket sold for your event, if you use almost any other credit card processor besides the Brown Paper Tickets free credit card processor?

It’s true.

Brown Paper Tickets pays you 2.5% on every ticket sold if you use other processors, such as your own merchant account, PayPal, Amazon Payments or Google Checkout. The way we figure it, when you are our partner in selling tickets and make the most money on your event, we win, too.

Think about how many repeat ticket-buyers you will have when your fans realize how much less they are paying in fees. Or how good they’ll feel as they choose the type of charitable cause they want to donate to as a result of their ticket purchase.

And now, on top of it all, you will be making more money on your events. Genius.

This is what we call a “no-brainer.” We hope that you call it “awesome,” “a smart move,” and/or “a logical choice,” depending on your perspective and personal style!

For more information on this and other great features that you may not be familiar with, check out our Services Page or give our Client Services Department a call (1-800-838-3006, Option 4) and ask them how to set up your own credit card processor. And, have fun with that extra cash!

News >

« Older Entries Newer Entries »

Topics

Tags