DON’T EXPECT TO see a decline in the number of entertainment events that require people desirous of attending to link up with a committee member to get a ticket.
In recent years Barbadians – on social media and elsewhere – have criticised fetes that require people to register, “get screened” and meet up with one of the committee members to collect their packages.
It goes without saying that not everyone that registers makes the final cut.
But industry insiders, including Toni Thorne, one of the directors of We Ting, and Orlando Newton, chief executive officer of TicketPal Caribbean, said they expected the trend to continue.
Thorne said the concept of using influencers in a specific industry to promote an event was not new, and she defended the practice. She said that through the push of committee members, packages for We Ting were sold out within nine days of going on sale.
The practice was not an attempt to be elitist, she pointed out.
“I could only speak for the events that I am affiliated with. Our focus is never to be elitist. But we are about decency . . . . If there are persons who are excessively lewd we would appreciate [not having] their money.”
She had some advice for those who failed to get into an event of this type.
“If you don’t get into one I encourage you to attend one of the many other events – try something new. Why keep trying to get in year after year?” she said.
Newton, on the other hand, acknowledged that this form did fuel the elitist mindsets of some partygoers.
“Most people want to know what type of person is going to be at their events, so most people would not go to [events such as] Reggae On The Hill or Soca On De Hill unless they are in VIP.
“I’ve heard people call and ask, ‘Is there going to be a VIP at Vintage Reggae?’ and when we say no they would say they are not coming,” he said.
“So that has become the culture. People want to feel important and that has become the norm within the industry. If you get tickets too easy it means that every and anybody is going to come to an event,” he added.
While noting that the practice works and he expects it to continue, he said promoters must work hard to keep up the quality of their product.
“If your product quality drops, then so does your event since you are not opening to the masses . . . . Your standards must remain high. If you have an issue, that market that you are catering to can walk away from you.”
“We had a few events last year that had issues with that; they didn’t produce the quality that people were expecting and that gave rise to other products competing for that position,” Newton said.
The events that have adopted ticket sales via committee members are mainly all-inclusive events. (TG)
