Concerts are always a love/hate affair: you love the show and the energy that comes with it, but hate the traffic, parking, $12 beers, and endless ticketing surcharges.  Actually, you probably also hate the entire ticket-buying process, though that could start to change.

Enter New York-based Rukkus, a secondary ticketing company that just combined virtual reality with their ticketing app to create this:

Rukkus, a DMN partner, is calling this ‘Seat360,’ thanks to the total up, down, and side-to-side panning the buyer enjoys.  Perhaps the best part is that this also works with Google Cardboard, enabling the user to seriously pan around in a virtual stadium seat-choosing experience.

All of that replaces the old process of picking a cartoon image of a seat in a large grid, without any idea of how the experience will be at the show itself.  In some older stadiums and theaters, that can lead to some seriously obstructed views or other visibility issues (especially if you’re on the shorter side).

Seat360 could stimulate greater purchasing and better experiences through the launch, and will probably get copied by pretty much everyone at some point (in one variation or another).

In some ways, Seat360 is like combining Google Street View with ticket buying.  Actually, Google is already moving beyond streets and sidewalks, like with this Aer Lingus business class view.

So, why not do exactly the same thing with stadiums, theaters, and other venues, and then integrate it into ticket buying?  With that in mind, here’s a look at what it feels like to sit in the middle of Hollywood Bowl when no one’s around.

This is all a smartphone-based concept, which makes sense given the surge in mobile-based ticket purchasing (and mobile-based purchasing in general).  Rukkus first delivered its ticketing app for iOS and Android in February, with Seat360 featured in a just-launched upgrade.

The post Just Found a Practical Use for Virtual Reality: Concert Ticketing appeared first on Digital Music News.