(Q) What issues do you face in the event industry (or/and ticketing) as an artist? Can you share your overall opinion on the industry and it’s issues?
(A) As an artist with 29 years of professional experience, I have seen a lot of various scenarios during my time in international music and event business. I feel that the main issues that artists face (both myself and colleagues) can mostly be narrowed down into a couple of regular reoccurring themes.
The first theme, I would suggest, as being the main pain point for artists, venues and event organizers alike, is the issue of trust regarding payments for services being made on time, especially for various parties that are working together with new contacts for the first time. Until now, written contracts have been the best solution to provide a form of security between all parties involved in making sure that services are provided, expectations are met and payments are made in accordance with the agreements. However, in my experience, the issue of payments being made on time still remains the deepest pain point on a regular basis. Especially for artists with limited resources, who often need to perform before they can recoup their travel costs.
The second reoccurring theme, I would suggest is related to communication and expectations between all parties involved in agreements. I have personally been quite lucky in this respect over the years because I prefer to try to understand the needs of a client before I perform so that I’m able to deliver the expected quality and fulfill the specified requirements for each job. However, I have seen and heard many stories over the years from artists and colleagues who experience various communication issues on a fairly regular basis. Just to clarify, by communication issues, I mean detailed information about what the client expectations are for their artists and what the artist’s expectations are from their clients.
I think it’s really important for an artist to understand what their audiences and event organizers expect of their performances in advance of their performance. For an artist, to have a clear idea of what is required, well in advance of the event can help the artist prepare and maximize the effectiveness of their performance. For example, knowing the time schedule, performance length, amount of people in the audience, layout of the venue and what sound and lighting equipment is installed, etc. It will greatly help the artist decide what kind of songs/setlist to prepare and how to maximize the presentation of performance to their audience. Everybody involved in the business wants success and I feel that it could benefit everyone in the industry to have access to a solution that offers better quality, more transparent forms of communication.
(Q) How do you think Evedo can help change them?
(A) I’m excited to have discovered the existence of Evedo at an event that I performed at during this year’s World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. I like the idea of a platform that offers both transparency and simplicity for event organizers, artists and everyone in the industry involved in the process of making an event come together successfully, smoothly and efficiently.
Through Evedo’s contract and monetary exchange system, I can see a big benefit to various the trust issues that I mentioned in answer to the first question regarding contractual fulfillment, expectations, and payments that are made on time for everyone involved.
I can especially see a huge benefit to event organizers, who, through Evedo would be able to simplify and streamline the whole process of organizing an event from start to finish. This, in turn, has the ability to enhance the quality of details and improve workflow, while efficiently saving a massive amount of the organizers.
I also like the idea of trust that the ticketing platform could bring concertgoers, event organizers and artists. I think it’s important for customers and audiences to feel a level of absolute trust with organizers and artists when they purchase tickets for concerts and events. Especially at this point in time, artists are building relationships with their fans that are acquired through a great deal of time, care and personal engagement, and at a level that is unprecedented in history. With the personal bond between artists and fans becoming much closer than ever before, I think it is hugely important for trust to be a vital part of Artist — Fan relationship.
Trough the use of blockchain technology, I can see companies such as Evedo playing an important role in helping minimize the risk of a fan’s purchase from the kind of ticket fraud the industry has seen in recent years. Being able to help fans protect their purchase will indirectly help maintain important elements of artist-fan trust and relationships in the future.
