Weekly survey: What do you think of this new form of concert tickets?
A concert ticket is a contract. Purchased for a fee, a ticket allows you entrance to a place/event on a specific day at a specified time. The entity that sells you this ticket really wants it to be irrevocably tied to you lest you feel the need to resell it at a higher price pocketing the difference for yourself.
There have been numerous schemes to cut down on scalping. Bar codes. Digital tickets. Weird present-your-ticket-and-the-credit-card-you-used-to-buy-it requirements. Invasive plans involving facial recognition. And so on.
Amazon has a new idea that they’ve been tested at their Whole Foods stores: A palm print scanner. After loading your palm print into a database, all you have to do at checkout is wave your hand over the scanner. No more cash, debit cards, or credit cards. Some 10,000 people have already signed up for this.
Amazon now thinks this technology can be applied to concert tickets. In fact, they’ve already got a deal with the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado. Fans registered this way get in a separate line, wave their hand over a scanner for one second, and they’re in. (They still need to be searched for contraband and booze, so the time savings here are probably minimal.) Meanwhile, it’s hoped this will cut down on scalping because it’s pretty difficult to lend a high-res version of your hand to someone.
What are your thoughts on using your palm print technology for concert admission?
I am old skool and like my ticket. To get it in the mail, have it in my hand, to use it to gain entry, to tuck it away with hundreds and hundreds of other used tickets, bring them all out once and a while to marvel at my love of live music and all the shows I have been to……
Then there is the lack of trust in big data. They will use those digital concert “tickets” that you use with their apps, sell your data, market products to you that you don’t want or think you want. Then to track your movements without your knowledge, unless to are a lawyer who reads through the digital pages and pages of the ULA and rejects it. Then you sit at home wishing for the “good ol’ days” of having the ticket in hand…..
I feel old!
Well…it’s no wackier than any of the other methods out there.
I still miss the days of the ticket stub.
My quarantine craft project involved old ticket stubs. I located all the stubs I could find from the last 30+ years, layed them out, relived the memories, and framed them. I pass the installation on the way to the laundry room, and I smile every time.