Why Marc Geiger went with Prism when starting SaveLive instead of building his own system
It’s no secret that independent venues have been hit hard by not only the pandemic but entertainment giants sensing blood in the water and buying up smaller venues outright. Consolidation is accelerating, yet many venues want to remain at least partially independent and stay true to their roots. And even while live music is back in full force, most venues are playing catch-up, trying to rebuild their coffers as they fight to attract talent and turn a profit without all of the resources the larger companies have at their disposal.
SaveLive is a platform that partners with iconic venues and promoters to grow their brand and business. They found 2020 was the perfect time to help level the playing field and bring the professional resources that big companies use to struggling venues. From data and intelligence to analytics, booking leverage and broad industry expertise, SaveLive is breathing life into the indie scene by revamping their operations to be more efficient and profitable. And their number one tool wasn’t built in-house but by Prism.
Guiding Venues Into a New World
Marc Geiger, co-founder and CEO at SaveLive, used his deep experience building and working with the apps that major companies use. He knew they were at a distinct advantage over smaller, independent companies that didn’t have money to buy the same sophisticated software.
“The super companies put pressure on the venues as Walmart did on smaller stores,” explains Geiger. “The pandemic only made things worse. With my background in concert software development, I knew robust booking software was the key to driving business but building it from the ground up and constantly upgrading it so it can scale is incredibly time-consuming and expensive. Rick Mueller at AEG recommended Prism, telling me they were best of breed. I checked them out and saw that out of all the other pre-built packages I was considering, Prism had the best market position, and their software was closest to what I envisioned.”
Geiger lent his extensive industry and software knowledge to the Prism team to further evolve the software. Essential to Geiger was Prism’s understanding of SaveLive’s requirements. “Prism is saving us a huge amount of time and headache by us not having to build this from scratch ourselves,” he says. “It was a strategic decision not to build our own software but to focus on growing our company. Because of Prism’s willingness to take our feedback and engage in iterative development, we are able to save our resources to help more venues be successful.”
SaveLive uses Prism software in-house as well; it’s where their agents enter offers and book shows, taking that data to then send offers and generate contracts in Prism. They currently use Prism’s booking system to book thousands of shows at more than 40 venues. Geiger says he sees the software as a “must-have, high-capacity application,” and once they get it to eventually feed into their financials and ticket analysis, it will be far and above anything on the market today.
An Essential Innovation for Live Music
Not all of the venues in the SaveLive network need the full gamut of resources the company offers. Some are well-oiled machines and just need some booking help or want to create new revenue streams but couldn’t because of a lack of resources. Geiger requires them, no matter their requirement needs, to integrate Prism into their workflows if they want to partner with SaveLive. He believes Prism should be the “heartbeat” of venue operations and customizes it per venue after conducting a needs assessment.
Of course, change can often be a roadblock for some who are comfortable with their simple and disconnected tools. “For a venue to be successful, they can’t have fragmented data or use disparate systems that create more work,” says Geiger. “We are a tech-forward, Prism house but appreciate some venues aren’t there yet and don’t need to build a system themselves. That’s what we’re here for: to onboard them, get them accustomed to a more advanced, integrated system, and continually work with Prism to develop the software to meet their requirements in the most efficient way possible.”
Lean on Live Music Experts
Venues rely on SaveLive to modernize their business processes and trust Geiger and his experienced team to not only tell them what to do but equip them with the best-of-breed resources. The partnership SaveLive has with the Prism team will help future-proof their business as innovation and industry expertise remain front and center.
“Prism is a complicated piece of software that can and will do a lot,” says Geiger. “Venues didn’t have the ability to do what it lets them do, and they rarely have the technical expertise to build anything close to what Prism has already developed. Prism has been fantastic in working with us, and we couldn’t do this without them being so responsive. Because of our relationship with them, we are better-equipping venues with the essentials now required to compete.”
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