iggli.com

Facebook has provided a new attention-getting tool that you’ll want to know about if you are an artist, promoter, or venue responsible for promoting events, You already know that you can use iggli’s invitation services to leverage the power of email. Facebook, Twitter and MySpace. Now Facebook lets you use the @ symbol to get the attention of a particular person. You can read more about the service in the September 15, 2009 edition of Inside Facebook.

Here’s how the new feature works. Suppose you’re posting an update to a band’s status and you want me to know. For example, Crosby, Stills and Nash are playing the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles on September 23rd. You go to the status box and type: Hey @ . . . and you’ll be given the option to add the name of any of your Facebook friends. So, you type, Hey @ Tom Higley let’s go see Crosby, Stills and Nash at the Greek! Presto, I get a message saying I’ve been tagged by you in a status update. Give it a try!

A note about CS&N. Their 1969 release was one of the first two albums I ever bought. I was probably 13 or 14 years old. While Young wasn’t yet a member of the group or featured on this recording, he made his appearance on DéjåVu and who could forget Ohio in 1970? Released when I was still a junior in high school, it had a pretty powerful impact on me and on everyone I knew.

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

It’s nice when your company generates a little attention in the press. It’s nicer still when so much of what is written is on the money. Yesterday the Boulder Daily Camera covered iggli’s invitation service – invite – and left readers with the impression that we’d like to see our button used on every online listing of ticketed events. That’s accurate. They also accurately captured a couple other key notions:

• that events are social
• that the friends who are going to a particular event are often as important (or more important) than the event itself
• that most people pay more attention to information or invitations from friends

And the part they really got right, the part I particularly liked, was the notion that “one click of the widget” helps folks get through a process that would otherwise be tedious, time consuming and filled with frustration. You’ll know this is true if you’ve ever tried to invite more than two people to a concert or a playoff game. The process is ridiculous.

• Which event?
• Which friends should I invite?
• Do I talk to them by phone to see if their interested? Text? Email? Facebook? Twitter?
• How do I deal with the fact that some of my friends use Facebook (and won’t read email) and some use email exclusively (and won’t touch Facebook)?
• How do I keep track of those who respond?
• How many tickets do we need?
• Who is going to buy them?
• How are we going to handle reimbursement?
• Will we all get to sit together?
• How do we get the best seats?
• What if someone can’t make it at the last minute?
• What’s the best way to communicate with the whole group about our plans on the day of the show or game?

There’s more. But you get the idea. The process can be . . .  problematic.

iggli’s invite service has been designed as a way to deal with these issues. It’s not perfect. We have a long way to go to make the service as easy to use, useful, and fun as we think it should / could be. So feedback is welcome and appreciated! One of the biggest shortcomings of the service is the relatively few places you can find it or use it.  If you’re a fan who wants to take a group to see a Lakers game, a show at Red Rocks, the Michael Jackson memorial concert at Staples Center or anyone of a thousand different events around the country, you’re going to be out of luck for at least another few weeks. Because right now, you can only use the service if our invite widget appears on an event page.

We’ve already made substantial progress in this department. Today iggli’s services have been embraced by Nederlander Concerts, The Greek Theatre, The Grove Theater, Bill Silva Entertainment and Management, Jason Mraz and StubHub. And we have some big deals to talk about in the not-too-distant future. But things will really get interesting when you can use iggli’s service with just about any event you can find. And that capability is right around the corner. So please, stay tuned!

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.

U2 - Photo by Phil Romans, October 3, 2005

It seems appropriate at this point to say a few things about why we built iggli’s invite service and what we think that service will mean for iggli’s partners and for the fans. We often say that great events are social. Whether you’re planning a night out to see your favorite local band or U2 in a packed stadium or maybe the LA Lakers, you will probably end up going with one or more friends. Often the decision to attend a particular event may have little to do with the featured artist or the teams that are playing. Because people often choose to attend an event because they want to spend time with the group that is going to the event or the person who sent out the invitations. To put it another way: it’s about the people.

Brad Feld reflects on a similar epiphany in a recent blog post: “It’s All About the Faces.” (No, he isn’t talking about Rod Stewarts’ bandmates in the Gasoline Alley / Maggie May era.) He reflects on his experience of changing his Twitter avatar from a photo to a graphic designed by Anthony Dimitre. Brad’s experience with this, and with the profile images that Gist makes available (via a Google search) was interesting. It boils down to this. We have an important, powerful and emotional connection to people. Our connections to people influence our behavior. And when we take an approach to software and services that leaves people out of the picture, or when we do things that ignore or constrain the basic human connection, the end result is something less powerful and less satisfying.

Back to iggli. It seemed curious to us that despite all the great, social events people attend, no one had developed an effective model for connecting people-to-people and friend-to-friend as part of the experience of deciding to attend an event. Please don’t get me wrong. I know there are more than enough invitation-oriented web services available. While Evite may be the most familiar, a dozen others exist, including Anyvite, Center’d, MyPunchbowl, Socializr, Eventbrite and more. Each of them has its own particular emphasis, and most of them are worth a look.

Nederlander Concerts - Schedule Page

But none of these services has focused on the space iggli has carved out: an industry standard “invite friends” service that has been designed from the first line of code to provide value to fans (”Power to the People”) and to iggli’s partners (venues, promoters, artists, sports teams and ticket sellers). iggli’s “invite friends” service is different in another respect. The button that invokes the service can be found on the event site iteslf. For example, one of our partners is Nederlander Concerts. A look at the event schedule for The Greek Theatre (in LA) or The Grove (in Annaheim)  reveals the “invite friends” button that provides the doorway into iggli’s service.

The "invite friends" widget

And since iggli began providing its “invite friends” service for Nederlander Concerts,  more partners have begun to embrace the service, inluding Bill Silva Entertainment and Management, Jason Mraz and the largest secondary market ticketing service in the world, StubHub. Why are they using our service? Several reasons. First, the service makes it really fast and easy for a fan to invite a numbeer of his or her friends to a concert or a sporting event and to publicize the event via Twitter, Facebook or MySpace. And getting back to what we were saying (it’s all about the people) there is no better way to promote an event than to get one friend talking to other friends about the event. We help bring to life that powerful conversation among friends.

There’s much more to the service than the basic tools for sending invitations to Facebook and MySpace friends. But I’ll leave those features for another post. The bottom line is very simple: the friend-to-friend communication of our “invite service” helps partners sell more tickets and helps fans connect the events they care about with the friends they care about.