Dierks Bentley Speaks Out Against Ticketmaster’s Facial Recognition Plan

Ticketmaster is hinting they might do away with paper tickets and instead use facial recognition, and Dierks Bentley is not a fan. The “Woman, Amen” singer admits he is leery of the idea, and thinks it is largely unsafe.

“The 23 and Me ancestry stuff where you’re basically giving people your DNA profile, and then the facial recognition, now that’s in a computer system somewhere,” Bentley tells Broadway’s Backyard. “No matter where you go, like in Home Depot, they could just go, ‘Oh there he is in aisle 7, looking for blinds. We bought this facial recognition system and got all this information from Ticketmaster for a billion dollars, and now we can just track you everywhere you go.’ It kind of freaks me out. I want fans to get access to tickets, and we do a lot of presale with our fan club.

“I don’t want anyone to have to pay more for tickets than they should,” he continues. “But I’m not really heavily involved in the scalping situation. I gotta get the kids to and from camp right now. I’ve got too much other stuff going on to dive into that. I’m trying to make a great experience on stage and make this night as awesome as it can be for fans. Personally I wouldn’t want to do that when I go to a show. I go to a lot of concerts. Let me just give my ticket. Wand me and let me go have a good time.”

According to a statement from Live Nation (which owns Ticketmaster), the company has partnered with “Blink Identity, which has cutting-edge facial recognition technology, enabling you to associate your digital ticket with your image, then just walk into the show.”

The Arizona native just kicked off his Mountain High Tour, in support of his upcoming album, The Mountain, out Friday, June 8.

“I just want this to be fun for me at the end of the day,” says Bentley. “I’ve got a lot of great stuff going on and I’m gonna spend the whole summer out there. I’ve got a nine-year-old, a seven-year-old and four-year-old. It’s more than just; it’s not about making money. It’s about my life. I want to have a great summer, have a lot of fun, make a lot of great memories, be totally present from the second we get there on-site, thinking of the fans’ experience when they first pull into a tailgate to when they leave and get home safely.”

Dates for all of Bentley’s upcoming shows can be found at Dierks.com.

Photo Credit: Instagram/dierksbentley