Pollstar (09/26/19) Pittman, Sarah

The Black Keys' Sept. 19 performance at the Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles was tarnished by hundreds of fans being denied admission because their tickets were invalid, with TicketMaster's (TM) SafeTix anti-fraud technology gaining new scrutiny as a result. Entry via SafeTix requires fans to have the ticket barcode on their phones scanned, with printed tickets and screenshots unacceptable. Tickets for the Wiltern show had the transferability feature fully deactivated, making resale through TM's platform impossible, and invalidating any ticket bought via secondary sites like Stubhub, SeatGeek or Vivid Seats, in addition to tickets that might have been transferred to family or friends. There was no mention that tickets purchased through the secondary market would be barred in any of announcements concerning presales and general onsale for the performance, while the Black Keys defended their argument for ticket transferability. "Because we were playing a venue far smaller than the rest of the venues on the tour as a warmup show, we turned off ticket transferability to ensure that our fans got in the door at the low ticket prices we set for them," the band said. "Unfortunately, scalpers took this opportunity to defraud our fans and steal their money by selling tickets that were ineligible for transfer on scalper sites." A TM spokesperson said tickets should never have been posted or resold on third-party sites, because resellers who attempted to take a screenshot would have received a pop-up screen warning them that "screenshots and printouts will not be accepted at entry."

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