Ticketmaster rolls out 'SmartEvent' to get fans back to concerts

In an industry still very much suffering from the COVID-19 pandemic, entities operating in the nightlife and entertainment sector have had the opportunity to reevaluate how to move forward and even how we can better utilize existing technology. Markets in Asia aim to be at the forefront of this development with testing opportunities at festivals already possible in China, Taiwan and Thailand.

Just this week, Ticketmaster has announced the launch of their 'SmartEvent', a new set of technological tools that are designed to help fans get back to live entertainment sooner than later. Originally designed to ward off ticket scalping and resellers, the tech has been repurposed for the simple but effective premise of reducing person-to-person contact between staff and patrons by shifting as many previous required interactions to digital.

The new technology will be utilized for contact points such as customer service and venue entry, but can also be applied to capacity monitoring and contact tracing.

President of Ticketmaster Mark Yovich outlined the rollout in a statement:

“We know that fans around the world are eager to return to live events and SmartEvent gives event organizers an array of solutions to help make that possible.”

“SmartEvent brings together our advanced technology platform and industry-leading venue and seating insights, putting Ticketmaster in the unique position to facilitate paths back to live.”

Patrons will need to register accounts with Ticketmaster, but that seems like a minor inconvenience if it helps speed up their access back to live events.