iggli.com

Social media & the web are changing the face of the ticketing industry. People may still wait in line or on the phone to get tickets, but online purchases are fast becoming the norm.

The New York Times piece by Ben Sisario on November 13, 2009 includes a quote by iggli CEO, Tom Higley, on the social nature of events. In fact, it is this very social nature that makes invite so compelling in the ticketing space. Until invite, there did not exist a universally accepted tool in the web space for inviting friends to events. Invitations could always be sent separately by going to email, Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter. Now, however, friends can send one invitation to friends across all of their social networks and never have to leave the website they’re on…be it an artist webpage, venue webpage, or ticketing site. Since people are more likely to buy tickets to an event if they are invited to attend by a friend, invite is an ideal tool for using the social nature of events to increase ticket sales.

In addition to managing invitation replies, invite also allows for group purchasing of tickets, broadcasting to social networks, and conversation streaming about artists & events across the web through the noyz feature.

To read the New York Times article mentioning iggli, please click here.

Ever planned a ticketed event but been unsure as to how to promote it? With the world of social networking Web sites booming, even reaching one’s own close friends and associates can be complicated. After all, there’s no way to ensure that simply promoting an event through one social networking site will reach all of the intended recipients. And, how should one reach those friends and associates who aren’t quite plugged into the social networking world? Having recognized this disparity within the online sphere, iggli has created a means of consolidating online ticket promotion both for the individual as well as for larger groups.

The catalyst for the creation of iggli, according to CEO Tom Higley, was a realization that “no one had created a recognizable standard for invitations related to ticketed events. There is a standard for online events, but not ticketed events, especially music and sports related events.”

Recognizing this hole in the market, iggli responded with the creation of a service, particularly a “green button,” that would allow users to invite their friends to events across all the major social networking sites as well as through e-mail. “After all, some of their friends use email. Some don’t. Some use Facebook. Some don’t. We even go a step further and make it easier for them to find their events and manage the process to pay for the tickets for those events,” pointed out Higley.

iggli, with its innovative approach to online ticket promotion, will be among the companies attending Ticket Summit 2010 in New York City. iggli has been involved with the past three Ticket Summits, and Higley spoke on two separate panels at the most recent conference in Las Vegas over the summer.

As for what iggli will be bringing to the table with Ticket Summit 2010, Higley told Ticket News, “We’ll talk about the importance of conversion and the power of friend-to-freind interaction with resepct to conversion. We will also talk about traditional hurdles to ticket purchase and finally we’ll talk about the ways that data gathered in connection with a process can be helpful in outlining a more effective marketing strategy.”

As a company on the cutting edge of handling social networking and internet ticket sales, iggli’s new format seeks to bridge the gap between, as Higley told Ticket News, “a world that had no social media components and the new world where social media – Facebook, Twitter, MySpace & a collection of Web 2.0 services and companies – where those services begin to be more important to the fan in connecting to the event, the team, the artist, and so forth.” With this goal in mind, iggli and its representatives are hoping for the opportunity to connect with both primary and secondary ticket sellers at Ticket Summit, and have a chance to spread their innovative technology throughout the greater ticketing community.

With the world of social networking and Web 2.0 services continuing to expand, iggli sees itself as a crucial element in the continuing growth of internet ticket sales. Higley foresees a strong future for iggli, with long-term goals including having “anyone that lists an event online use our service, our button, our invitation capabilities, our payment capabilities and we’d ultimately like to offer the service that we provide even beyond the realm of ticketing to make it easy for people who are part of a group to manage and arrange for payment by individual members of the group.”

Higley is confident that iggli’s participation in Ticket Summit 2010 will help iggli move ever closer to those goals. “We always make it a point to connect with key partners at the show because the services that we provide are generally interesting to the larger ticket sellers.”

Next Generation Viral Marketing Tool Is Designed to Expand Conference Attendance Levels

VERNON, CT–(Marketwire – September 1, 2009) – Ticket Summit, the leading conference and trade show for ticketing and entertainment executives, today announced that it has partnered with iggli, inc. to expand its reach to Ticket Summit attendees, enabling industry professionals to network online prior to the conference. The Ticket Summit conference and tradeshow will take place January 13-15, 2010 at The Waldorf=Astoria hotel in New York City.

iggli’s Web 2.0 viral marketing tool — invite — leverages the power of friend-to-friend communication to sell more tickets and enables partners to promote events, programs and ticketing opportunities to large fan bases. The company’s green invite button is designed to be placed in emails, on web pages and on ticket purchase confirmation pages. A single click on the button generates an instant invitation to an event that is distributed to other individual contacts via email and social networks similar to Facebook and Twitter. All invite users have a single online destination to post notes, manage responses, track social conversations and buy tickets to events.

