Brown Paper Tickets

Hot on the heels of our recent feature in the Vs Series, 'Kiki Vs Live Nation', we introduce to you Brown Paper Tickets. Our first full on non-band feature.

Founded a decade ago in Washington state, Brown Paper Tickets came into existence in an attempt to fix the double edged sword of "the enormous service charges tacked onto ticket purchases and the lack of customer service provided by ticketing companies". 75,000 events later the company is going from strength to strength.

Named Brown Paper Tickets because of early tickets being typed by hand on each ticket on brown recycled paper they markets themselves as 'the first and only fair-trade ticketing company'. The scope is not just US based either, they have offices in Seattle WA and Edinburgh, Scotland selling tickets to an audience in both Europe and North America.

Ty Garfield says of the company, "We're a no-contract-necessary DIY option for anyone to ticket anything. Essentially, we're trying to do two things: fix the ticketing industry and rescue capitalism."

The charges made by Brown Paper Tickets are ridiculously simple and completely reasonable: for ticket prices $9.99 and under, the fee is 99 cents, for ticket prices $10 and up, the fee is $1.99. Exemplary pricing proving that charges can be reasonable in comparison to the hideous costs that Live Nation stick on top of your ticket price. As if you didn't need another reason to buy and sell tickets with them, a minimum of 5% of their profits are donated to a charity of your choice ranging from organisations involved with human rights, children, animals and the environment.

It's refreshing to see a company that's not just out to line their pockets, but to listen to their target audience and to give back to the community at the same time. It really does highlight that not only are the charges made by Live Nation are massively unfair, but that there is a beacon of light at the end of the tunnel. So, if you're looking to put on a ticketed event, remember there is an alternative.

Check out Brown Paper Tickets at their website, or on Twitter.