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Ticketmaster repurposes anti-scalping tech to track social distancing at events

COVID-19 has been the bane of 2020, but an interesting effect of the global pandemic has been how it’s forced a reevaluation of how we can put existing technology to use. Case in point is Ticketmaster, who is looking to repurpose its suite of technologies that were originally meant to fight scalping, into tools to enforce safe social distancing at future events.

The live-music ticketing service unveiled SmartEvent recently, with the simple premise of minimizing person-to-person contact through a shift to digital. The new tech prioritizes contactless entry and customer service, but also enables things like contact tracing and monitoring the rate of entry into a venue. Ticketmaster president Mark Yovich described the new tool in a public 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,” he continued, “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.”

The shift will make registering an account with Ticketmaster a requirement, but that seems like a small price to pay if it means getting back to live events sooner than later.

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