How Strawberry Fields sold 95% of tickets before the official onsale

You know the drill. You set your alarm. The ballot opens. You refresh the page. You refresh it again. You scramble. You cross your fingers and your toes. Maybe you get a ticket. Maybe you don't. And somewhere in the background, a ticketing platform is pocketing booking fees and calling it a day.

For a lot of festivals, that's just how it works. For Strawberry Fields, it was not enough.

As one of Australia's most in-demand independent music festivals, Strawberry Fields has spent years doing things differently. Tickets are nearly sold out before the lineup is even announced. Not because of aggressive marketing tactics. Not because of a lucky algorithm. But because of something that is much harder to earn.

Trust.

(Sam from Humanitix runs a training session with Strawberry Field staff and volunteers)

"Trust is the greatest currency," says Vicky Keeler, General Manager of Strawberry Fields. "It is the fundamental reason Strawberry Fields sells out before the lineup is announced. 95% of attendees pre-purchase based purely on their belief in Strawberry's curation of a great experience."

That kind of trust is rare. And it comes with great responsibility.

This is the story of how that trust gets built, protected, and extended. How a five-year partnership with Humanitix has driven real innovation in Australian ticketing, giving rise to the Waitlist: the engine that drives Strawberry's infamous and demand heavy ballot.

When demand outpaces supply every single year, the question stops being how do we sell tickets, and instead becomes a question of fairness and quality customer experience.

(Strawberry Fields 2026 Waitlist)

Introducing the Waitlist

The Waitlist does something simple in theory, yet significant in practice.

It allows attendees to register for tickets before they go on sale. No queue. No checkout countdown clock. No refreshing a page endlessly.

There are two modes to the Waitlist:

• Auto-purchase: card details are stored at registration, and if selected in the ballot, the attendees ticket is purchased automatically.
• Notify-me: if selected, the attendee receives a notification and has a set period of time to complete their purchase manually.

For attendees, Keeler puts it simply. "It means there's less having to sit with your email and check it. It takes the stress out of it."

(Strawberry Fields photo credit)

For Strawberry Fields specifically, the Waitlist solves something that has defined their ticketing model for years. Demand far exceeds supply. The ballot has always been the right answer for equitable distribution. But the gap between being selected and actually securing a ticket has always carried friction. The Waitlist closes that gap.

The result is something that almost sounds like an oxymoron: with the Waitlist, your festival can be nearly sold out before you've ever sold a single ticket.

And the integration runs beyond the initial sale. With the Waitlist and resale functionality connected on Humanitix, the entire journey lives in one place. Pre-sale. Sale. Resale. One platform. No confusion. No attendees drifting elsewhere to find what they need.

As Keeler puts it, the goal has always been to ensure attendees are "just going to one place, reducing the risk of scams, lost tickets, and people being priced out on third-party sites.”

(Strawberry Fields x Humanitix Impact Carousel)

A Partnership Built on a Shared Vision

Strawberry Fields has been partnering with Humanitix since 2021. In six years, that relationship will have generated over $400K (AUD) in donations to high-impact charities across Australia and abroad. The 2025 festival alone led to $100K being donated to charities including GiveDirectly, the Fred Hollows Foundation, Malaria Consortium, and Room to Read.

But the numbers only tell part of the story.

When two leaders in their respective fields come together over five years with the sole goal of shaping the best possible experience for attendees, you see something rare: a genuine partnership built on trust, honest communication, and a shared commitment to growing together.

When the Financial Times asked Keeler why Strawberry Fields uses Humanitix, her answer was simple. "To us, it's a no-brainer. If our booking fees can go to charity, why wouldn't we do it?"

"Humanitix is way more than a ticketing platform," says Keeler. "Their attention to detail, problem solving and account management support is second to none. We're always trying new things to improve the experience for the end consumer, and Humanitix has always been the platform open to trialling new things with us. Whether that's developing market-leading tools, auto-purchasing in presale, resale refinements, onsite operational improvements, new marketing efforts and more — our ideas are always met with genuine curiosity and excitement to help us grow."

(James, Jenny, Nick & Mitch from Humanitix on the dance floor at Strawberry Fields)

Five years of honest conversations, shared growth, and building in the same direction. This is what it looks like when two leaders decide that good enough is never just enough, and keep pushing each other year after year.

"Working with Humanitix we've honed in on a shared vision underpinned by deep mutual trust," says Keeler.

(James from Humanitix at the gate, making sure every guest gets in smoothly)

Trust is the Hardest Part

Building trust is one thing. Asking attendees to tread into new territory is another entirely.

That is exactly why the Waitlist was designed with choice at its core. For those comfortable with auto-purchase, card details are stored and the ticket is secured automatically if selected. For those who prefer more control, the ‘Notify-me’ option gives an allotted time to complete the purchase manually. The decision is always in the attendee's hands.

Strawberry Fields and Humanitix have worked in tandem to never gloss over the hard parts. "Everything is about building trust," says Keeler. "If you don't have someone's trust, are they going to want to buy from you? People buy tickets from Strawberry  because they know they’re going to get an unforgettable and unique experience, because year after year Strawberry is consistent, creative and has community at its core."

(Photo credit Strawberry Fields)

That conviction runs deep in every decision Strawberry Fields and Humanitix have made in designing and building the Waitlist. Clear communication before registration opens. Transparent ballot mechanics. A help centre built before it is needed. Every detail thought through. Every question an attendee might ask, answered before they have to ask it. A tool built entirely with the attendee front of mind.

"Trust is the greatest currency. In order to build this attendee trust, Humanitix and Strawberry Fields have had to think deeply about the consumer experience.”

(Photo credit Strawberry Fields)

Five Years Down. Many More to Come.

The Waitlist is not the beginning of this story. It is the product of five years of showing up, building together, and refusing to settle for 'good enough'.

"We're now five years into our partnership with Humanitix," says Keeler. "And the Humanitix ethos resonates strongly with our community and attendees, while truly having a best-in-class platform."

Strawberry Fields has always understood that every touchpoint along the attendee journey is an opportunity to build trust. And that when you find a partner who genuinely shares that belief, one that meets every idea with curiosity and every challenge with commitment, something rare gets built.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a music festival in want of a sold-out crowd must be in possession of something far more valuable than a good lineup. It must possess the greatest currency of all: trust. And that is something you never stop investing in.

(Humanitix Staff walk towards the stage at Strawberry Fields)