From Ticketing Chaos to Fan-First Drops: Michael Dodsworth of Fanfare on Building Fair, Hype-Proof Launches

In this episode of Behavioral Profit, Debbie Longo sits down with Michael Dodsworth—founder and CEO of Fanfare, the platform engineered to rescue brands and fans from meltdown-prone product launches. After two decades battling midnight server crashes and scalper bots, Michael explains how he reverse-engineered Ticketmaster-style pain points into a “fair-play” system that rewards true loyalty instead of speed or spending power . We probe whether scarcity marketing genuinely deepens fandom or merely shifts profit to resellers, and Michael makes the case that transparent queues, data-driven VIP tiers, and under-market pricing create longer-term brand equity than gouging ever could . He also reveals how experiential commerce—think backstage-level perks or real-world pop-ups—turns a simple transaction into a memory that fans amplify for free  ...