Eurosonic Noorderslag (ESNS) is one of Europe’s key showcase events where fans and music industry figures exchange and network. First established in 1986, this festival has a proven track record for helping new acts break into the international music scene and this year, from the 17th to 20th January in Groningen, the Netherlands, the festival brings together more than 40,000 visitors, 4,000 conference delegates and 400 international festivals from 30 countries.
For the second consecutive year, SIX is providing the latest payment solution to enable a complete cashless Eurosonic Noorderslag, allowing attendees to pay for food, refreshments and merchandise with wristbands or chip enabled cards that are linked to each individual ticket. The wristband can be pre-loaded either online before or during the festival at one of the top-up stations by means of debit or credit card. After the festival, the remaining credit can be easily refunded to the bank account without any additional charge, either on-site or after the festival.
For this special four-day music festival, 70 Point of Sales (POS) terminals including top-up stations are installed, configured and serviced by SIX and located across the whole festival area throughout Groningen including all bars, restaurants, concert areas, even a church where performances are held. With the expertise and experience from SIX, transactions can go seamless irrespective of where the customers are.
In addition to providing terminal infrastructure, SIX also provides the technology for preloading the wristbands by accepting not only the most common international debit and credit cards but also the most popular online payment system in the Netherlands, iDEAL. SIX works in collaboration with YouChip as the solution provider for access control and cashless payment to enable and facilitate the entire payment system for the festival.
Roger Niederer, Managing Director of SIX in Austria, added: “The trend for cashless events is spreading across Europe. We are proud to support the world-renowned Eurosonic Noorderslag festival in the Netherlands with our cashless payment solutions. At SIX we are constantly always in a search to make payments better and more seamless for the fans and eliminate the logistical difficulties of handling cash so everyone can enjoy the music and the amazing environment of the festival.”