A presale creates urgency ahead of the announcement and tells the promoter early whether the show is working.
Who gets one
- The artist's own mailing list, usually first
- The venue's members or newsletter subscribers
- The ticketing platform's own audience
- Radio and media partners, on a shared code
How it runs
A code or a private link, open for 24 to 48 hours, two or three days before the On-sale. An allocation is set aside for it, often 10 to 30 percent of capacity, so the general sale still has stock to sell.
Why it matters to the artist
Presale numbers are the cleanest signal of a real audience, because those buyers came through the artist's own channels rather than the venue's. Agents and promoters read them when they size the next room. Ask for the figure at settlement; the ticketing platform can produce it in a minute.