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Ticketmaster says it won’t be barring people from entering shows based on their COVID status (that’ll be the promoter’s job)
By Andy Malt | Published on Friday 13 November 2020
Ticketmaster has offered some clarifications on reports that it plans to require ticketholders to have proof of a COVID-19 vaccination or recent negative test in order to get into live shows once things get back up and running. Although the Live Nation company’s President Mark Yovich did talk up having tools in place to assess the COVID status of gig-goers, that’s simply a service it is making available to venues and promoters. It’s not for Ticketmaster to set the actual rules.
Speaking to the BBC, the ticketing firm said that verifying vaccine statuses and test results in its app was “one potential idea” that’s being considered in order to get the live music business back to full capacity shows. However, it added, there will be “absolutely no requirement” across the board for people to prove that they have been vaccinated, and the ticketing company itself is “not forcing anyone to do anything”.
“Ticketmaster does not have the power to set policies around safety/entry requirements, which would include vaccines and/or testing protocols”, it continued. “That is up to the discretion of the event organiser. Ticketmaster continues to work with event organisers on all COVID safety measures and it will be up to each event organiser to set future requirements, based on their preferences and local health guidelines”.
So basically, Ticketmaster has the tools, but when it comes to deciding whether those tools get used, well that’s someone else’s problem. Basically it’s saying it just providing the tools for denying people access to shows, not dragging them out itself.
The proposals were reported earlier this week by Billboard, along with a quote from Yovich confirming that it was all in the works. “We’re already seeing many third-party health care providers prepare to handle the vetting – whether that is getting a vaccine, taking a test, or other methods of review and approval – which could then be linked via a digital ticket so everyone entering the event is verified”, he said.
