The other day, TechCrunch tipped us off to a hot new last-minute ticket-selling app called WillCall. The app currently lets users choose their purchases from a select list of concerts, but will soon expand to include tickets to plays and symphonies as well. WillCall is currently only available in San Francisco but will expand to Los Angeles and New York City in March.
If this all sounds like a way to simply hold back extra tickets to increase demand, it should be noted that the TechCrunch story notes that some tickets may be discounted from anywhere between 30 to 50 percent, so its not all bad.
As much as I like the idea, it got me thinking about what other ticket-purchasing apps were also available to iPhone users. It turns out there are a few others worth looking at.
Redline Tickets (free) has a built-in advantage over WillCall in that its already offering up tickets for events all over the United State and Canada. Users can search for events via geographical region using the iPhone GPS or by the venue, sport or musician. Would be ticket buyers can also browse events simply by seeing what’s hot in town during the current week.
If you prefer to get your tickets from sad souls who can’t make the concert they wanted to attend, Antengo’s real-time classified app is a perfect option. Antengo lets users sell and find concert tickets, roommates and furniture but its most valuable asset is its anonymous messaging system. Once you find the tickets you’re looking for you can message quickly with the seller and keep in contact with them until the tickets are in your hands. And you’d be doing someone a favor, when you think about it.
But what if you’re a club promoter looking to sell tickets? Turns you there’s an app for you, too. CLUBTIX (free) makes it easy to handle will call lists and ticket sales directly from its own interface. You can even combine the app with a barcode scanner and scan tickets through the app, too.
Finally, there are apps like Ticket Tweet (free) that act as aggregators of search results from the secondary ticket market. Find the event you’re looking to see and Ticket Tweet will search numerous ticket brokers to find you the very best deals on that sold out concert you never thought you’d get to see. If making online ticket purchases makes you queasy, the app also lists a customer service phone number to ease any possible tension you might feel.
Whether you prefer to wait until WillCall comes to your city, or you pick up one of the other apps mentioned here, it seems clear that the only thing stopping you from seeing your favorite bands live isn’t whether their show is sold out, it’s whether you feel like putting your iPhone to work for you. That and deciding whether you really feel like standing next to sweaty teenagers all night.
