Ticketmaster Debuts "Paperless Ticket," Will Expand Globally

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on May 20, 2008 - 9:24am.

West Hollywood, Calif. - IAC's (NASD: IACI) Ticketmaster on Tuesday announced the launch of a new paperless ticketing service, wherein customers will no longer carry any paper tickets, and instead present their credit card and photo ID to gain entry at a venue. The new Paperless Ticket will first be utilized on Tom Waits' "Glitter and Doom" tour this summer, and the company says it plans to begin installing capabilities to offer the service at major venues in the U.S. over the next year and a half.

Ticketmaster has of late been expanding its services into secondary sales markets, launching its own TicketExchange service, and acquiring secondary marketplaces TicketsNow and GetMeIn.

"Paperless Ticket is a key next step for Ticketmaster along its innovation path," said David Marcus, Ticketmaster's SVP of music.

"Over the course of the next 12-18 months Ticketmaster will be installing Paperless Ticket capabilities at major venues across the United States, North America, and ultimately the globe."

While the company is billing its new paperless service as a means of combating scalpers and long will call lines, it's unclear how the service will affect consumers' ability to resell or give away tickets they have purchased through the company.

Published in DMW Daily, May 20, 2008

Previous story: IAC Acquires Girls' Fashion Community GirlSense.com
Next story: Roku Device Streams Netflix Movies to TV

Email this page

Comments

Ticketmaster finds more ways to be evil...

Submitted by anonymous (not verified) on June 23, 2008 - 3:15am.

This is nothing more than a new way to scam the customers who have no other choice but to use Ticketmaster. I just want to share a few thoughts regarding the "paperless ticket."

1.) Call me old fashion, but after having paid over $22 for "convenience charges," I would at least like to receive a ticket.

2.) There is nothing "paperless" about this new system. After having scanned your credit card, a handheld device prints two individual tickets, similar to that of cinemas. It seems all Ticketmaster has done is eliminated shipping costs.

3.) You were only allowed to purchase 2 tickets at a time. Your "guest" must enter the venue at the same time with you. How are families / groups suppose to sit together?

4.) The Tom Waits show in Houston started 30 minutes late due to the new ticketing system that will "eliminate long will call lines."

5.) Other concerns: what if you lose your credit card? what if your credit card is stolen? can you no longer give tickets to events as gifts?

Bottom line: TICKETMASTER is evil. I only wish that more artists would go with alternative ticketing systems that didn't take advantage of their loyal audiences.

We waited 1 1/2 hours in

Submitted by anonymous (not verified) on July 6, 2008 - 2:37am.

We waited 1 1/2 hours in three separate lines to see Tom Waits at the Fox in Atlanta last night. I had my original credit card, a picture ID and the confirmation email: still the system didn't scan properly. The show started over an hour late because of many problems with the paperless ticket system. The Fox employees obviously had no idea how to deal with the multitude of problems...alot of people very pissed off at Ticketmaster who are indeed evil. I would have gladly paid a scalper or ebay seller extra cash, rather than wait an hour in a Ticketmaster problem resolution line again.