š Sweet Orange Launches in Aotearoa with Flavour, Tech & WhÄnau Vibes at KÄpiti Festival
KÄpiti Coast, Aotearoa ā A new era of live music experience has officially landed in Aotearoa with the local launch of Sweet Orange, an innovative music tech platform that merges seamless ticketing, immersive AR+IQ experiences, and community-first engagement. The first activation? A grassroots festival in KÄpiti blending modern tech with traditional kai, featuring live performances, hÄngi, and exclusive merchandise drops.
Aotearoa Debut ā With Local Flavour
More than just another app, Sweet Orange is a full ecosystem connecting fans, artists, promoters and venues. Its local launch at the KÄpiti festival is designed to be intimate, immersive, and distinctly Aotearoa. Festival-goers were able to:
šļø Buy tickets directly through the Sweet Orange Juice app ā with no middlemen and low fees.
š½ļø Pre-order a hÄngi meal for pick-up via QR code.
š§¢ Unlock exclusive merch drops ā from shirts to patches ā with augmented reality triggers around the festival site.
All powered by the fan-facing app Sweet Orange Juice, the event served as a live testbed for Sweet Orangeās seamless mobile ticketing system, AR-enhanced experiences, and direct fan-artist interaction tools.
āWe wanted to launch this in a way that felt authentically Kiwi ā where music, manaakitanga, and tech meet,ā said Josh Parata, Sweet Orangeās New Zealand agent. āKÄpiti was perfect. Small enough to experiment, big enough to matter.ā
Designed for Artists, Fans & WhÄnau
Sweet Orange solves long-standing problems in the music industry: excessive ticketing fees, fractured booking systems, and a lack of real engagement between fans and the artists they love.
At its core are three key components:
Sweet Orange Juice (Fan App): Personalised gig discovery, instant ticketing (via iNVITEā¢), AR overlays, artist tipping, and direct messaging.
Backstage Pass (Pro App): A tool for artists, venues, and promoters to manage bookings, EPKs, digital contracts and data insights.
myblack.app (Premium Tier): A black-label platform for elite professionals offering AAA access, verified credentials, and private merch management.
The Numbers Back It Up
According to recent projections, Sweet Orange expects to process over 130,000 transactions in NZ alone by March 2027, with nearly $5.6M in gross revenue. Direct income from fees is projected at over $280K, with partners and venues earning up to 75% of total revenue per transaction .
This KÄpiti activation is just the beginning. As more artists and promoters register, the network grows ā with an average transaction value of $20ā$75 per event, covering everything from intimate DJ nights to full-scale festivals.
A Homegrown Model for Music Futures
What sets Sweet Orange apart is how deeply itās rooted in cultural values and local collaboration ā a deliberate move away from corporate event platforms. It gives mana back to the artists and organisers while using cutting-edge tech developed in collaboration with iSPARXā¢, a creative innovation studio with roots in Porirua and now Calgary.
By the end of this year, the platform will expand to include more regional activations, including:
š¶ Pop-ups at independent venues across Wellington, Taranaki, and Bay of Plenty
š¤ Artist-led showcases with verified fan pre-sales
š± Community events integrating local food producers and indigenous storytelling
Sweet Orange is now live.
š Join the movement: www.sweetorange.app
š§ Download Sweet Orange Juice on iOS & Android
