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Thursday, March 28, 2019
"Dynamic Barcode" System Set to Roll Out Despite Consumer Concerns
www.ticketnews.com: A new “dynamic barcode” mobile-only ticketing system is raising questions of consumer freedom and discrimination as it is prepped for a trial in at least three venues using Ticketmaster as their ticketing provider.
Though I always appreciate the option for an eticket when I attend an event, this article raises concerns that I had not previously considered. I often forget that I am privileged to own and use a smartphone, such that I forget that there are portions of the population who do not or can not. This 'dynamic barcode' seems to be pushing for a system that rolls right over these folks without any attention to them. To ignore the fact that entertainment is not limited to smartphone owners is both incredibly short sighted and arrogant. Further, mobile - only ticketing presents a host of problems related to dependence on hardware that the distributor cannot control. Imagine a phone dying in line, or poor connectivity at a venue. Should someone who purchased a ticket and falls into one of these issues not be allowed into the show? As far as I can tell, paper tickets should most definitely remain an option at all venues.
I have been screwed over by this very process already in its initial implementation. Back in December I attended the MLS Cup championship in Atlanta and my Dad decided to take my brother and I. Ticketmaster was trying out this system as a pre-run to see if it was ready for the Super Bowl being hosted in Atlanta that February and my Dad not knowing this information my dad bought his ticket through Stub-Hub while I bought mine and my brothers through Ticketmaster themselves. Now this wasn't apparent to any of us before we entered the stadium but once we had we learned that through this new ticketing system the transferring two third parties had changed entirely and my dad had been left out of the game with no way for anyone at the game to verify his ticket. Now this is any issue that arose with something that wasn't even just the simple I don't have a smart phone problem presented with this new technology. I still stand to believe that there needs to be a better way going forward when talking about tickets and I don't think this is it yet.
I only make sense that ticketing companies are trying to make it difficult for secondary sellers to exchange tickets. A company like Ticketmaster has the upper hand when it some to ticket sales simply because of the presences they have in the market. I can imagine that Ticketmaster will run into problems as they try to roll this platform out. Each state legislation has differing rules and policies that might make it difficult to adopt.
As a ticket consumer, I am not really affected by this change, but I can also imagine this is going to have a substantial impact on consumers that do not have smartphones at their disposal. This is not the first platform to be rolled out that directly effects people that have standard mobile phone plans, and until that subset of people shrinks I don’t see this platform taking the place of standard hard copy tickets. Take airlines as an example. Although more than 50% of airline travels use mobile ticketing, there is still a large population of people that rely on hardcopy tickets. The suggested platform in this article is attempting to achieve a slightly different goal, but one can assume that the results will be similar.
4 comments:
Though I always appreciate the option for an eticket when I attend an event, this article raises concerns that I had not previously considered. I often forget that I am privileged to own and use a smartphone, such that I forget that there are portions of the population who do not or can not. This 'dynamic barcode' seems to be pushing for a system that rolls right over these folks without any attention to them. To ignore the fact that entertainment is not limited to smartphone owners is both incredibly short sighted and arrogant. Further, mobile - only ticketing presents a host of problems related to dependence on hardware that the distributor cannot control. Imagine a phone dying in line, or poor connectivity at a venue. Should someone who purchased a ticket and falls into one of these issues not be allowed into the show? As far as I can tell, paper tickets should most definitely remain an option at all venues.
I have been screwed over by this very process already in its initial implementation. Back in December I attended the MLS Cup championship in Atlanta and my Dad decided to take my brother and I. Ticketmaster was trying out this system as a pre-run to see if it was ready for the Super Bowl being hosted in Atlanta that February and my Dad not knowing this information my dad bought his ticket through Stub-Hub while I bought mine and my brothers through Ticketmaster themselves. Now this wasn't apparent to any of us before we entered the stadium but once we had we learned that through this new ticketing system the transferring two third parties had changed entirely and my dad had been left out of the game with no way for anyone at the game to verify his ticket. Now this is any issue that arose with something that wasn't even just the simple I don't have a smart phone problem presented with this new technology. I still stand to believe that there needs to be a better way going forward when talking about tickets and I don't think this is it yet.
I only make sense that ticketing companies are trying to make it difficult for secondary sellers to exchange tickets. A company like Ticketmaster has the upper hand when it some to ticket sales simply because of the presences they have in the market. I can imagine that Ticketmaster will run into problems as they try to roll this platform out. Each state legislation has differing rules and policies that might make it difficult to adopt.
As a ticket consumer, I am not really affected by this change, but I can also imagine this is going to have a substantial impact on consumers that do not have smartphones at their disposal. This is not the first platform to be rolled out that directly effects people that have standard mobile phone plans, and until that subset of people shrinks I don’t see this platform taking the place of standard hard copy tickets. Take airlines as an example. Although more than 50% of airline travels use mobile ticketing, there is still a large population of people that rely on hardcopy tickets. The suggested platform in this article is attempting to achieve a slightly different goal, but one can assume that the results will be similar.
Is this upgraded’s blockchain finally rolling out??
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