|
|
This topic comprises 2 pages: 1 2
|
|
Author
|
Topic: Concert ticket scalping
|
Frank Cox
Film God
Posts: 2234
From: Melville Saskatchewan Canada
Registered: Apr 2011
|
posted 05-06-2018 05:26 PM
Smart ticketing system may finally outwit the ruthless touts
quote:
They are a scourge no one can get rid of. Ticket touts have been targeted without success by Adele and Ed Sheeran, Premier League football clubs and politicians. Now two graduates from Imperial College London have created software using cryptocurrency dubbed the “bitcoin of ticketing”, which could see the end of fake tickets and sky-high resale prices.
Annika Monari, 25, and Alan Vey, 24, face the first test of their invention this summer, at the 2018 World Cup in Russia, when the software will be used for more than 10,000 tickets to fan events around Europe and the US.
The Aventus Protocol is based on blockchain technology – used in cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin – which would allow event organisers to give each ticket a unique identity that is tied to its owner. Because the tickets are based on blockchain – a linked list of records where each new one contains an encrypted version of the previous one – they cannot be faked. The software also allows event promoters to keep an easy record of who owns the ticket, which means they can control the prices.
Monari and Vey say Aventus will “virtually eliminate ticketing fraud and the scourge of unregulated touting”. For the World Cup they have joined forces with another company, Blocside, and expect to work with football clubs next year on season tickets. The two graduates founded their company Artos after completing their studies last year and now employ 15 people. They funded the project by selling “tokens” – a limited supply of cryptocurrency, which can be sold like shares. Aventus’s initial offering sold out in seven minutes for about £26m.
At the launch of the Aventus Protocol at Imperial College last week, the graduates said: “It has been an amazing journey. We used to sit in this common room having coffees and worrying about our coursework. But now, hopefully, we will be the people who can solve the problems in the ticketing industry. That would feel incredible and be such a huge achievement for us.”
The pair have first-class degrees in Artificial Intelligence and Particle Physics; their age never put them off tackling decades-old problems in the industry.
“There was the moment where I was like: ‘look, we don’t have mortgages, we don’t have husbands or wives, we’ve worked together before, we don’t have any kids – now is the time’.” said Annika.
Alan added: “Yes, but there have been times where people have tried to take us for a ride because of our age. Some people do assume by default that we don’t know what we’re talking about.”
It brings a refreshing solution that could end fraudulent activity and ticket touting once and for all
Touting and ticket fraud threatens the UK’s £4.5bn music industry, with the second-hand ticket industry alone valued at £1bn a year. The band Radiohead has attempted to combat this by requiring ID that matches the name on the ticket, but this had limited success. Adele tried to ban touts, but tickets for her 2016 Wembley shows appeared online at £9,000.
In the same year a Sunday Times investigation alleged that Premier League clubs were allowing fans to be ripped off by third-party resellers. This prompted a government report into the secondary ticket industry.
Professor Mike Waterson from Warwick University, who wrote the 2016 government report, was technical adviser to Monari and Vey. “It has a lot of potential,” he said. “Thinking through the market from a fresh perspective is very useful. If they get genuine buy-in from a wide enough range of people then it is going to have a big impact on the market.”
Monari and Vey also want to offer funding to postgraduate students for research into ticket touting: “We are keen to use our funds to help nurture and grow student and university research into blockchain with respect to ticketing.”
Entertainment industry veteran Bernie Dillon, known for work with artists such as Santana and Eric Clapton, said: “Anyone who has ever attended, hosted, or produced a live entertainment event has been affected by counterfeit tickets or extortionate resale prices. Aventus brings a refreshing solution that could end fraudulent activity and ticket touting once and for all.”
| IP: Logged
|
|
Marcel Birgelen
Film God
Posts: 3357
From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands
Registered: Feb 2012
|
posted 05-07-2018 01:27 AM
Whether you put the identity of someone and/or something in a blockchain, a private database or simply on the ticket itself, it doesn't really matter, as long as you don't check it at the gates.
I've had my personal name on countless of tickets, but I've never been asked to provide my ID at any concert or other major event I've been to. If there is any validity check at all, it's a scan of the QR or barcode on the ticket and that's it. Even if it's a virtual ticket, where they usually scan a QR code on your phone, there is no such thing as an identity check.
