Tickets and Technology

It is November and I'm already producing radio commercials for concerts next summer.  I can't leak the details but I can tell you that tickets go on sale in the next few weeks for two major country music concerts happening in my area next May.

Do you remember back in the day when tickets went on sale six or eight weeks before the concert and you had to go somewhere to buy them.  At one time the only place to purchase tickets was at the venue, then along came ticket services with outlets.  I bought tickets at department stores for some shows back in the 1980s.

Been to a concert lately? At many venues Ticket Takers are now really Ticket Scanners … they scan the bar  code on your ticket rather than tear it.  That's pretty cool if you keep tickets as souvenirs.  I see a day when tickets won't even exist.  My 'tickets' for the two most expensive concerts I've ever gone to were printouts from my computer; I bought them online and printed the ticket.  Plane and train tickets are often non-tickets too.  For my last trip on Amtrak in April I had the option of scanning a printed out bar code OR scanning the bar code from my iPhone.  My flights to and from Las Vegas in September involved boarding passes printed on my home computer.

I love technology but I am also a bit skeptical at times.  So far, however, I have had no problems with ticket tech.