Why has there been so little innovation (re consumer experience) in how concert/event tickets work? originally appeared on Quora - the knowledge sharing network where compelling questions are answered by people with unique insights.
Answer by Sean Moriarty, CEO Demand Media, former CEO Ticketmaster & Saatchi Art, Eventbrite & TuneIn BoD, on Quora.
Your question is based on an assumption that I don't necessarily think is true. Much innovation has happened in event ticketing over the course of the past decade:
Wireless access control installed/available at most major venues, enabling e-ticketing.
RFID enabling fan entry with wearables.
Rise of resale sites and platforms like Stubhub and Tickemaster's TicketExchange and Verified, providing greater access (albeit often at higher prices) for fans through the event lifecycle.
Mobile ticketing, which Eventbrite has done a great job of enabling on both fan and organizer side.
That said, the consumer experience in the purchase process is often convoluted, confusing, and difficult, although I believe Eventbrite does a very good job wrt to UI/IX in the discovery and purchase funnel. Reasons for bad UI/UX in industry overall are as follows IMO:
Much more complex sales process than people think, particularly for reserved seating, given that people are choosing based on price, ticket quantity, and subjective criteria with respect to location --ie this is actually a harder interface problem than it looks.
Ticketing is a two sided business with inventory management for event organizers and catalogue and purchase for consumers. Event organizers (the supply side) consume much of the product/tech resource for most primary ticketing companies as this is a supply first business and their needs are real and significant.
Most companies in the ticketing space are not product/technology companies at their core and don't put consumer experience first because either they do not understand the importance of it or are incapable of doing it. Again, I believe Eventbrite to be a notable exception to this, and raising the bar in the industry.
I could go on, but won't for reasons of time, not lack of passion for the topic.