The tweet caught me by surprise last Friday night.
Eventbrite, the popular online platform used by event organizers (including me) to create, promote and sell event tickets, had rights to attend the event I published on their platform.
In addition, Eventbrite could film and copyright my event.
And according to their Merchant Agreement, as the event organizer, I had to pay licenses, permissions, clearances, and cover Eventbrite expenses.
What?
Here’s the tweet I read:
Wow. I guess it’s time we all stopped using @eventbrite. They claim the right to attend your event, film it, and own the copyright. https://t.co/4lQ84UKjAC
— Barney Dellar (@branaby) April 20, 2018
The text of their Merchant Agreement (before it was changed yesterday):
You, on behalf of yourself and the Subjects, grant Eventbrite and its licensees the nonexclusive right to use the names and trademarks of you, the Premises, the Events documented in the Shoot, and the Subjects in connection with Eventbrite’s and its licensees’ use of the Recordings. You are responsible for obtaining, at your own cost, all third party permissions, clearances, and licenses necessary to secure Eventbrite the permissions and rights described above, and you represent that you have done so.
And my quick reply to Eventbrite late Friday night, expressing my frustration.
. @eventbritehelp This isn’t right. Eventbrite has right to record our events, but organizers “…are responsible for obtaining, at your own cost, all third party permissions, clearances, and licenses necessary to secure Eventbrite the permissions and rights described above…” https://t.co/AsAYOgcAK0
— Deborah Edwards-Onoro (@redcrew) April 21, 2018
The Eventbrite social media team was on top of the discussion, since they replied to my tweet in less than 10 minutes.
Our Marketing team is excited to share moments that spotlight the magic of your events. In order to accommodate the specific needs of every user, you have the option to opt out of Section 7 by sending written notice of your decision to opt-out to legal@eventbrite.com.
— Eventbrite Help (@eventbritehelp) April 21, 2018
Huh?
This is something event organizers have to opt-out of? In my opinion, it shouldn’t be there in the first place!
Plus, there’s nothing in their clause indicating how to opt-out. If I hadn’t received a reply from Eventbrite, how would I have discovered how to opt-out?
I wasn’t the only one who found Eventbrite’s terms beyond the norm.
Outraged Event Organizers Respond to Eventbrite’s Terms
Word spread quickly on social media within the event organizer community. And event organizers shared their outrage and frustration.
Here are a few of the hundreds of tweets posted in the past few days.
Dear @eventbrite. We’ve been happy customers for years, but can & will not work with the new terms which heavily impact our guests privacy and our speakers intellectual property. Right to enter the event, record & publish everything are NOT necessary to provide ticketing. pic.twitter.com/RgP9wWekHR
— push.conference (@push_conf) April 22, 2018
It’s worse than that. If you’ve ever been stalked or have any abusive exes you’re trying to avoid, it is unsafe to go to an event ticketed by @eventbrite. They can film you, and use that footage plus your name – forever – to do whatever they want. https://t.co/A57YSnTM80
— Sarah Mei (@sarahmei) April 22, 2018
We won’t be using @eventbrite for our meetups ever. That’s a huge breach of privacy for security meetups! https://t.co/7lUeHcvYPg
— Shannon Morse (@Snubs) April 22, 2018
Dear @eventbrite: I didn’t know we gave you permission to attend our events, film & claim copyright when we used your service: https://t.co/XYhl7iqnAY I suspect most other consumers did not, either. Please change this to opt-in, or I’ll need to stop using your service. cc @ftc https://t.co/G4th0h2Tvg
— Alex Howard (@digiphile) April 21, 2018
The way I read the new @eventbrite ToC, if you run a conference, they can show up, record the whole thing, sell it or give it away for free without asking or even notifying you, all because you paid them to use their platform.#bucketOfNope
— Uncle Cal (@CalEvans) April 22, 2018
Eventbrite Finally Responds
After going dark on social media for more than a day (I can understand a bit, it was the weekend), Eventbrite finally responded to their customers with a tweet, explaining that the clause had been removed from their terms.
A clause in our updated terms was designed to help create promotional content with our creators, but the language we used was broader than necessary. We have not recorded any footage at events and have now removed the clause entirely. Apologies for any concern this caused.
— Eventbrite Help (@eventbritehelp) April 22, 2018
However, the ill will the clause created among event organizers has many reconsidering other options for event promotion and ticketing.
I know, I’m one of them.
My Thoughts
Obviously, Eventbrite blundered with the clause in their Merchant Agreement.
Though it took more than a day to respond, Eventbrite finally heard their customers and removed the clause.
But they’ve lost a huge amount of trust and credibility with event organizers.
Eventbrite’s policy was overreaching. In their goal of creating promotional content with event creators, they overstepped in expecting event organizers to pay for the costs, by hiding the info in a lengthy merchant agreement.
The change to their terms is a reminder to everyone who uses online services to read the terms of service and the email messages notifying us of changes in terms of service.
However, I have to wonder.
If it wasn’t for how quickly the clause spread on Twitter, would Eventbrite have made the change on their own?
Eventbrite is used by event organizers in 180+ countries. It’s not a free service for organizers who use the online platform to sell tickets.
What’s Still Missing from Eventbrite?
I give credit to Eventbrite management for stepping up and resolving the issue quickly.
However, they could do more.
A blog post on their website and an email message to all customers where Eventbrite:
- Apologizes to their users for the clause
- Admits the negative impact it had on their customers
- Discusses how they remedied it, made it right
Summary
Kudos to everyone who shared the news on social media. Your social networking efforts had a positive impact, influencing Eventbrite to quickly remedy a bad situation.
If you’re an event organizer who is looking for alternatives, here are a couple of sites to consider: Tito (low fees, community group rates) and Trybooking (free for free events, unlimited support).
I’ll be doing my research to learn more about the two ticketing companies and may publish a post on what I discover.
On a personal note, when I chose to use Eventbrite for our new West Metro Detroit WordPress Meetup group earlier this year, I didn’t think I’d be looking for another online ticketing service so quickly.
