Stage Front Tickets Is Building A Global Platform Focused On Technology, Relationships And Innovation

Karl Roes, CEO and founder of Maryland based Stage Front Tickets has been focused on creating a suite of software tools, a pool of skilled employees and relationships with players across ticketing spectrum. This, plus the capital which he has accumulated over the years has enabled Stage Front to stake its own unique space in the industry. Stage Front’s partnerships with consigners and its relationships with rights holders are the foundation of Roes’ success.

Event ticketing is at its core a business which has existed since the beginning of time once someone figured out they could trade talent for goods. Today, the deal is only one standard deviation away: now the trade is talent for money. What is changing and rapidly is the way that technology is both easing and complicating that basic trade.

In the beginning the trade was simple: here’s a chicken, tell me a story. Now, there are data rooms filled with servers tracking demand for a particular artist or team and moving prices instantaneously in response to demand surges or lulls. Event tickets, like airline seats or Nasdaq stock prices move continuously throughout the day based upon both the intrinsic demand and the perception in the marketplace of scarcity of supply or the velocity of prices either up or down. Many ticket sales companies are built like trading desks, reacting to market based price movements by adjusting their own supply or moving prices as they forecast the next likely price support level.

Stage Front – Industry Leading Services for Ticket BrokersStage Front

Stage Front is building tools which assist them in maintaining a functioning marketplace. Their tools help to price tickets, to balance supply and to better understand the underpinnings of a event ticket’s likely price trajectory. Roes is directing his team to integrate innovative technology building proprietary products which help deliver a better consumer experience in ticket resale using consignment and strategic partnerships with teams, leagues and events.

What is so interesting about Stage Front and its CEO Karl Roes is that he started by accident. Karl’s ticket journey began when he was too young to get into a show for which he had a ticket. After being denied entry because of his age while his friends managed to get into the event, Karl found himself outside with a ticket that had no utility for him. That was where he first paid attention to a guy selling tickets on the street, buying here, selling there, and making a margin on the sales. Karl sold his seat to someone who was old enough to see the show. What he didn’t realize at the time was by selling that ticket he started a journey which today has led to Stage Front, a company which does business around the globe and even has its name prominently displayed on a Nascar.

Running a company which distributes tickets for events around the globe requires more than just an internet connection. To succeed, your team must be disciplined, organized and your software has to run nearly without fault. Stage Front has 55 employees currently and is in the process of adding more as fans continue to return to live events as the pandemic abates. Stage Front’s technology monitors real time prices, delivers tickets electronically when they are purchased, provides tools which assist in predictive pricing and builds relationships with both consumers and those in the industry who supply the tickets whether by direct relationships or through third-party intermediaries who consign their tickets onto the Stage Front platform. Recently, Stage Front has agreed to official partnerships with LaLiga North America, the International Champions Cup, the Women’s International Champions Cup, the ECHL, and more.

The Stage Front model has several revenue lines. There is proprietary trading of tickets and the service fees charged to consignors who utilize the Stage Front platform. Those consignors have options for Stage Front to provide front office support, or upgrade to a broader platform of tools including purchase funding or use of software which provides the ability for ticket prices to be moved automatically, in accordance with pre-set limits dictated by the user. Because ticketing requires so many touch points from purchase to ultimate fan in attendance, providing a service which handles the detail work related to tracking inventory from purchase through final delivery and through all the intermediate steps is critical for a ticket business to function. Although the market is still substantially a United States marketplace, tickets are moving in time zones across the globe. For a smaller company, having to staff to manage inventory in real time when it is purchased through sale and entry into the event requires a deep bench of staff. It is not economic for small companies, which opens the door for specialists like Stage Front to carry that burden in return for a fee which is likely a fraction of what it would cost a small to midsized company to fully staff in house.

Stage Front also crafts its own deals with promoters and primary ticket sellers around the globe. Roes’ ability to reach beyond North America gives him a competitive advantage as there is far less competition internationally than here where there are many other players with substantial economic capacity.

Because he has been around the industry so long, Roes has good insight into trends which are developing and stays involved with both his time and his money in supporting industry events, conferences and education. As the ticket industry matures with consumers seeing less differentiation between “primary” and “secondary” marketplaces, this once highly fractionalized business is maturing. As that process unfolds, it falls to those who have been around long enough to build trust across the industry who help build and maintain the bridges between organizations. Roes is knowledgeable in this space and always willing to share his take on any particular problem.

Below in both audio and video format is my conversation with Karl Roes. You’ll notice his calm and clear manner as we discuss Stage Front’s role in event ticketing and Roes’ opinions of where the industry exists and is heading.

The ecosystem which has sprung up around event ticketing is no different than any family of raucous relatives. There are the boisterous firebrands, the cautious planners, the agitators and the peacemakers all intermingled at the same dining table. And, like any family, there are those with the experience and the manner to defuse tension and smooth the way forward for everyone. Karl Roes is that guy, the lifer in this business who is still finding ways to improve his company and in so doing allow those who work with him or his company to enhance their own pathway to success. Stage Front has done its job when those who use its tools succeed. Any business model which is predicated on earning money by making sure its customers are winning is built on a solid foundation. The truism of business used to be “slow and steady wins the race,” but as I observe what Roes has done with Stage Front it just may be that fast and steady can both win the race and really enjoy the afterparty.