Our biggest surprise was that organizers needed the ticket link before they needed payout splits. We started Membrz to stop sending money through Multibanco references after each show. The task was not technically difficult, just badly timed: it came after the event, when energy was gone. We expected others to feel the same. They did, but not quite as we thought.
What we built, and what organizers used
Membrz began with payout splits at its center. That was the problem we knew firsthand as organizers. We assumed independent event organizers mostly shared our frustration with reconciling payments after a show.
During the first few months, the payout feature mattered, but it was not where organizers began. They began with the ticket link. A clear event page and a payment link that worked reliably on mobile proved more urgent than payout mechanics. Some early organizers still used Eventbrite for ticketing, then combined bank transfers and spreadsheets to manage payouts.
That changed our order of work. We had built the pipe's far end first. Before payout logic could matter widely, we had to make the front end equally dependable.
The tool behind most indie events
The honest answer is WhatsApp. Not just for payments, though that happens too, but for logistics: invitations, guest-list changes, door coordination, and last-minute schedule edits. For independent events in Portugal, those conversations live mostly in WhatsApp threads. Membrz works around them, rather than trying to replace them.
We stopped treating informal communication as something to displace. Membrz records the money, issues tickets, scans the door, and sends payouts. Organizers can coordinate those tasks wherever they prefer. Our responsibility is to keep the financial record clear, even when everything around it gets messy.
Door scanning matters most at show time
Tickets can sell weeks ahead and payouts can arrive days later. Door scanning happens live, while a queue waits. It is the highest-pressure point in the Membrz flow, and where new organizers feel the most nervous.
We soon found that the worry concerned setup more than scanning. After using the flow at one event, people trusted it. The hurdle was getting past the nerves before that first show. We added test mode, allowing an organizer to scan their own QR code before doors open. That small change sharply reduced questions about failure on the night.
Most door problems at independent events are staffing problems, not technical ones: too few people, unbriefed staff, or an organizer trying to run the door while handling the bar, sound engineer, and artists. No tool fixes staffing. Membrz can only make scanning quick enough for one person to manage a moderate queue alone.
VAT came up more often than expected
VAT appeared repeatedly in conversations with creators selling tickets online. Usually, they had not worked out the answer and were unsure whether they needed to. The question was typically: "Do online ticket sales have different VAT treatment from sales at the door?"
The answer depends on B2C or B2B status, whether the buyer is in Portugal or elsewhere in the EU, and whether the ticket covers an in-person event or a digital-only product. We do not provide tax advice. The confusion was common enough that we wrote a dedicated piece. The EU creator payments article on this blog explains the Portuguese-specific rules.
The surprising part was who asked. It was not organizers running 1,000-person events, but people selling 60 tickets at 12 EUR each. The potential VAT amount is small at that size, but compliance still matters.
Tickets and merch belong together
In the Membrz checkout, we initially made tickets and merch separate, independently configurable lines. Creators immediately combined them: a ticket with the artist's printed zine, or a ticket with a digital recording download. We had not deliberately designed bundles for launch. People created them with the pricing fields.
That made us rethink how bundles appear at checkout, in payout summaries, and in split calculations. Should merch revenue follow the ticket split, or remain with the artist? Membrz now lets organizers configure this. In the first few months, we had to clarify with organizers what their split rules included.
Lessons from Portugal's indie music scene
First, the scene is more geographically spread out than we assumed. We started with a Lisbon-centric picture because we are based here, then saw organizers from Porto, Braga, Coimbra, and smaller towns join the platform. Outside Lisbon, independent music often means smaller budgets and venues, leaving less margin per show. That makes efficiency more valuable in those markets.
Second, split arrangements were usually simpler than expected. We built percentage splits, flat fees, tiered thresholds, and multiple recipients into the configuration. In practice, the common pattern is a two-way split between artist and venue: one agreed percentage of net ticket revenue after fees. More complex setups exist, but they are not typical.
Third, trust remains the hardest part. We can calculate and send the money automatically, but not the moment when an organizer and artist agree to work together or settle terms. That happens outside Membrz. Our role is to execute the agreement accurately and quickly, without turning payment into a dispute.
The year ahead
We will not promise features or timelines here. Organizers consistently ask for better payout-record exports, more flexible refunds, and guest-list entries that do not require a purchased ticket. Those are the problems currently on our list.
The core loop is working: sell the ticket, scan the door, send the payout. Our remaining work is to remove friction from its edge cases. After a year, we understand those cases much better than we did when the first version shipped.