Ticketing built for rooms,
not stadiums.
Backline is workhorse ticketing plus fan-database infrastructure built for independent music venues. You own the customer. You keep the door. You pay less than you-know-who.
One workhorse platform. Four working parts.
Fan Database
Every ticket buyer, every walk-in, every opt-in — logged in your CRM, owned by your venue. Never rented from a platform. Never held hostage.
Native Ticketing
Public event pages, multi-tier pricing, coupon codes, QR check-in. Built on infrastructure that already runs the CRM — no third-party sync, no dashboard-hopping.
Show Marketing
Automated pre-show reminders, post-show follow-ups, birthday campaigns, VIP segmentation. Email and SMS from one place. Runs itself once you set it up.
Door Tools
QR scanner PWA that works on any phone — tested against real bar-wifi conditions. Cash walk-in reconciliation. Comp and guest-list workflow that doesn't make your door person hate you.
The math your venue actually cares about.
| Backline | Eventbrite / TicketWeb / DICE | |
|---|---|---|
| Per-ticket fee | $1.50 flat + card processing | $3.70 + 3.7% (Eventbrite) / variable elsewhere |
| Fan data ownership | Yours, exportable, forever | Locked to the platform. You get a CSV, if you're lucky. |
| Merchant of record | You — on your own Stripe. Chargebacks stay yours. | Them. Your payout waits on their schedule. |
| Email & SMS marketing | Included. Automations built in. | Send-a-blast tool, or nothing at all. |
| Cash walk-in reconciliation | Handled. Same list, same reports. | You track it on a clipboard. |
| Contracts | Month-to-month. Leave anytime, take your data. | Multi-year lock-in is common. |
The rooms where people actually see the band.
- ▸ Independent music venues, 100 to 500 capacity
- ▸ Bars, clubs, breweries, small theaters
- ▸ Rooms doing 3+ ticketed shows per month
- ▸ Operators who want their customer list back
- ▸ Venues sick of chasing paper trails at the door
- ▸ Owners who'd rather book the next act than fight the ticket platform
You built the venue. You booked the band. You promoted the show. Then a platform you didn't hire kept the customer list, the marketing rights, and half the door fee. That's the deal we're here to end. — The Backline Charter
Put your room on the pilot list.
REV · 2026-07-20
PRE-LAUNCH
You're on the list.
We'll reach out within 48 hours. In the meantime, if a fellow venue owner should be on this list too, forward them backlinetix.com. Small-venue solidarity beats platform incumbents every time.