Using Festival Software to Fix Festival Woes
-
by
Riley Manning has worked as a travel and entertainment writer for more than 10 years. Today, he writes about unique events and the technology that helps make them happen.
Developing and launching a festival is quite the undertaking even for seasoned pros. You have to manage staff, visitors, tons of information, scheduling, ticketing, and more. Your goal is to host a memorable, safe, and fun festival for everyone. To make your life easier and to make your customers happy, consider using festival software to streamline and simplify the process.
Permits, Insurance, Taxes, and Licenses
Pulling off a great festival means making sure you have all the required permits and licenses. As you may have guessed, festivals involve tons of permits and licenses. In addition, there are taxes you must pay, and your event could be shut down if you can’t prove you have followed all the proper protocols. Creating and hosting a festival costs money even before you start lining up vendors, entertainment, and concessions.
Depending on your event, you could need permits for mass gatherings, alcohol, sound, structural, or fireworks, to name a few.
Often, insurance is required, too. What kind of insurance you may need depends on your festival. You will want to figure out what the right amount of coverage is for your vendors, staff, and artists. The primary types of insurance include:
- General liability
- Worker’s Compensation
- Automobile
- Umbrella
You may also want to consider adding rain or weather insurance, and artist cancellation insurance to cover all your bases.
Permits, insurance, taxes, and licenses cost money. Work with a festival software provider who offers instant payouts. You will have the funds you need when you need them.
Festival Staff and Resources
Managing a festival is like “herding cats” because of all the moving parts and people. Outside of ensuring your guests have a safe and unforgettable experience, you have staff, artists, and vendors to manage. No detail can be left by the wayside.
For example, you have to account for waste, parking, toilets, water and hand washing stations, security, food and drinks, medics, and more. In fact, GottaGo Rentals recommends 25 portable toilets for every 2,000 attendees. Plus, you want to ensure you have plenty of merchandise for guests to purchase at your event.
Using festival software gives you a good idea of how many guests are planning to attend. That’s one of the beautiful things about selling tickets online using festival software with instant payouts. You can plan for the myriad of resources you will need, pay fees, and not worry if you will be able to secure the resources you need in time.
You can also get your attendees excited about your event on your festival software page. The festival experience begins with ticketing.
Memorable Experiences for the Right Reasons
You want your festival to be known for creating the best experience possible for your guests and not for anything lackluster. For your festival to succeed, make it as easy as possible for attendees to buy tickets, get the information they need, and get into your festival. Ideally, they’ll leave your event talking about how much fun they had and not about lines, clunky ticketing, or a boring experience.
Using festival software helps you streamline your event and maximizes the fun your guests can have by offering the ability to:
- Sell tickets easily 24/7 on your website.
- Customize confirmation emails, digital tickets, and mass emails.
- Let ticketholders change their day or timeslot, on their own.
- Provide festival mode to guests who want to buy tickets for multiple days.
- Allow mobile check-in on festival day to keep the lines moving.
- Utilize Square partnership to let you swiftly take payments at the gate.
Did you know that many festival ticketing platforms have their own internal payment processing system, which is why it takes them longer to pay out your funds? Integrating into their system can be difficult when it comes to on-site ticketing tools.
When it comes to festival software, look for something flexible and versatile. It’s counterproductive to lose customers because the festival software you use doesn’t accept their payment method. If you have a digital payment system like Square or Stripe, you want a festival ticketing software that functions seamlessly with your system.
Safety and Security
People tend to let loose at festivals. While that’s part of the fun, organizers have to keep everyone safe and secure. In an ideal world, your festival will go off without any issues, but you have to plan for reality. Having insurance to cover your event is highly important. Consider the specifics of your event, such as the location, type of event, number of guests, and potential hazards.
You may want to offer training to your staff on crowd control, how to handle unruly individuals, using lifesaving medical devices, and CPR, depending on your event.
According to Blerter, the top ten safety concerns for festival managers should plan for include:
- Event and Production Equipment
- Crowd Management
- Children Attending or Participating
- Transport and Traffic Management
- Staff and Volunteer Safety
- Medical Assistance Requirements
- Unpredictable Weather
- Potential Fire Hazards
- Food safety
- Aggressive Behavior
Even though festival software can’t prevent safety issues from happening, it can help you take preventative measures and fix problems fast if they do happen. For example, festival software can quickly alert guests if there is an illness outbreak or possible food poisoning from a vendor.
Festival software can also clearly communicate rules and protocols on your event site and confirmation emails prior to your event. In addition, instant payouts help you get the safety and security resources you need, such as metal detectors, security professionals, on-site medical professionals, signage, extra hand washing stations, and safety training for staff, before your event takes place.
The SimpleTix Festival Software Solution
From ticketing to communicating, the right festival software helps you maximize pre-sales, streamline on-site sales, and keep your entire event running smoothly. The right festival software can make everything easier for you and your guests.
With instant payouts, a unique partnership with Square, the ability to customize your event page, and simple communication options, SimpleTix offers you what other festival software solutions can’t. Our solutions make it easy for you to make your event truly yours.
