You miss seeing Arctic Monkeys, Bruce or Rihanna? The live music business wants to get back to work. Artists and venues want 2021 to bring concerts back from the dead. How will it happen in the age of a coronavirus vaccine?

As if getting a concert ticket wasn’t already difficult enough, now you might need a medical appointment to catch a show.

Ticketmaster is considering plans to make fans either prove that they’ve been vaccinated against COVID-19 or show proof of a negative test result in a very narrow window of time before the performance. A representative of Live Nation, Ticketmaster's parent company, tells New Jersey 101.5 the company is exploring such an idea, though ultimately, any decisions on requirements for entry would be up an an event organizer.

"We are indeed exploring these options, but it is still only a potential concept," the representative told New Jersey 101.5 in an email. He said it was "widely misreported" that the decision had been made to make vaccine status or tests mandatory. This post has been updated to reflect the clarification by Live Nation.

 

According to Billboard, “After purchasing a ticket for a concert, fans would need to verify that they have already been vaccinated (which would provide approximately one year of COVID-19 protection) or test negative for coronavirus approximately 24 to 72 hours prior to the concert.”

How do you prove it? Just like we don’t have a vaccine yet, we also don’t have the digital screening services yet fully capable of the expected high demand. Health pass companies like IBM and CLEAR would be instructed to offer real time vaccine results to places like Ticketmaster but a lot of investing needs to be done. The FDA has not even approved the third-party companies to offer the technology necessary.

Music fans have dealt with overpricing and manipulation of the ticket buying system for years which has already left so many frustrated. Is getting a vaccine you may not want worth it to see Kenny Chesney? Or buying expensive tickets then hoping for a negative test 24 hours before the show? For people who used to sleep out on sidewalks for concert tickets maybe a COVID nasal swab won’t be a big deal. You tell us. Take our poll below.

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