www.ticketnews.com: An outage in the mobile-only ticketing system in Sydney, Australia left thousands of Dua Lipa fans stranded outside of her show, which was delayed by hours while it was worked out. The outage took place on Wednesday night at Qudos Bank Arena, according to multiple reports.
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It’s terrible that they had to force thousands of people to wait around with little to no information when all of them were supposed to have a fun night out, one that was likely scheduled months in advance. There are a lot of pros to having mobile ticketing systems. There’s a less (or rather, a different way) of a chance of people getting their tickets lost or destroyed, it’s more convenient to have your pass with you at all times, and you don’t have to worry about delivery. But the cons, like the system failing, greatly impact the experience of audience members. I want to be understanding on systems breaking down due to “connection issues” or just straight capacity, no solution whether or not is technological is one hundred percent effective. What is irresponsible however is knowing this and not having a contingency plan and if there is one, not having it communicated to those affected.
I don’t think that there is any reason to force people to only have the option to have their ticket to a show, concert, movie, etc. be digital only. There are two main reasons I think this. One, I don’t think that printed tickets are the main issue causing the overuse of paper or our worldwide environmental epidemic. I think that this is mostly attributed to things like paper handouts in schools or the workplace and big packets of paper being the only way to read something that isn’t a book. Two, I think that the idea of a handheld ticket holds something more sentimental. I have saved tickets from when I was a kid and have them to this day as a memento for events I’ve attended. The design of the tickets themselves is a piece of art that could sell all on its own. Forcing these to be moved to digital is doing a disservice to those who value experiences that come with a badge.
I could understand the purpose of mobile tickets after getting out of lockdown. Lots of people liked that right after the lockdown so it was less contact with others. It definitely is more environmentally conscious but there are other actions that can be taken to fight that particularly change. Tickets only online can prevent people from going the same way if you have only paper tickets. The smartest and best way is to have multiple options. For example in this case if there were multiple options then some of them would have printed out tickets and it would not have taken as long. Also there is some to say to a physical ticket having a cool visual representation of the event. Some people like to keep their tickets to shows so hindering that would only make the audience upset if they prefer that. Having both choices gives options and flexibility for concerts and shows.
I think that this is a good example of why mobile-only ticketing is a problem. To me it always seemed to be a dangerous choice, to introduce another point of failure in a system like this. At the same time, though, it has obvious benefits - it's (usually) more convenient for staff and attendees, it's more environmentally conscious, and so on. I would like to know more about what exactly had "connection issues" in Ticketek's system, and I wonder if there is a way for Ticketek and other mobile ticketing services to implement backup solutions. Then, the article lists other examples of recent mobile ticketing failures - it seems like mobile ticketing has a ways to go before it can become widespread, or at least until mobile-only ticketing events become mainstream. Between this and what we've been hearing about lately concerning ticketing fees, I have a lot of doubts in my mind about mobile ticketing.
While centralized mobile ticketing systems have many obvious benefits like usually easier check-in processes, a ticket delivery system that makes it much easier to keep track of your ticket, and having your ticket on you at all times, this is just one more example on top of many that show that mobile ticketing systems have tons of problems. When servers go down like they did here, there is no backup system to ensure that everyone who paid for a ticket to see the show can actually get in. Thankfully, this specific example ended with everyone getting in and the show being able to happen but it could have been much worse for all parties. Lately, there has been much controversy around other aspects of ticketing sites as well especially with the issue of hiked ticket prices, fans not being able to buy tickets, and too many tickets going through resellers or even just being sold by the original seller with huge fees just because they can.
So, I think there are a few things to be taken away from this article, and the ticketing issues at the Dua Lipa concert and cricket games in Australia this week. Mobile tickets are great. I’m a 20-year-old college student who has had a cellphone for the better part of 10 years- mobile tickets mean I don’t have to worry about printed/physical tickets when going to an event, just easier for me in general. However, I recognize that having an iPhone and knowing how to use it are both examples of my privilege. So, only offering mobile tickets can exclude people. (it does reduce paper use though). That said if you’re going to have mobile tickets you had better make sure that system is STRONG. I know this isn’t an everyday problem but it is obviously happening a lot. I know those corporations have money. Let’s up the quality of those products maybe, yeah? I recognize there are a lot of factors here, but having thousands of people confused in a group outside a concert can quickly turn into a potentially dangerous situation if the crowd gets agitated.
This is the exact reason I don’t mess with technology. It's unpredictable, you never know what might happen. It is fitting to call the situation an outrage, but at the end of the day, I don’t think Tiketek could have done anything to prevent it. As soon as they heard about it, I’m sure they worked tirelessly to find the problem and fix it. Those few hours that may seem like a short time to fix some code or something for the Tiketek team felt like eons for the fans waiting outside the Dula Peep concert. It’s comparable to sound or lights not working during a show, which is not at all uncommon. I prefer physical work over technological work for all these reasons. As for the idea of reimbursement, the concert still happened so I don’t see why it would be necessary. I hope the concert was a great experience for all attending despite the Tiketek outage.
I think this article is really interesting and brings up a lot of issues and arguments more far-reaching than just a mobile ticket snafu. I recognize the environmental benefits and digital-ease of mobile tickets; I get the appeal to have everything accessible in an apple wallet. But I also see how that being the only option is not super inclusive and could be a hindrance for some folks. I just went through a situation working a concert where the software went down, and no one knew how to handle it. I don't blame those workers and I don't think the workers at the event in the article are to blame either; we all rely very heavily on technology. But I do think this is a large wake up call to have back up ticket plans, analog options, and a procedure to deal with masses of people if something like this happens again.
