Chances are you’ve taken guff from Live Nation in the past. They have their strict venue rules and their exorbitant ticket surcharges (now that we can properly call Ticketmaster and Live Nation one in the same). But if you could drop your guard for a second, and look past all the reasons why we loathe the world’s largest concert promoter like they were The Dark Side, you’ll see that they actually do some good in the concert-going world.
Fraudulent tickets are a major issue stateside, but even more so abroad. According to the British government, 1 in 12 music fans have been scammed when purchasing tickets online. This is why Live Nation, according to the BBC, is taking steps to eliminate paper tickets at their shows and replace them with personalized digital wristbands.
They have already launched a test run of these “smart-chip” wristbands at smaller festivals. If everything goes to plan they will introduce them at more festivals and eventually at other venues. On a side note, these coded wristbands would also act as a means of currency and allow one to purchase food and drink inside the venue.
While “smart-chip” technology may cure the ills of purchasing a phony ticket, what happens if you want to resell it? Everyone has more or less accepted the fact that scalpers and secondary ticket brokers are a part of the community. But what if you legitimately cannot go to the show and are just trying recoup expenses? These are some of the issues that Live Nation and the British government’s fraud department are looking to iron out.
So you see, Live Nation does have some patron-friendly ideas in mind. Last year there was the “No Service Fee Wednesdays” followed by the reasonably-priced “Live Nation Club Passport“. Though their primary concern may still be the bottom line, they aren’t all bad. OK, now you can go back to writing your complaint letters to the Death Star.
