So, this is basically the same thing that Kim Boekbinder did last year but they're trying to build their own Kickstarter-like infrastructure around it.

The new kink here is that if the show reaches a funding goal then the people who pre-bought tickets get their money back and see the show for free, but people who buy tickets after the goal was reached have to pay. (Which can't work, see below.)

It's an interesting idea, but they have done exactly one show so far so take it with a huge grain of salt.

Fans fund goals by purchasing BringTickets before an event's deadline expires. When an event is funded the "Gig is On" and standard Box Office Tickets start to sell. If funding falls short then all funding participants receive a full refund.

Reward: If Box Office Ticket sales reach the magic number, BringTicket purchasers get their money back and go to the concert for free.

What happens after the goal is reached?

After the goal is reached we start selling Box Office Tickets just like any show does. If Box Office Ticket sales reach the magic number all BringTicket purchasers for the event go for free.

What happens if we reach the goal but no Box Office Tickets sell?

Then the fans who funded the show get an exclusive show and have already paid for their tickets.

How do you set the goal amount (How is the cost of the show determined)?

Bring the Gig negotiates and confirms pricing with artists, venues, security, event staff, lighting, sound, insurance and everything else needed to produce a show. We total all these expenses and use that total as the goal amount.

Yeah, this part cannot possibly fly. They can't do that and still get any venues to sign on. Taking the risk of putting on the show for free exactly reduces the problem to that of booking an unknown band with an unknown draw: in other words it obviates the need for schemes like BringTheTicket. The only way this can work is for the sales goal to be that the non-refundable sales exceed the costs, ignoring the refunds.

The goal of services like this is to convince the venue that the show will do well. If you are an established act with history in town, you don't have to do that, the numbers already tell the story. A service like this is for bands that the venues know nothing about: it's a way to eliminate risk. But instead they've just gone and put the risk back in.

Without eliminating that risk, you might as well just be using one of the many gig-matchmaking services like SonicBids who take a cut off the top.

Why don't you accept pledges instead of charging at the time of check-out?

Because pledges are not guaranteed funds, pledges increase the risk for everyone involved, including the fans buying tickets. Also, by offering the potential reward of attending a show for free it opens up too many potential loopholes for abuse.

I think what they just said here is, "Obviously Kickstarter has been a mammoth failure, so we don't want to follow them into the grave." Oh wait, I got that wrong, actually what it says is, "We can't figure out how to do that so we're gonna just lie about it."

Previously, previously.