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Interview: Sound Rink CEO Cody DeLong

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Sound Rink is a ticket company dedicated to bringing together bands and their fans through unique VIP experiences. Having worked with the likes of The Word Alive, Silverstein and State Champs, Sound Rink has grown exponentially over the last year, and Legendary Kids Press was recently able to speak with CEO Cody DeLong about the company, the VIP ticket business and future plans.

How did the idea for Sound Rink come about?

Sound Rink came out of our own need for a VIP ticketing company. My partners Scott Lee and Jason Mageau are both mangers of bands and they were unhappy with all of the companies that were doing the same thing. I was an agent at the time and noticed the same issues. I’ve always been an entrepreneur, so I just naturally knew I wanted to start something.

What makes Sound Rink different from other sites that offer VIP packages?

We try to be more creative than other companies, provide more tools for artists and offer better customer service to the buyers. We really try to offer the best service possible on both ends of our business. It has helped us stand out amongst all the other companies. I feel like if we do a great job in servicing our artists and the fans then our service will speak for itself. We are constantly creating new tools for our artists backend to view says and analytics.

On the fan side of things, we are trying to make our site really easy to use, as well as making it accessible on all platforms.

The VIP ticket business has rapidly grown over the years. What do you attribute to this?

I feel this is attributed to artists finding other avenues of revenue, as album sales are down and the money they see from the streaming of albums is very small. This is another way for an artist to be able to support themselves while on the road.

Where do you see the company in five years? Do you have any plans to expand it to countries other than the US?

I see ourselves building even more tools for our artists, as well as even better experiences for our fans. We have silently launched Sound Rink in Europe and Australia recently and look forward to growing in both of those markets.

You’ve announced you’ll be releasing an app in a few months to help fans better access Sound Rink, and you’re the first in the sector to do so. Why do you think no other service has dove into the app market?

I feel like other companies are more of a service for the artist and less of one for the fans. We are making sure that we continue to be a service for both the fans and the artist. We want fans to find out about these packages through us, as well as the artist. We really do our best to help promote each VIP package that we can to our past purchases for the artists. It’s about creating a community and it has worked well for us.

How do you go about working with the bands you do?

We honestly work with a lot of managers that come back to us for all of the artists that we have. We also are actively reaching out to management companies, before a tour even exists, to see what we can do to help them.

While you want to give fans the best VIP experience possible, money is always a factor. Is it hard sometimes finding a balance between offering a positive fan experience and pricing the VIP packages?

We personally do not have trouble doing it, as we are very active with letting artists know when a price is too high. We are looking out for the artist themselves, as well as ourselves, so that fans do not get angry or discouraged at either of us.

What advice would you give someone looking to get involved in some aspect of the music industry?

I highly recommend interning anywhere that has to do with music and use that opportunity to network. I started out working in photography and I quickly transitioned into being a concert promoter in New Hampshire and Maine. After that, I transitioned into booking tours for artists while interning and then working at an indie retail marketing servicing record stores with promotions for artists like Silversun Pickups, Nada Surf and Grace Potter, to name a few.

All of those things led me to starting Sound Rink and it was all done through networking. You do not need to get a degree in music business. Personally, I feel you are better off getting a degree in business. You can learn about the industry one year and the next year it changes; it’s all about adapting.

To learn more about Sound Rink, or browse through their current VIP packages, click here

By Clare Fitzgerald