HITS is reporting on the latest brilliant idea from Ticketmaster, a tour where “paperless tickets” are not only widely used, but mandatory:
The technology, which Ticketmaster tested last year, is meant to make seats impossible to sell or transfer because they can be redeemed only at the concert, using the credit card with which they were bought. When purchasers arrive at the concert, their credit card will be swiped with a handheld scanner that will print out a “seat locator.”
This is kind of a double-edged sword. First of all, paperless technology is really cool. With this system, or others where the ticket is saved as a scannable image on your mobile device, you never lose the tickets. Also, anything that deters scalpers (except, of course, sometimes the scalpers might be Ticketmaster themselves) is great . Still, mandatorily instituting a brand new system that adds a road block when you have to give up your tickets for other plans or want to give them as a gift, especially on a massive tour like Miley Cyrus, is just asking for disaster.
