HMV partners with Tixserve for next-gen digital tickets

03 April 2019 - Press release

HMV has partnered with Tixserve to provide secure, content-rich, next-generation digital tickets for in-store events.

Tixserve is a Software as a Service (SaaS), white label, digital ticketing solution that enables event creators and rights-owners to create branded, interactive and content-rich digital tickets that are delivered directly to consumers’ mobile phones.

The HMV deal kicked-off with a number of successful signing sessions with Twenty One Pilots at six stores across the UK at the start of 2019. The events took place during the UK leg of the band’s Bandito tour and were 100% digital as far as ticketing is concerned. Tickets were sold as part of a bundle with the band’s fifth album Trench.

More than 3,200 digital tickets were distributed via the Tixserve mobile app to purchasers’ smart phones simultaneously for events in Birmingham, Glasgow, Manchester, Belfast and two in London.

The successful fulfilment of the Twenty One Pilots digital tickets is the beginning of a multi-year partnership between HMV, the UK’s largest entertainment retailer, and Tixserve, as HMV develops more live events.

As well as enabling a reduction in printing and distribution costs, and allowing the integration of interactive content and assets, Tixserve digital tickets benefit from innovative ‘track and trace’ technology which can eradicate ticket fraud and enable secure, authorised ticket exchange as specified by the event organiser.

In the run-up to HMV’s Twenty One Pilots events, it was found that touts were advertising yet to be activated Tixserve tickets online for up to £200 – a mark-up of more than 1000% on the album/ticket bundle. When fans alerted HMV of these cases, organisers were able to disable all ticket transfer functionality unless authorised on a case-by-case basis, thanks to the Tixserve technology.

Another obstacle that was quickly overcome through Tixserve’s digital technology was the need to move one of the events to a new location following the closure of HMV’s Oxford Street store. A new venue in Covent Garden was found for the signing session and the relevant digital tickets were dynamically updated with new artwork and information. Extensive use was made of real-time push notifications to keep ticket-holders informed and to add to the sense of expectation and excitement for fans looking forward to meeting their favourite band.

HMV Senior Events Manager Simon Winter said: “HMV works closely with the major record companies and their artists to create exciting and engaging in-store events, and we are always looking for ways to improve the customer experience. Using Tixserve has given us the control we need to manage ticket distribution in-house, and the digital ticket helps build a closer relationship directly with the ticket holder. The recent run of sell out Twenty One Pilots events required us to distribute over 3000 tickets with purchases of the band's Trench album. We needed a very secure ticket offer to stop potential re-sale at highly inflated prices, and Tixserve allowed us to stop this and maintain direct contact with the ticket holders from the point of purchase right through to the event itself.”

Patrick Kirby, MD at Tixserve, added: “Working with HMV will mean their customers benefit from highly secure, convenient and content-rich digital tickets which can be tailor-made to bring real added value to each individual event. For Tixserve, it’s great to be able to partner with a company synonymous with the music sector, and to work with such iconic bands such as Twenty One Pilots. Not only was Tixserve able to distribute their digital tickets quickly and easily, we were also able to configure Tixserve for this high profile event to prevent the unauthorised sale and transfer of tickets on re-sale sites.”