“We look forward to integrating the invite service to provide ticketing and entertainment professionals with a medium through which they can pre-network before Ticket Summit, and chat about the industry as a whole,” said Dr. Molly A. Martinez, Executive Director, Ticket Summit. “The web is improving everyone’s ability to reach larger audiences and iggli’s service will help us achieve our overall conference goals,” added Martinez.

iggli CEO Tom Higley also stated: “We’re excited that Ticket Summit has selected iggli’s invite service to boost their 2010 conference attendance. It’s a great venue for us to showcase the effectiveness of our service and for Ticket Summit to connect with ticketing and entertainment professionals and sell more tickets to the event,” added Higley.

Ticket Summit –Ticket Summit is the world’s leading conference and trade show in the ticketing industry. This event attracts hundreds of global business leaders, entrepreneurs, and entertainment experts in the ticket community. Past attendees and sponsors include Billboard, eBay, Forbes, Google, Live Nation, NBA, NFL, NHL, StubHub, and Ticketmaster, among others. Ticket Summit was founded in 2006 by host company TicketNetwork, Inc. Ticket Summit 2010 is scheduled to take place at The Waldorf=Astoria in New York City January 13-15. For more information on Ticket Summit visit www.TicketSummit.org.

About iggli, inc. — Founded in 2007, iggli, inc. is the creator of invite, a web-based invitation service that serves fans and providers in the sports and entertainment ticketing industry. Fans use the service to create invitations for ticketed events, track responses, and create social conversations around an event. Partners, such as ticketing sites, venues, promoters, artists, sports teams and event aggregation sites, use invite to generate more awareness of events and make it easier for visitors to invite friends and buy tickets. For more information about iggli and invite, visit http://iggli.com/partners.

This past Friday, iggli, inc. CEO, Tom Higley (@tomhigley), was a presenter at Ticket Summit in Las Vegas July 15-17. Held twice a year, Ticket Summit is a 3 day gathering of movers and shakers in the secondary ticketing market. The list of keynote speakers was impressive, to say the least: Ray Waddell of Billboard, Chris Tsakalakis of StubHub, and Joe Cohen of Seatwave. This conference was particularly interesting because of the increased focus on the role of social media. Ticket Network, the sponsors of Ticket Summit, went all out with their own social media efforts by creating a Facebook event page and tweeting live from the conference via a conference specific Twitter account, @Ticket_Summit.

As the creator of invite, an app geared specifically to ticketed events, it only made sense that Tom be present to share his knowledge during the two social media sessions that were held on Friday (July 17).

The first session began at 10am and was titled Web 2.0: Linking Social Media & The Ticket Business. Other panelists included Cliff Kurtzman of My City Rocks (@MyCityRocks), Joe Koufman of Enguage Digital (@GumboShowJoe), & Robert Land of Social Nomads (@RobertLand). Below is a copy of Tom’s presentation for this session.

Web 2.0 Linking Social Media _ The Ticket Business _Tom Higley_ –

The afernoon session began at 2pm and was titled Web 2.0: Apps to Expand your Market Base. Tom was once again joined by Cliff Kurtzman of My City Rocks for this session which was focused more specifically on the social media apps that can prove most helpful to ticket sellers in expanding the reach of their marketing efforts. Below is Tom’s presentation for that session.

Web 2.0 Apps to Expand Your Market Base _Tom Higley_ –

For more information on Ticket Summit, visit www.ticketsummit.org.
If you are interested in adding invite to your site, please visit our partner page at http://iggli.com/partners

Follow us on Twitter: @iggli

The world’s largest ticket marketplace is the latest to integrate iggli’s friend-to-friend communication service.

Boulder, Colorado / July 14th,  2009 – iggli, inc. announced today that it has successfully deployed its invitation service with the world’s largest ticket marketplace, StubHub. The company’s service, called invite,  gives fans the ability to invite, track and coordinate whether or not they can attend a particular show or event.

invite uses friend-to-friend communication technology that allows fans to coordinate their social activities around a particular event. Venues, promoters, artists, sports teams, event companies and primary and secondary ticket sellers, like StubHub, benefit by reaching a broader audience and, ultimately, by selling more tickets.

