What Is the Backline Fund, and How Does Buying a Ticket Help?
Every ticket sold through MNPR Tickets carries a small booking fee. You'll always see that fee upfront before you commit to buying—nothing is ever hidden, and no surprise charges will pop up at checkout. But it is worth knowing where that money actually goes, because a meaningful share of it isn't sitting in our account as profit. It goes straight into the Backline Fund.
To understand why that matters, it helps to look at how ticketing fees usually work, and how we choose to do things differently.
Where Your Money Actually Goes
When you buy a ticket on MNPR, the face value—the actual ticket price—goes directly to the event organiser. All of it. We never treat that money as our own revenue; it passes straight through us to the promoter, artist, or venue putting on the show.
Our platform runs entirely on the booking fee. That is the whole reason booking fees exist in the first place: not as a sneaky extra markup, but because running a secure, reliable ticketing system costs money to build and maintain.
That is what makes the Backline Fund different. Rather than quietly padding our margins, we take a direct percentage of our own earnings and ringfence it for the people and places that keep live music alive.
Why We Call It the "Backline" Fund
If you’ve ever been to a venue, you’ve seen the backline even if you didn't know the term: the amplifiers, the drum kit, the stands, and the cables sitting on stage. It's the essential gear that has to be in place before a single note gets played—the stuff nobody in the audience really thinks about, but without which the show cannot happen.
That is the exact philosophy behind the name. Grassroots venues, early-career artists, and local music education spaces are the backline of the entire music industry. They rarely get the spotlight, but without them, the wider scene simply collapses.
Who the Fund Helps
A percentage of every single booking fee is set aside to create grants for real, specific applicants across three core areas:
Grassroots Venues: Supporting small, independent spaces struggling with rising operational costs, or helping them replace critical hardware—like a blown PA system or a broken mixing desk—that they otherwise couldn't afford.
Emerging Artists and Bands: Providing a genuine leg up for musicians trying to get a foothold in the industry, from funding early touring logistics to recording costs.
Music Education Centres: Helping community music spaces and schools replace worn-out instruments and equipment, ensuring the next generation of musicians and sound engineers actually has the tools to learn.
It isn't a vague corporate pledge. It is a real application process designed to put money directly into the hands of people doing the heavy lifting on the ground.
How You Contribute
You don't have to jump through extra hoops or fill out forms to support this. The moment you buy a ticket through MNPR, you are contributing automatically—every single time.
If a particular show or cause means something extra to you, you'll also see an option at checkout to add a small voluntary donation on top of your order. It is entirely optional, completely unpressured, and goes directly into the same grant pool.
The Bigger Picture
Ticketing fees have a terrible reputation, and honestly, most of it is well deserved. But a fee doesn't have to be a dead loss. A real share of ours has a job to do that has nothing to do with our bottom line, ensuring that every time you go out to enjoy live music, you're automatically helping protect its future.