I did have a similar experience this summer when I was trying to watch a leagues of legend game in person. The App that I was using for my electric ticket was down and I was unable to pull up my ticket. Even though I was fortune enough to eventually watch the game, it did cause some trouble that I would prefer to avoid. Except for app issues, sometimes electric tickets don’t work at certain theaters, and they would not tell you beforehand. When you are at the place for show with crowded people around you, it is hard to find a printer and print out your ticket. The idea of eclectic ticket is definitely a good idea where it is convenient, easy to use, and avoid the use of paper. However, sometimes it could also cause problem that is hard to solve. I look forward to the improvement in this service.
This article really illustrates some of the main problems with centralized electronic ticketing systems - which while convenient, can, as this article shows, be catastrophic if a server failure or some other technological mishap occurs. There is a lesson within this article about how reliant we are on technology for everyday usage (many of us, including myself cannot remember a time when we were not reliant on technologies) and how we need to remember to have backup plans and other forms of ticketing in order to try and avoid disasters like this occurring as well as to maintain equity in the purchase and access of tickets. I cannot imagine the chaos that would occur if Ticketmaster were to go down, even for a few hours. Articles like these remind us to consider the implications of total reliance on a single piece of technology, and to remember to always try and have some kind of back-up plan. I really hope there is some kind of advancement in electronic ticketing in the future.
My roommate worked on the weekend tour this summer and they had a scenario where they had to cancel an entire show because Verizon was down in their area and there was no data service to process the tickets (or anything else for that matter.) This is very surprising to me because it seems obvious that you need some sort of backup plan in case there is an internet outage, power outage, connectivity issue, etc. They’re already paying people to scan the tickets on the way into the venue, there’s no reason that the same portable data terminal that the ticket checkers used couldn’t be turned into a will call system in a scenario like this. It will take longer, but everyone will still continue to be processed. It also seems like a portable in-house network would be important in case of internet outage - with all the ticket information already downloaded to local storage.
This is a big accessability problem. SOme people do not own smartphones, some people need to have a physical ticket to remember to go somewheere, and some people just like the physical tickets better. It is also wierd that the ticketing system is so relyant on cell data. Make it so the tickets must be downloaded as a phtoot on people's phones so that they can still pull it up even if there is no service. I think a lot of these beig scale tech issues can at times be handled with a different perspective and problem solving from the start.
I went to see Dua Lipa in concert in Houston earlier this year and I can’t imagine the chaos and stress that would occur if the ticketing site went down. The venue was already surrounded by people who were anxious, excited, and unclear where to go. We were even unclear of some of the guidelines so we had to get out of line to rent a locker and we experienced the arena with presumably everything going right. I’m sure that concert was a special event to most fans whether Dua Lipa is their favorite artist or this was a night out with friends. I am most shocked about how Ticketek has yet to respond to everything because it probably had a huge impact on the night and how people will remember their experience. You would think they would have some sort of backup plan that didn’t involve people having to manually pull out their confirmation emails.
This is definitely a very real problem that we are going to need to be ready to face moving into this world of digital everything. Over the summer on the Weeknd tour, we were scheduled to have a show in Toronto. While this is a bit more extreme than the Dua Lipa event, one of the largest cell carriers in Canada went down across the entire country. We happened to be in the stadium named after this cell carrier. We were unable to scan tickets, access any sort of wifi, take any credit card/mobile payments, etc. It comes to a point where it becomes a massive security issue rather than just an inconvenience. The Dua Lipa issue looks like it would have been a safety issue whether they were letting people in or not though. Mobile ticketing makes it much easier to track who is coming in and out of the venue, but it creates some access issues for people that don’t have mobile devices or don’t know how to use them. A lot more work needs to be done before we go completely digital in this realm.
I’m not surprised this happened. Ticketmaster/Live Nation has so many issues here in the US, I’m just unsurprised that a similar company elsewhere has the same issues. I hate the idea of electronic only-anything. If something like a concert or movie or even plane ticket is electronic, I will always print one if I can because I’m so paranoid that my phone will crash or die, or their machines will and then I’m left without a ticket. I’ve never actually been in a situation like that, but I just don’t trust it as much as others do. I also think that this could lead to issues in an accessibility-type of way. Maybe individuals that purchase these tickets do not have a phone that can pull-up an electronic ticket, for example, an adult does not have a smartphone but wants to take their child to the show. This could be excluding an entire type of market to purchasing these tickets and seeing these shows…
This is rough. I can not imagine being stuck outside of a concert that I spent a decent amount of money on hoping that I would get to see one of my favorite artists perform. The disappointment would be so bad. It’s been a couple years since I’ve been to a concert, with covid and all, but I have a few coming up next year and I feel like I have a new fear now. I did not realize that a lot of companies had moved to mobile tickets only. I agree that this is a huge accessibility issue. Just knowing people in my family alone. I understand the push from the environmental side but I think that having the option of mobile tickets already makes a significant difference. If I have books something expensive, I like to have a print out so that there can be no technological issues. I hope that this situation provides an opportunity for these providers to take steps in providing solutions.
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