Ticketmaster’s Presence system has experienced “zero instances of fraud” so far as the industry giant continues to look beyond barcodes and paper tickets.
Speaking to the Ottawa Citizen newspaper, Justin Burleigh, Ticketmaster’s executive vice president of product, gave an update on the success of the proximity-based system that is now used by more than 70 venues, including the 25,500-capacity Orlando City Stadium.
Ticketmaster Presence is built on a software platform and uses technology like NFC and RFID, and sound. It allows attendees ‘tickets’ to be verified by an ultrasonic connection between their mobile phone and the venue’s systems.
Burleigh recently said it was possible paper tickets could be completely extinct within a year, and his update on Presence suggest it is continuing to beat fraudsters as well as allowing easy access to venues.
“(With Presence) there has been zero instances of fraud so far and the tech is succeeding in getting fans into venues to see their favourite live events faster and more efficiently than ever,” Burleigh said.
During a keynote interview with Emporium Presents’, Live Nation president and chief executive Michael Rapino said that identification will be the solution to industry security issues and an opportunity to say goodbye to the somewhat antiquated barcode.
“We have to solve this. We have to solve it through identification, and it’s a real challenge as well as a real opportunity to get rid of the bar code in ticketing. It’s the key to a lot of problems in the business. We’re the last business to still use a barcode. Even the airlines go to digital tickets.”
Businesses that are already moving on from the barcode range from Montreal’s Osheaga music festival, which prefers scannable wristbands, to Amazon’s new, cashierless store in Seattle that uses various sensors to detect products customers have in their carts and automatically charge their accounts.
However, Tim Chambers, advisor and consultant in the ticketing and live entertainment business, told TheTicketingBusiness last month that he thinks validation at event point-of-entry means that, a barcode or equivalent, will always be present, but in a diminishing sense as the major players begin to adopt other technologies, such as Lisnr, Apple iBeacons, or other RFID / NFC technologies.
Norman Shaw, an associate professor at Ryerson University, who studies the cashless society, said: “If I have RFID, I have more flexibility, because as soon as it comes in, I know what I have.
“On a store level, it is really important for a retailer to know what they have, rather than having to look at every single item.”
Image: cchana
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