So, there is nothing that withholds me from reselling a ticket registered in a block chain, as long as there is no final identity check at the gates.
The reason why there won't be any identity checks is pretty clear: the organizers/promoters don't see any value in it. It will slow down access to the venue and will only cost more money to implement. Also, what do you do with the countless of people that forgot their ID (both willingly because they bought a scalped ticket or unwillingly)?
| IP: Logged
|
|
Frank Angel
Film God
Posts: 5305
From: Brooklyn NY USA
Registered: Dec 1999
|
posted 05-07-2018 10:58 AM
Very good point -- we only have 2500 seats and when we moved to ticket scanning (rather than ticket-takers actually looking at and tearing tickets), and we've found that it slows the line down considerably. I can't imagine what a headache it would be at a stadium if they had to also check thousands of IDs.
The venue just wants to get bodies in the theatre as fast as possible. If there is a problem with someone's ticket, it can be dealt with once they are inside. Sure, it might be an add to security and validation of a ticket if a person's name were printed on it so an ID check could be made when there is a conflict, but that could be done inside the venue by ushers and House Management. To have to burden the House at entry points is certainly not in the interest of smooth House operations and I can't see venue's wanting to take on this painstaking maneuver at first entry point.
Three things that we discovered significantly slowed moving people into the theatre when moved to using scanners. 1) people have tickets that they printed at home on printers that are low on ink or have ink nozzles clogged or print a skewed barcode, so there are streaks, or the paper has been folder over and over and crushed in someone pocket for a day or more, any of which can annoy the scanners. 2) when using cell phones, they either have accessed the page while in the line and when they get to the door, the screen has gone half-brightness and then they stand there futz around trying to get it to full brightness (many don't know how to do that) or they don't hold the cell in a position that is easy for the scanner to read properly or they decide the time to access the barcode page is when the ticket-taker hold the scanner up to the phone. Even if the ticket taker has to rescan it the cell or the paper ticket more than once, just multiply that by a couple of hundred times at each entry point and and it becomes a serious impediment to moving patrons into the theatre. And lastly, scanners "go down" (lose internet connection) and have to be rebooted. All of these are hated issues for the House staff.
Adding the burden of them having to check each individual's ID would be a nightmare and to no desired end in terms of the venue's primary need which it to get those butt into seats as quickly as possible.
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
Mike Blakesley
Film God
Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99
|
posted 05-07-2018 03:30 PM
The arena in Billings was promoting a Bob Seger concert last fall. At the moment the thing went on sale, the best seats available were in the back end of the arena. For fun, I clicked on the "premium options" button and found that the whole front two rows and big portions of the next few rows were set aside for "VIP experience" tickets going up to $500 each. A lot of THOSE seats were still available days later.
I have mixed feelings about those VIP things. Most of them include (besides the better seats) a meet/greet with the star. When it comes right down to it, what am I going to say to Bob Seger or whoever? "Gee, I'm a huge fan and I have all your records!" Who gives a crap? The guy is meeting dozens of people a day and has zero real interest in my life, so what's the point?
I met Alan Parsons (one of my absolute favorites) and his whole band at a concert in 1999 -- no extra charge, mind you -- and I was completely tongue tied and in awe, so I had no clue what to say to those guys. I'm glad I didn't pay extra for the experience, although it WAS memorable and it's cool to listen to their albums now and think, yeah, I shook hands with those guys. But if it had cost me hundreds of dollars I probably would have felt like I didn't get much for my money.
But now, the promoters and agents have ruined the concert experience with their cash grabs. I suppose if it gets down to crunch time and they still had those super duper seats, they'd release them at regular prices.
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
All times are Central (GMT -6:00)
|
This topic comprises 2 pages: 1 2
|
Powered by Infopop Corporation
UBB.classicTM
6.3.1.2
The Film-Tech Forums are designed for various members related to the cinema industry to express their opinions, viewpoints and testimonials on various products, services and events based upon speculation, personal knowledge and factual information through use, therefore all views represented here allow no liability upon the publishers of this web site and the owners of said views assume no liability for any ill will resulting from these postings. The posts made here are for educational as well as entertainment purposes and as such anyone viewing this portion of the website must accept these views as statements of the author of that opinion
and agrees to release the authors from any and all liability.
|
Home
Printer-friendly view of this topic