“The secondary ticket market is rapidly expanding and StubHub is at the epicenter of this growth. We are excited about helping them enhance that position”, said iggli Founder and CEO Tom Higley. “StubHub has embraced invite, recognizing the success that we’ve had in the primary ticketing market, and they are enthusiastic about our ability to help them reach additional fans.  invite should translate nicely to the secondary market and we’re excited about the partnership.”

Fans benefit by using an easy communication tool that takes the hassle out of organizing events with their friends. They can also post comments, purchase tickets and share details via partner websites and trusted social networks such as MySpace, Facebook and Twitter.

“While the secondary ticketing market is different from the primary market, the core demand equation for both remains the same: people don’t like to go to shows or events alone. We think invite has the potential to add considerable value to our existing user experience and we look forward to putting that into motion,” said Chuck La Vallee, StubHub’s Head of Business Development for Music and Entertainment.

According to StubHub and other industry sources, the secondary ticket market is estimated to account for $10 billion annually in the United States.

ABOUT STUBHUB – StubHub is the world’s largest ticket marketplace, enabling fans to buy and sell tickets to tens of thousands of sports, concert, theater and other live entertainment events. StubHub reinvented the ticket resale market in 2000 and continues to lead it through innovation. The company’s unique online marketplace, dedicated solely to tickets, provides all fans the choice to buy or sell their tickets in a safe, convenient, and highly reliable environment. All transactions are processed and delivered by StubHub and backed by the company’s FanProtect Guarantee™. Company partners include the New York Yankees, Chicago Bears and the University of Southern California along with nearly 60 teams in the NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL and NCAA, complemented with music artists like Madonna and companies such as ESPN and American Express. StubHub is an eBay company (NASDAQ: EBAY). For more information on StubHub, visit www.stubhub.com

ABOUT IGGLI, INC. – Founded in 2007, iggli, inc. is the creator of invite, a web-based invitation service that serves fans and providers in the sports and entertainment ticketing industry. Fans use the service to create invitations for ticketed events, track responses, and create social conversations around an event. Partners, such as ticketing sites, venues, promoters, artists, sports teams and event aggregation sites, use invite to generate more awareness of events and make it easier for visitors to invite friends and buy tickets. iggli’s Founder and CEO, Tom Higley, will be a key presenter at this weeks Ticket Summit 2009 in Las Vegas.  For more information about iggli and invite, visit http://iggli.com/partners

Media Contacts:
iggli, inc.  / Tracy Collier / 303.440.0211 / tracy@iggli.com
StubHub / Vanessa Daniele/ 408.821.4292 / vanessa@gazellecommunications.com

Iggli brings social climate of concerts, sporting events to Web

By Jean Spencer Camera Staff Writer
Monday, July 6, 2009

Photo by Mark Leffingwell

In 2007, Tom Higley founded iggli, an online, friend-to-friend communication network specifically designed to provide entertainment industry enthusiasts a forum for communicating about upcoming events and shows.

The idea, Higley said, is to bring the social-nature of concerts to an online medium.

“Concerts, live music and sporting events are social,” Higley said. “People want to go with their friends. In fact, sometimes it matters more who is going to the concert than who is actually playing.”

One click of the iggli widget — which lies embedded on ticket sales, venues and promoters’ web pages — allows users instant access to see upcoming shows, buy tickets and invite their friends to events through e-mail or linking to preferred social networking sites such as Facebook or Twitter. The button is a green square with three horizontal white dots.

Higley said the iggli widget eliminates the nightmare of logistics fans must coordinate when attending a show by providing a “one-stop shop” for ticket purchases and schedule coordination.

Fans can track events, post comments, coordinate concert schedules and communicate about up-and-coming shows, Higley said.

“You no longer have to call all your friends to see who will buy the tickets and who is going or not going,” Higley said. “You can go to one spot and see it all.”

The widget benefits business partners — typically ticketing sites, venues, promoters or sports teams — by generating more awareness of events and making ticket sales easier for customers.

Boulder’s Fox Theatre and Boulder Theater already use the service. Sarah Coffield, publicist at the Boulder Theater, said it has “definitely boosted sales.”

“It’s been a great value and asset to the theater,” said Collier, adding that she’s seen fans from 14- to 60-years-old learn to use the system.

Iggli recently announced that Grammy nominated singer-songwriter Jason Mraz will be the first artist to implement the service.

