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Reverse engineering Ticketmaster's rotating barcodes

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Re: Reverse engineering Ticketmaster's rotating barcodes

#401

Post by lmm »

LeonM wrote: post #315

Let's face it, the real problem with ticket sales is scalping. OP may not like Ticketmaster, and doesn't want to install the app, but the majority of fans don't have a problem with that. The real problem for most fans are the scalpers who push prices out of their budget. Of course we all like to dream up all sorts of technical crypto solutions to this, preferably decentralized to remove evil Ticketmaster from the equ…

> Let's face it, the real problem with ticket sales is scalping. OP may not like Ticketmaster, and doesn't want to install the app, but the majority of fans don't have a problem with that. The real problem for most fans are the scalpers who push prices out of their budget.

No, the problem is artists wanting to falsely advertise low prices, and using gimmicks like first-come-first-served ticket sales and "scalpers" (usually fake, sometimes hired by the artists themselves) to do it, and the "fans" buying into this whole false narrative. If artists would honestly sell, and fans would honestly buy, at the actual prices, then the whole kabuki play of "evil scalpers" could be avoided.

Re: Reverse engineering Ticketmaster's rotating barcodes

#402

Post by 627467 »

noodlesUK wrote: post #27

This sort of ticketing thing is a trivially solvable problem. It is solved at every airport in the entire world millions of times per day. You provide the name of each concertgoer when you buy a ticket, and they show up with their ticket and ID. You often need to show your ID at these kinds of venues to prove you're old enough to drink beer anyway.

+1 to this. also doesn't Olympics and World Cup class events also face similar issue as concerts, and they allow for fair'ish purchase and resale by private people, but only through their platform?

Re: Reverse engineering Ticketmaster's rotating barcodes

#403

Post by eightysixfour »

hunter2_ wrote: post #353
LeonM wrote: post #315

Let's face it, the real problem with ticket sales is scalping. OP may not like Ticketmaster, and doesn't want to install the app, but the majority of fans don't have a problem with that. The real problem for most fans are the scalpers who push prices out of their budget. Of course we all like to dream up all sorts of technical crypto solutions to this, preferably decentralized to remove evil Ticketmaster from the equ…

> tickets are currently sold under the wrong terms, which encourages scalping The incentive to scalp arises from the likelihood that a ticket will be worth more in the future (buy low, sell high) and that future worth is established by scarcity (sold out shows). To help eliminate this likelihood, the original price (face value) needs to decrease over time, ideally in such a way that the final original ticket sale occ…

This is terrible - right now the random 17 year old middle-class kid at least has a small chance of getting a somewhat reasonably priced ticket to a popular show. In your model, they have zero chance.

Auction models are good for price discovery but this isn’t a price discovery problem, it is a supply problem. Believe it or not, artists don’t always want to maximize revenue from a ticket, they want fans from lower income brackets to be able to attend as well.

Re: Reverse engineering Ticketmaster's rotating barcodes

#404

Post by dylan604 »

xp84 wrote: post #373
dylan604 wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What is the worst that can happen? I don't know the worst, but juice is not worth the squeeze in my opinion. If you recall, Ticketmaster was just recently hacked, so the worst pretty much happened in that any data they had collected on their users is potentially been leaked. So if they can't protect that data, then I'm not participating in giving them data.

Sure, but the data you give them is pretty much a condition of attending their shows, not whether you use their app, Chrome, or a PC in the library to buy the ticket. Regardless, they will get some contact and basic financial info for you unless you avoid all their concerts (which is certainly a principled and defensible choice!)

They do not need to know my address, my phone number, credit card number or any of the other BS that "they need" including my name. Their website has a ton of trackers uBlock blocks, so their website is trying to collect even more data than what their "forms" request.

Re: Reverse engineering Ticketmaster's rotating barcodes

#405

Post by 627467 »

lilyball wrote: post #151
noodlesUK wrote: post #27

This sort of ticketing thing is a trivially solvable problem. It is solved at every airport in the entire world millions of times per day. You provide the name of each concertgoer when you buy a ticket, and they show up with their ticket and ID. You often need to show your ID at these kinds of venues to prove you're old enough to drink beer anyway.

