lost lands lyte refunds

Lost Lands has announced a program to compensate fans who are owed ticket-sale cash from Lyte following its abrupt shutdown. Photo Credit: Krists Luhaers

As music festivals grapple with continued fallout from ticketing platform Lyte’s abrupt shutdown, Lost Lands is now offering to compensate fans for owed payments.

Lost Lands took to social media to reveal the support plan, with less than a week having passed since its 2024 edition’s start. As we previously covered, the Apex-organized event is one of the many festivals affected by Lyte’s sudden cessation of operations.

DMN Pro’s latest weekly report provides a deep-dive analysis into the multifaceted situation, including the circumstances surrounding Lyte’s apparent implosion and the far-reaching consequences it’s bringing about.

Long story short, several festivals say they received no notice whatsoever before Lyte went dark. For Lost Lands and others that have already taken place, this means fans are out cash for sold passes (justifiably irked individuals are still penning related posts on Reddit) and organizers are seemingly awaiting their share of sizable ticket-sale payments.

(Forthcoming festivals are facing different but equally pressing problems. Australia’s similarly named but distinct Lost Paradise, set to kick off on December 28th, confirmed on Tuesday that the sale of passes remains “on hold” due to the absence of Lyte.)

At an especially difficult time for festivals, the missing revenue is, of course, a very big deal. Lost Lands’ Apex organizer is suing Lyte for its share of allegedly due ticket-sale revenue (over $600,000), besides damages and more to boot.

But against the backdrop of slipping festival attendance and recession concerns, perhaps just as important for organizers is keeping attendees and would-be attendees happy. And on this front, one needn’t look far to find frustrated social-media comments directed at festivals affected by the Lyte shutdown.

That these festivals aren’t responsible for the turn of events appears to be of little concern to the complaining customers, whose various remarks, making for a steady stream of less-than-positive feedback when considered as a whole, are hardly good for business.

Enter Lost Lands’ decision to reimburse fans who “are stuck in limbo as their money is being held by the company which has ceased operations.”

The same image message emphasizes that Lyte “has gone silent” and drives home the “very high cost” of the payments move for Lost Lands itself.

Fans who sold passes via Lyte can now submit to Lost Lands “a claim with proof of what they are owed.” From there, the festival’s team will take until November 6th “to review and verify” the submissions “due to the complexity of this issue.” Eligible parties should then receive payments by November 20th, according to Lost Lands’ post.

“We hope this will be received as a gesture of goodwill from us to our community, who we want to support through this situation,” the text indicates closer to its end. (Incidentally, it’s unclear whether the plan is, in fact, being received as a gesture of goodwill from the entirety of the Lost Lands community, certain members of which are currently taking aim at the festival’s email response times.)

As for the fate of Lyte, a liquidator is reportedly working to find a buyer for the business’s assets – though the results of this process, not to mention fan and festival reimbursements as well as creditor recoupments, remain to be seen.