FansUNITED is a leading photo agency in the entertainment world. Founded 1989 in Koblenz, Germany, FansUNITED is now in 15 countries including the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan and Great Britain. FansUNITED is a photo agency with a twist. Unlike traditional agencies in the music industry, this agency's photos are not only syndicated to the media but also sold direct to fans by mail and web order. More than seven million customers have purchased concert photographs from FansUNITED.

With high profile photographers such as Guido Karp, Anton Corbijn and Robert John the FansUNITED roster of licensed artists reads like a who's who in pop and rock music: AC/DC, Bon Jovi, Depeche Mode, Iron Maiden, The Rolling Stones and Tina Turner among many others.

At the events, FansUNITED staff distributes leaflets to fans entering the venues. If a potential customer sends in the leaflet with return postage, they receive a free 4x6" concert photo with a sales brochure, offering more concert photos for sale.

Successful Solution

At FansUNITED, there are more than 300 databases, all linked to each other. Karp says, "Let me give you a quick example: currently, our biggest tour is the AC/DC tour. Let's say AC/DC adds a show in Boise, Idaho and one in Basel, Switzerland."

He explains that each show has its own database Diary and entries made into the Diaries will trigger the following workflow:

• The design database confirms that the appropriate leaflet has already been designed, approved by the artist and is ready for printing
• The Venue Database tells us how many attendees to expect
• The Address book will advance the show to the venues' marketing people
• The Diary will alert our travel agent of our hotel and travel needs
• The Address book will also alert all our volunteers that new shows have been added, taking the relevant information (ticket sales from Diary, venue information such as meeting point and time from Venue Database, and then send texts in the relevant languages, in the preference by the individual volunteer, which may vary from email, text message, Skype message or post card)
• The Diary will post the names of the volunteers who have confirmed they are available
• Marketing will alert the relevant media that we will have images from the shows
• Accounts will provide financials to both touring staff as well as State Forms (like IRS payroll)
• And finally, the Job Database orders the appropriate number of leaflets from the printer we use in that country, and prepares the shipping."