Can AI solve fans’ concert ticket woes?

This story was produced by our colleagues at the BBC.

It’s the tour that’s smashed records, selling more than 4 million tickets, and led to fans traveling across the world.

Thirty-two-year-old Jacki Thrapp tried to get tickets to Taylor Swift’s “Eras Tour” in her hometown in Tennessee, but when she saw the price … 

“Presale tickets were $200 to $5,000 just to sit in the back row in America,” she said. “I’m not going to pay five grand to sit in the back row just to see Taylor Swift when I could pay $1,000 to see her out in Sweden.”

Laws in France, Germany and Holland limit resale ticket prices to no more than 20% over the face value of the ticket, while in Ireland, resale above face value is banned altogether. But in Sweden, Thrapp still faced problems.

“I bought a ticket that day when I realized, ‘Oh, I could go to the show.’ And they didn’t send it to me for a really long time. It looked like a screenshot of something,” she said. “People are buying these tickets from resale websites, and if you have a ticket that doesn’t work, that would just be so upsetting.”

Whether it’s online scalpers buying up hundreds of tickets and selling them at inflated prices, or the risk of buying fake tickets, the concert ticket system isn’t short of issues. U.S. regulators even sued Live Nation in May this year, accusing the entertainment giant of using illegal tactics to keep out competitors. Live Nation called the claims “absurd.” 

Using AI to meet demand

“Taylor Swift was quite an extreme example. It’s probably the most popular event I’ve seen in 15 years,” said Robin Sherry, who runs Seat Unique, a company that sells hospitality and VIP tickets for live events, including the Wembley leg of Swift’s tour. He said the solution could be artificial intelligence.

“AI is really creating a whole new ticketing category by using dynamic pricing, very much like airlines, hotels or trains,” he said. “That will have two big effects in our industry. The first thing is the removal of this concept of face value on a ticket. And secondly, AI will lead to the concept of an event selling out, disappearing. So there should always be a ticket available by using AI at the right price.”

Detecting ticket fraud

Asher Weiss started his ticketing company Tixologi after being sold fake tickets.

“We bought tickets on StubHub and showed up at the door, and the tickets had already been scanned in,” he said.

Technology, he believes, is the solution.

“You know, how can we continue to use AI algorithms on the back end, to really detect patterns that indicate fraudulent ticket purchases, making multiple purchases from the same IP address that would be flagged as unusual purchasing behavior,” he said.

Tixologi also uses blockchain, the technology underpinning all cryptocurrencies, and other related products like non-fungible tokens, known as NFTs.

“One of the things we do is every ticket is minted as an NFT behind the scenes and placed in a wallet,” he explained. “As an event producer or fan, you don’t need to have any previous knowledge. In fact, some of our customers don’t even know they’re interacting with blockchain technology today. But it essentially provides benefits behind the scenes around verification, tracking and control. 

“On the verification side, it means knowing that every ticket is real and not fraudulent. Tracking means knowing who’s holding the ticket at every point in time, not just who maybe bought it in the first place. Finally, control means being able to dictate that transfer behavior.”

It’s unclear whether AI will be the answer for fans like Thrapp. But with advancements in computer learning, the ticket industry won’t be alone in feeling the changes brought by artificial intelligence.