Flying requires an ID. Attending a concert should not. Any solution that is solved by "simple, just require an ID" is not a solution.

that's really just an opinion. and I'd argue that if people really care about a fair and sustainable concert going, given how ridiculous the live event situation is, you'd support pretty common and standard requirements like ID to be shown. as others said: ID is already required to validate age in many events/venues

Re: Reverse engineering Ticketmaster's rotating barcodes

#406

Post by imchillyb »

RScholar wrote: post #55

> Software developers are the wizards and shamans of the modern age. We ought to use our powers with the austerity and integrity such power implies. This is one of the most powerful truths underlying the world we currently inhabit. The sooner we can agree to behave accordingly, the better our prospects for ripping the reigns of society from the hands of those whose only animating principles are avarice and exploitati…

Except it's not truth.

You want truth?

The Golden Rule: "He who has the gold, makes the rules."

Truth is that money is all that matters. Nothing else in the world of business matters not relationships, not customers, not Boards of Directors or CEOs. Money.

Until a person realizes this, they will be forever caught in a cycle of thought that is not truth.

"Follow the money!" is the best way to see how society works, and is why every government wants their hands in our money. Meaningful change in this world requires money. No amount of idealism or 'using our powers' can change that.

Do the wizards have 'F-Off' money? No. Will they ever? No.

Re: Reverse engineering Ticketmaster's rotating barcodes

#407

Post by patmorgan23 »

axus wrote: post #320
Decker87 wrote: post #304

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Taylor Swift's manager is a woman. And an artist like TS is going to know exactly how it works behind the scenes

If Britney Spears's book is to be believed, the talent can be kept in the dark.

Britney Spears is not your typical situation. She was legally incompetent and in a conservatorship control by her dad until very recently.

Re: Reverse engineering Ticketmaster's rotating barcodes

#408

Post by bigiain »

thechao wrote: post #387
behringer wrote: post #375

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds great. Won't be going to any ticketmaster events ever, and you shouldn't either.

I, too, love a good Tuvan throat death-metal band in the outer suburbs of Ulaanbaatar.

I would _totally_ go to that show.

Re: Reverse engineering Ticketmaster's rotating barcodes

#409

Post by deamanto »

I'd also like to highlight another bad practice by Ticketmaster.

When you purchase a ticket from them and resell it on their marketplace, once someone purchases it, they(Ticketmaster) hold your funds and only give you the money ~7-14 business days after the event is over. They say this is to verify the validity of the ticket.

On the buyer side, you purchase the ticket from the marketplace and it gets added to your account immediately. (I think) You get the barcode some time ~1 week before the actual event begins.

The confusion for me? Ticketmaster owned the ticket and all logic relating to the validity of it. The logic to validate this shouldn't be complex at all. They OWN the ticket. They KNOW it's legitimate because it never left their database. Yet they double dip and hold both buyer and seller funds. Events can be close to a year in the future but the seller won't see that until after that event ends.

Re: Reverse engineering Ticketmaster's rotating barcodes

#410

Post by 627467 »

llsf wrote: post #192
noodlesUK wrote: post #27

This sort of ticketing thing is a trivially solvable problem. It is solved at every airport in the entire world millions of times per day. You provide the name of each concertgoer when you buy a ticket, and they show up with their ticket and ID. You often need to show your ID at these kinds of venues to prove you're old enough to drink beer anyway.

The issue is most likely about throughput. You want to let fans enter the venue as quick as possible. Most venues have lots of gates, but still the latency at each gate has to be a handful of seconds per ticket. Having to validate both ticket and ID would easily double or triple that time.

I keep reading about this argument but Olympics and World Cup matches are arguably as large events (if not larger) and they place name on ticket and check ID at entrance.

people complain at ticketmaster yet seem to bend over backwards to justify the state of affairs

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