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Lollapalooza Tue Jul 01 2014
Lollapalooza is Launching a Cashless, Digital Way to Pay
With less than a month until it begins, some of the logistical things are starting to happen for Lollapalooza. Yesterday, it was announced that they're moving in the direction of becoming cashless by improving their RFID system. Radio-frequency identification, otherwise known as RFID, is a system increasingly used by merchants to monitor user data and inventory status.
How this will apparently work is that a small chip will be placed inside the concertgoer's wristband. In and of itself, this is nothing new, as Lolla has been using RFID tags to assist with entrance for a few years now. You already may be familiar with this. As you enter Grant Park, you place your wristband against a machine, it recognizes your wristband as legitimate, and you enter the park. This will be an expansion of this.
According to Adweek, concertgoers will be able to use their wristbands to pay for things such as merchandise or food or drinks. The user will have to opt-in and set up their wristband with credit card information as well as a personal PIN number. To buy something, the user would tap their wristband against the machine and input their PIN number. The transactions would then be stored in Lolla's point of service system and the user is sent the bill afterwards. This is similar to systems currently in use at Disney's theme parks and other festivals such as Electronic Daisy and Governor's Ball. I don't think they expect this to have wide usage at first, but even partial usage should help alleviate some of those notoriously long lines for food and things.
This could, in theory, be a potential data goldmine for Lollapalooza as they could use the RFID tags to figure out which bands were the most attended as well as other aspects of data about the people that attend to book future events.
Lollapalooza starts on August 1 at Grant Park.