The green widget is now integrated into Mraz’s official Web site in time to support his summer 2009 Gratitude Café Tour.

This follows a May announcement that Bill Silva Entertainment, Mraz’s management company that also manages James Morrison, Robert Francis and Vices, would integrate the invite service to all of its sites.

Ryan Chisholm, a manager at Bill Silva Entertainment, said he is excited about the possibilities that the iggli widget will provide for Mraz’s fans.

“Jason’s fans are very devoted,” he said, adding the iggli widget is the “perfect model for fans to really get involved and eventually drive ticket sales.”

Higley, who has successfully started up five other technology companies in recent years, hopes the iggli widget becomes an iconic symbol, plugged into every ticket sale, venue and artist page found on the Web.

“It’s just the beginning,” he said. “I expect to see that button everywhere you go to buy tickets soon.”

E.W. Scripps Co.
© 2006 Daily Camera and Boulder Publishing, LLC.

Click here to see the original article.

A legend. The late Tom Dowd was for many years the most extraordinary figure in music and technology. He worked on the Manhattan Project (the Atomic Bomb) and then worked as an engineer and producer for Atlantic Records. The artists he recorded and / or produced include Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Thelonius Monk, Aretha Franklin, Eric Clapton, The Rascals, James Gang and so many more. He was the first to use stereo on a record. He pioneered the use of eight-track recording for popular music. And because of his vision and drive, Atlantic Records became the first record company to record using multiple tracks.

Tom Higley
President & CEO
iggli, inc.

Originally posted by Tom as a Comment on Facebook after joining the Facebook group, Induct Tom Dowd into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Read more about Tom Dowd

Atlantic Records Artist Continues His Innovative Use of Technology By Adding iggli Invite Service To His Website

Boulder, Colorado (Billboard Publicity Wire) June 23, 2009 — iggli inc. is excited to announce that Grammy nominated artist Jason Mraz has integrated the company’s invite service into his website. The Atlantic Records singer/songwriter is the first artist ever to adopt the technology. “We have had many venues and ticket sellers adopt the service, but Jason is the first major artist to recognize the value of our service and implement the technology,” said Tom Higley, iggli’s founder and CEO. “We’ve had great success improving ticket sales for our other partners and we’re confident that Jason Mraz and other artists will benefit as well.”

The service gives fans the ability to invite, track and coordinate whether or not they can attend a particular show or event. “We’re excited to have the technology to share with Jason’s fans,” said Bill Silva of Bill Silva Entertainment, Mr. Mraz’s management company. “iggli’s service helps people connect, and we’re all about exposing more people to Jason’s music.”

The unique on-line invite service uses friend-to-friend communication technology that makes it much easier for fans to coordinate event-based social activities. Ticket sellers, venues, sports teams, event companies, promoters and artists, like Mraz, benefit by reaching a broader audience and, ultimately, by selling more tickets. Fans benefit by using an easy communication tool to coordinate with their friends. They also use the invite service to post comments, purchase tickets and share details via partner websites and trusted social networks such as MySpace, Facebook and Twitter.

When fans log on to Jason Mraz’s website (http://www.jasonmraz.com), they simply click the green “invite friends” button, in the tour dates section, to take advantage of the service. Everything else is automated from that point on. They can buy tickets to his upcoming “Gratitude Café Tour,” invite friends and organize who’s going using the simple, Jason Mraz branded interface.

ABOUT IGGLI, INC. – Founded in 2007, iggli, inc. is the creator of a web-based invitation service that serves fans and providers in the sports and entertainment industry. Fans use the service to create invitations for ticketed events, track responses, and create social conversations around an event. Partners, such as artists, venues, promoters, sports teams, ticketing sites, and event aggregation sites use the service to generate more awareness of events and make it easier for visitors to invite friends and buy tickets. Prospective partners can learn more at: http://www.iggli.com/partners

ABOUT JASON MRAZ – Atlantic Records artist Jason Mraz’s third studio album, the platinum-certified We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things., received three Grammy nominations this year, including “Song of the Year” for “I’m Yours.” The first song ever to top the charts at four pop radio formats, “I’m Yours” has been certified 4x platinum in the U.S. and is currently the fourth best selling digital single of all time. The San Diego-based troubadour was recently honored with the Songwriters Hall of Fame’s esteemed “Hal David Starlight Award.” The award–given to gifted songwriters who are making a significant impact in the music industry via their original songs–has previously gone to such artists as Rob Thomas, Alicia Keys, John Mayer, and John Legend. We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things. has proven to be a worldwide sensation: in addition to being certified platinum here in the U.S., the album has also received platinum certification awards in France, Canada, Singapore and Hong Kong, triple platinum status in Korea, double platinum in Australia, with gold records in the United Kingdom, Malaysia, Portugal, Norway, Sweden, New Zealand, The Netherlands, and Switzerland. Mraz first broke onto the national scene in 2002 with the certified platinum Waiting For My Rocket To Come, which featured the hit singles, “Remedy (I Won’t Worry),” “You & I Both,” and “Curbside Prophet.”

