The upcoming Miley Cyrus tour will be all paperless, in response to complains because of her her last tour being one of most sought after tickets in years, and also one of the highest priced tickets on the secondary market. Paperless ticketing means no actual tickets are issued and the buyer must attend the show, and bring their photo ID and the credit card issued. This will be the first ALL paperless tour at a scale this large. Tom Waits was the first all paperless tour, but his venues were theaters, not arenas like Miley is playing. AC/DC had the best tickets be paperless for their tour, but the majority of tickets were still standard paper tickets. What does this mean for Mileys tour?

I predict that fans will actually be hurt by paperless ticketing and this could be the last time it is used at a show like this for the following reasons:

  • Given the age group of her fans (tweens), how many have their own credit card to scan at the show? Does this mean parents will have to goto the show, too, even if they don’t want to and be forced to buy another ticket?
  • Ticket brokers will still come up with ways to resell tickets (escorting buyers in, anyone?).
  • The arenas will still sell out, and many fans will still be without tickets, however the secondary market will have a much smaller supply due to the paperless ticketing, driving prices sky high.  In the end, the same moms who were complaining about all the ticket brokers reselling Miley tickets last tour will now be wishing they would come back so her daughter could get in for under $1000/ticket.

With all the current legislation in the works for the ticket industry, I  wouldn’t be surprised if anti paperless ticketing legislation was drafted because people complain they can’t resell their tickets if they end up having to work, and because they have to buy an extra ticket for the parent even if they don’t want to attend.

It will be interesting to see how loudly parents complain and what ticketmaster does in response and what it means for the future of paperless ticketing.

The video that explains paperless ticketing for the Miley tour(an instant classic!):