You Check to help grassroots music venues reopen

16 Feb 2021 - 12:20

Published under the Creative Commons Licence

UK ticket security app You Check last week announced that it was working with the Music Venue Trust to launch an initiative that would help grassroots live music events make a return during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The You Check app will be linked to the UK government’s track-and-trace system.

Trials will take place at London’s 100 Club and Bristol’s Exchange next month. The venues will put on shows running at 25% capacity using the app to test its viability. If the pilot is successful, it is expected to be rolled out to more venues in the coming months.

Initially created to fight secondary ticketing, You Check has been focusing on building a system to help venues reopen. The company says the new version of the app will provide a digital health passport for ticketholders.

“With COVID-19, the incubation period is two to five days,” You Check chief operations officer Fred Krefting said. “For the honeymoon phase after the test, it’s the shorter the better, which means you’re good to go to a show for 48 hours.”

Music Venue Trust CEO Mark Davyd said: “You Check’s identity-first solution has a lot of potential to help venues and promoters manage risk. It has a fast and thorough authentication process that enables health information to be stored against portable digital identity and Music Venue Trust is pleased to be working with You Check to explore how this technology might form part of a comprehensive process, which enables us to reopen every venue safely and revive live”.

The app will be linked with the UK government’s track-and-trace system to combine ticket information with proof that a ticketholder has had a recent negative COVID-19 test. The app will also be able to direct people to testing facilities in order to get a test at the right time before a show.

Providing proof of a recent negative COVID-19 test could likely become commonplace for concertgoers. Last year, Ticketmaster announced that it was working on a vetting system that would check concertgoers’ vaccine status or COVID-19 test results before entry at events. The system pulls three separate components together, including the company’s digital ticket app, third-party health information companies, and testing and vaccine distribution providers.

However, the development of such vetting systems could limit the rights of ordinary citizens.

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