Three years ago this month, True Tickets announced that Jack Rubin, co-founder and former CEO of Tessitura Network, had joined the company as a strategic advisor. At the time, it was a milestone moment. Rubin, Co-Founder of Tessitura and Tessitura CEO for 20+ years, had already shaped how the cultural sector managed CRM, ticketing, and audience relationships for more than two decades. His decision to lend his experience to True Tickets reflected a shared commitment to collaboration and innovation in live entertainment.
Rubin continues to be an active advisor and thought leader. In a recent interview, he looked back on how the industry has evolved and what makes True Tickets’ approach to ticket delivery, data, and resale so important today.
Mobile Became Essential
“Before the pandemic, mobile ticketing was becoming critical. PDFs were not secure, which enabled fraud,” Rubin said. “Then producers like Hamilton started setting rules about the number of days or even hours before a show that you could send or deliver a ticket. Rotating barcodes became important from a security perspective.”
Rubin explained that at Tessitura, the application could easily enable mobile ticket delivery for their clients, but building the same level of rules and features that True Tickets already offered would have slowed other development projects. “True Tickets, which had its roots in blockchain, was a solution that was timely and performed very well,” he said.
He added that mobile delivery quickly for the arts, cultural and entertainment sectors went from optional to required. “After the pandemic, mobile ticketing became essentially the only way to deliver tickets. It went from a nice-to-have to a necessity. True Tickets’ services, especially secure ticket transfer and rules-based ticketing, have a super high return on investment for venues. No longer are there ghosts in the audience- what True Tickets calls shadow audiences. Venues now know who is in the room and can follow up for sales, targeting, fundraising, and engagement. The benefits are huge”
“True Tickets had a solution that was timely then, and it is even more timely now.”
Partnerships Over Building Alone
Rubin noted that True Tickets plays an important role in supporting platforms like Tessitura rather than competing with them. “The work that True Tickets has done enables Tessitura to focus development on critical things,” he said. “The big difference is that True Tickets can work with multiple ticketing platforms. Every ticketing system needs this service. Some think they can do it on their own, and I am sure they can, but many companies have a ‘must-build-it’ syndrome and their efforts stall or only do a partial job. Their resources are better used partnering with best-of-breed partners like True Tickets.”
He added that the value becomes clear quickly. “True Tickets is not that expensive a service. It is very affordable, and you can prove almost immediately, certainly within year one, that you get more of a payback from the results than the cost.”
Revealing the Shadow Audience
Rubin described the ability to identify every attendee as one of the most important changes True Tickets has brought to the industry. “Eliminating fraud has always been a problem, but identifying shadow audiences, the ones you did not know were coming before, is just so important,” he said.
“Now, when tickets are transferred for any number of reasons, organizations have the name and email address of that person. From a box-office standpoint, these people are on the show manifest. It is critical for future marketing, targeting, fundraising, and more.”
He called these newly identified guests “the magic pixie dust” for audience growth. “These new-to-file constituents, which we did not know about before, are the magic pixie dust that helps add to audiences and build revenue.”
“New-to-file constituents are the magic pixie dust that helps build audience and revenue.”
PatronSafe Ticket Resale
Rubin also discussed how True Tickets’ PatronSafe Ticket Resale™ meets a growing need in the industry. “Today, plans change quickly,” he said. “People who bought tickets often cannot attend, and the old habit of donating tickets back to the organization does not happen much anymore.”
He described how large resale marketplaces have grown into mainstream businesses. “Resale marketplaces are really big businesses and they are legitimate. Names like Vivid Seats, StubHub, SeatGeek, and others spend hundreds of millions of dollars a year on media. No one organization can outspend them.”
That is where PatronSafe Ticket Resale™ helps both the patron and the venue. “The beauty of the PatronSafe Ticket Resale program is that it lets the ticket holder take advantage of all these platforms with one button. If they need to sell their tickets, they do not have to register with StubHub or SeatGeek or any of the others. The True Tickets PatronSafe Resale program places their tickets on 12+ marketplaces, the venue controls the price limits/timing windows, and the patron gets a to recoup their investment if their plans changed and they can’t make it. It is a win for the consumer and a win for the venue.”
“PatronSafe Ticket Resale is the easy button. One click and the tickets are everywhere they need to be.”
The Changing Landscape of Ticketing
“Mobile ticket delivery is virtually the only way tickets are delivered now,” Rubin said. “Engagement needs to be more personalized. Websites are smarter, mobile is where consumers spend their time, and everything has to happen faster. Fraud has increased, so organizations need technology that helps them fight back, and True Tickets is part of that.”
He also pointed out that alternative ticket marketplaces have become part of everyday life. “They are a huge part of the ticket buying world for all ages. I probably use those platforms 60 percent of the time myself. The industry will always change, but True Tickets helps organizations stay ahead of it.”
Challenges and Opportunities Ahead
“The big threat is the competition for attention,” Rubin said. “Small screens, short attention spans, and streaming at home all compete with live events. The challenge is to make the live entertainment experience worth the time and money.”
He also shared how technology can help. “Artificial intelligence can be used for efficiency and service and even pricing, but it should not make organizations feel automated. It should make them smarter and move faster.”
Rubin believes personalization is essential for long-term success.
“The days of shotgun marketing are over. One-to-one personalization is what is here today.”
Looking Ahead
Five years after first partnering with True Tickets while at Tessitura, Rubin remains confident about its direction and its role in shaping the future of live entertainment.
“It was a solution that was timely then,” he said, “and it is even more timely now.”
About Jack Rubin
Jack Rubin is the co-founder and former CEO of Tessitura Network, where he led the company from its founding in 2001 to a global network of more than 725 arts and cultural organizations. He joined True Tickets as a strategic advisor in 2022.