TWICKETS AND THE TICKET TRUST JOIN FORCES

Twitter and mobile based exchange platform Twickets and The Ticket Trust, a secure ethical ticket exchange site set up by AIF and Sandbag, have formed a strategic alliance to combat profiteering in the secondary ticketing market. Offering a viable and ethical option to exchange unwanted tickets as the festival season gets under way, all tickets posted on The Ticket Trust website will also feature on the Twickets app and Twitter feed.Twickets is a free fan-to-fan ticket exchange mechanism on Twitter and mobile app that allows event goers to swap spare tickets for music, theatre and sporting events with fellow fans for no more than face value.  Twickets is designed to help ensure empty seats are filled, without having to utilise expensive secondary ticketing channels that are increasingly ripping off genuine fans.  Twickets has over 200,000 users and has facilitated the exchange of more than 100,000 tickets in the last year.The Ticket Trust (www.thetickettrust.com) was created by the Association of Independent Festivals (AIF) and music marketing and merchandise company Sandbag to offer a safe and secure ticket exchange to help correct the secondary ticketing problem, which seeks to make big profits - taking hard earned cash away from fans, musicians and live events.  The Ticket Trust has been the secondary seller of choice for most independent festivals in the UK including Secret Garden Party, Bestival, Camp Bestival and End of the Road Festival as well as for tours by Radiohead, Nick Cave and many others.  It has sold over £160,000 worth of tickets since its inception in 2011 and is the suggested resale site for all AIF member festivals, who have a combined audience of over half a million. Ben Turner, Co-founder and Vice Chair, Association Of Independent Festivals: “As we move into 2014 secondary ticketing continues to dominate the live music agenda, pushing up prices for music fans and potentially stunting independent festival growth. This partnership is a fantastic step in combating secondary ticketing and gives any tickets listed our Ticket Trust exchange platform added exposure, to the tune of 200,000 fans!AIF and its festival members have taken a firm stance against, and will continue to challenge, the profiteering of a select few to the detriment of the grass root festivals that we know and love.”Richard Davies, Twickets: “The Ticket Trust has the same ethical approach to the secondary market that we have at Twickets and we’re delighted to join forces to attempt to stamp out profiteering from fans."Christiaan Munro, Sandbag: “We have helped thousands of music fans with a conscience sell their unwanted tickets without supporting the expanding secondary market. Utilising Twickets' existing network to alert music fans to the availability of tickets being sold on The Ticket Trust, can only be a good thing."About AIFThe Association of Independent Festivals is a not for profit body set up in 2008 to represent independent music festivals in the UK and Ireland.Conceived by Bestival promoter Rob da Bank and Graphite’s Ben Turner, the Association’s founder members included Bestival, Cornbury Festival, Evolution Festival, Secret Garden Party, Kendal Calling and WOMAD.With almost 50 members ranging from the 2,000 capacity ‘In the Woods’ in Kent to the 55,000 capacity Bestival in the Isle of Wight, AIF enables the promoters of some of the UK & Ireland’s most innovative and successful festivals to speak with one voice when addressing the wider music business and government.AIF aims to establish best practice for festivals in a variety of areas such as security, the environment and beyond, providing a knowledge base for festival promoters, as well as creating collective purchasing and marketing opportunities for its members.AIF operates as an autonomous division of the Association of Independent Music.