2009 Independent Promoter of the Year Adds Invite Service

Bill Silva Entertainment Continues Leadership Position By Adding iggli Invite Service To Their Websites

Boulder, Colorado (Billboard Publicity Wire) June 2, 2009 — iggli,  inc. announced today that the 2009 Pollstar Independent Promoter of the Year, Bill Silva Entertainment (BSE), has added the company’s pioneering invite service to their websites. “Social media technology is pushing new ways for fans to communicate about shows and events and we felt that iggli offered us a great platform to help fans connect,” said BSE’s President and Founder Bill Silva. “We’re excited about the service and what it can do for our artists and their fans.”

The service gives fans the ability to invite, track and coordinate whether or not they can attend a particular show or event. “BSE’s addition of our invite service continues iggli’s strategy of adding artists, promoters, venues and primary and secondary ticket sellers to our partner roster,” said iggli CEO Tom Higley. “Our business model counts on innovative companies adopting the service, and BSE is a great example of a company that embraces new technology to boost performance and fan interaction.”

The unique on-line invite service uses friend-to-friend communication technology that makes it much easier for fans to coordinate event-based social activities. Ticket sellers, venues, artists, sports teams, event companies, and promoters like Bill Silva Presents benefit by reaching a broader audience and, ultimately, by selling more tickets. Fans benefit by using an easy communication tool to coordinate with their friends. They also use the invite service to post comments, purchase tickets and share details via partner websites and trusted social networks such as MySpace, Facebook and Twitter.

BSE management clients like Jason Mraz, James Morrison, Robert Francis, and Vices, along with other artists whose shows are promoted by BSE, all stand to benefit from the addition of iggli’s service. “We’re excited to have the technology to share with their fans,” said BSE’s Silva. “No one likes to go to a concert alone and iggli’s service helps people connect, and we’re all about exposing more people to great music.”

When fans log on to the BSE website (http://www.billsilvaentertainment.com), they simply click the green “invite friends” button to take advantage of the service. Everything else is automated from that point on. They can then buy tickets, invite friends and organize who’s going using the simple, BSE-branded interface.

About iggli, inc. – Founded in 2007, iggli, inc. is the creator of a web-based invitation service that serves fans and providers in the sports and entertainment ticketing industry. Fans use the service to create invitations for ticketed events, track responses, and create social conversations around an event. Partners, such as ticketing sites, venues, promoters, artists, sports teams and event aggregation sites, use the service to generate more awareness of events and make it easier for visitors to invite friends and buy tickets.

About Bill Silva Entertainment – Since 1979, Bill Silva Presents (BSP) has produced over 10,000 events from small clubs to major stadiums all over the world. Shows produced have included such prodigious talents as Simon & Garfunkel, The Police, Madonna, Nirvana, Eric Clapton and Bob Dylan. Bill Silva Management (BSM) offers a full house of specialized services helping to guide the careers of platinum-recording artists, critically-acclaimed comedians, and well sought after writers and visionaries. In addition to managing clients, BSM handles music publishing and licensing for multiple artists.

In the business of ticket sellers, Tom Higley points to one phenomenon standing between the artists and venues that put on a show and the uncollected billions in unsold tickets and seats: the problem of the bad friend. In Tom’s description, it’s this bad friend (“Bobby”) who has historically given ticket purchasers pause when buying tickets in a block: Will Bobby show up? If he does show up, will Bobby pay? Will Bobby need to be hunted for weeks in chasing down reimbursement? It should therefore come as no surprise that, for ticket purchasers who need to outlay money upfront, the tendency is to err on the side of the conservative in choosing the number to buy. This phenomenon is one of the many problems that Higley and his company iggli, inc. seek to solve.

Excerpt above taken from Rocky Radar article posted on May 21, 2009.  To see the article in it’s entirety, please go to Rocky Radar.