SimpleTix has offered an affordable, premium event ticketing platform that outperforms Eventbrite and similar apps for over 12 years. Compared to the competition, SimpleTix offers better options at a better price point. To learn more, call us at +1 (855) 550-3670 or email us at support@simpletix.com.
Latest News
Related Articles
Season Ticket Software for Fall 2026: Subscriptions, Reserved Seating & Renewals
-
by
Fall subscription sales are the single biggest revenue moment for most performing arts organizations. Season packages, member renewals, and early access windows all open between July and September. So the season ticket software you pick this summer decides how the fall series actually sells. This guide covers what season ticket software needs to do in 2026, how to configure it for a theater, symphony, or concert series, and what SimpleTix costs for season-driven event programs. What season ticket software actually needs to do Selling season tickets is nothing like selling single-event tickets. First, one subscriber buys 4 to 20 events in a single package. Second, seats need to lock across the entire season. Third, renewals from prior subscribers happen weeks before the general public gets access. And fourth, add-ons like parking, pre-show dinner, and backstage passes attach to the subscription, not the event. So the operational checklist for season ticket software looks like this: Season pass or subscription products that group multiple events into one purchase Reserved seating with locked seats across the whole season, so the subscriber sits in the same seat every night Priority access windows for existing subscribers before general on-sale Payment plans or full-payment options so patrons can split large subscription costs Renewal workflows that let last year's subscribers re-up with one click Comp ticket management for donors, sponsors, and press seats Membership tiers with different pricing, benefits, and priority access Reporting by subscriber, not just by event If your current tool cannot handle these, you are probably running Excel spreadsheets on the side and losing renewals every year. What is season ticket software? Season ticket software is a ticketing platform designed to sell multi-event packages (season subscriptions) alongside individual tickets, with reserved seat continuity, subscriber priority access, and renewal workflows built in. The core difference...
Holiday Event Ticketing Software: Timed Entry, Reserved Seating & Capacity Control for...
-
by
If you run a holiday event, you are booking dates now. So the ticketing platform you pick this month determines how November and December actually go. This guide covers what holiday event ticketing software needs to do in 2026, how to configure it for the season crunch, and what SimpleTix costs for holiday events of any size. What holiday event ticketing software needs to do Holiday events compress a whole year of sales into six weeks. First, most tickets sell in a 4 to 8 week window between mid-November and January 1. Second, weather cancels outdoor events without warning. Third, family groups buy 4 to 8 tickets in one order, not 1. And fourth, capacity is measured per time slot, not per venue. So the ticketing checklist for holiday operators looks like this: Timed entry with per-slot capacity for drive-throughs, walk-throughs, and Santa visits Reserved seating for holiday theater, Nutcracker, and holiday concerts Group and family bundles so a family of six is one checkout, not six Fast scanning at the gate, including offline mode for cold outdoor venues Waitlists for when peak-hour slots sell out Add-ons for hot chocolate, photo packages, VIP tiers, and holiday merch Automated email reminders so guests do not forget their timed slot Same-day payouts to fund the season's operational costs If your current tool cannot do all of that, October is too late to switch. Move now. How do timed entry tickets work for holiday events? Timed entry lets you release a fixed number of tickets per time slot (typically every 15 or 30 minutes) so guests arrive in waves instead of one 6pm surge. For a Christmas light drive-through with a 45-minute route, that usually means 30 to 60 vehicles per 15-minute window. Over a 5-hour evening, you can process 600 to 1,200...
Eventbrite Pricing 2026: Fees, Refunds & What’s Actually Changed
-
by
Eventbrite pricing 2026 is a lot for event organizers to sort through. There are longstanding policies that quietly cost paid-event operators real money, and there is genuine news under new ownership. This guide covers what the fees actually cost you today, what actually changed under the Bending Spoons acquisition, and how the alternatives compare on real numbers. Below is the honest breakdown, sourced to Eventbrite's own pricing page and SEC filings. Eventbrite pricing 2026: current fee structure As of 2026, Eventbrite charges 3.7% + $1.79 per paid ticket for the service fee, plus 2.9% for payment processing. In-person sales carry a $1 + 2.9% fee. There is no per-ticket fee cap. For a quick benchmark of total organizer-side fees: On a $25 ticket, fees total about $3.44 (13.8%) On a $50 ticket, fees total about $5.09 (10.2%) On a $100 ticket, fees total about $8.39 (8.4%) On a $500 ticket, fees total about $34.79 (7.0%) On a $1,000 ticket, fees total about $67.79 (6.8%) The fees scale with ticket price with no ceiling. That is the story for anyone selling premium tickets, season passes, VIP tiers, or corporate packages. Eventbrite pricing 2026: no per-ticket fee cap Eventbrite does not cap total ticket fees. This has been true since 2018, when Eventbrite removed the previous cap during its IPO. For most organizers selling everyday tickets ($20 to $50), the absence of a cap rarely comes up in the math. But for organizers selling premium tickets, the uncapped structure translates into real per-event cost. Take a conference selling three ticket tiers on Eventbrite: $150 general admission: fee about $12.34 (8.2%) $400 VIP ticket: fee about $27.09 (6.8%) $800 sponsor ticket: fee about $50.90 (6.4%) For a 200-person conference with a mix of GA and VIP tickets, that translates into hundreds of dollars...