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Is TicketMaster's Verified Fan program working for real fans?

September 19, 2017 - By Brando Rich

A couple weeks ago performers like Dead and Company, Taylor Swift, and Bruce Springsteen partnered up with Ticketmaster to use their new "Verified Fan" program when selling tickets to their events.

"We built a really big robot to protect fans from the thousands of little scalper bots trying to scoop up tickets. Fans register ahead of time, and those who are verified and selected receive a code that unlocks the opportunity to purchase tickets. Ticketmaster #VerifiedFan was designed to separate actual, human fans from bots and scalpers. The system aims to thwart bad actors who are in the business of taking away tickets from fans just so they can resell them."

However, the algorithm to do so may not be as effective as we hoped. Taylor Swift was using tactics like buying merchandise, watching videos, and other ticket purchases to so called "verify" fans. Bruce Springsteen was using e-mails to see the likelihood of someone actually attending the show. It's great to see companies beginning to take a stand against scalping.... yet this provoked a lot of thought for us in the CashorTrade office today. Do these programs work? Are they fair? Is this the right step?

Last week a couple of us in the CashorTrade.org office were hoping to snag some tickets to Dead and Company at Madison Square Garden for this November. We registered that Monday with Ticketmaster's "verified fan" program to receive a presale code before hand, providing access when on sale. Finally, the day of the presale, we received an e-mail saying there was a high demand and we were on a waiting list to receive a code. Luckily, last minute they did send us a code and were able to get into the presale a few minutes late.

Immediately after the tickets went on sale there were hundreds of tickets on StubHub, many of them listed far above face value. Wait a minute. This didn't seem much different than what fans were dealing with before, scalpers and ticket bots obtaining tickets before fans have a chance only to relist them for obnoxious prices. Yet, Ticketmaster claims, "Our technology analyzes every registrant to make sure they are real people interested in going to the show." We hoped this time it would be different. We found it a bit hard to believe that hundreds of fans bought these tickets only to turn around and resell them immediately. If they were posted by scalpers or ticket bots, how did they obtain them? Did they get codes themselves? Did they purchase merchandise ahead of time to give them a better place in line? Did they have old emails on file that, in some way, make them seem like real fans?

At CashorTrade, we believe that real fans pass their extras on to fans who value the experience as they do, not attempt to make a profit. We enjoy an open discussion about such programs and practices.

CashorTrade is disrupting an industry that is in dire need of innovation. CashorTrade is the world's first social network where fans buy, sell, and trade tickets for face value and avoid scalping.

It is the only ethical platform on the planet where fans can sell their ticket for free. We provide a level of transparency and a sense of community that simply does not exist in today's market. Real fans can browse member profiles and choose who they want to trade with. We are continuously challenging the market and coming up with innovative ways to help fans.

Bands like Phish, Pearl Jam, and Dave Matthews Band have been running special fan club lotteries for years when selling presale tickets in an effort to get their tickets in the hands of real fans. The country singer, Eric Church, recently took a stand and cancelled over 25,000 tickets that were thought to be purchased by scalpers. Back in 2009, Bruce Springsteen fans successfully sued TicketMaster for 16.5 million dollars because they were "tricked" into buying more expensive tickets on its resale website, TicketsNow. Yet, TicketMaster now embeds above face tickets directly in their platform as "Resold" tickets. If you are not careful, you may be purchasing resold tickets at above face value directly through Ticketmaster.com. So a primary ticket company is now a secondary ticket company too? Conflict here?

Should such practices be illegal? If you go to buy an iPhone from the Apple Store, and they are sold out, they don't bring you into a sketchy back room for an iPhone that's twice the price. We would hope the federal government would shut that down instantly. Why is this level of business okay for the ticket industry? Why are these programs constantly ripping off millions of people? How many above face value tickets do we have to see online before we demand something be done? Well, in December last year, President Obama signed the BOTS Act, the Better Online Ticket Sales Act into Law. It fines or imprisons anyone found to be using a ticket bot program to obtain tickets. However, without the proper regulatory agency in place, and with many of these ticket bots running over seas, they are hard to stop. So far, we are not seeing much change. However, CashorTrade is the only ticket platform where real fans are buying, selling, and trading at FACE VALUE.

The face value ticket movement is exactly what this industry so desperately needs. We appreciate artists and TicketMaster for taking steps toward getting more tickets into the hands of fans, although we are disappointed to see that bots and scalpers are still potentially abusing these systems. Collectively we can change this industry by using CashorTrade.org and socialize the ticket experience by passing these tickets on to REAL fans who equally value the experience as you do. What do you think can be done to help verify fans more, so such tickets end up in the hands of real fans and not scalpers?