Music industry calls for action over secondary ticketing sites

 

 

Rock band Coldplay and managers of acts including Ed Sheeran, Elton John, Blur and Radiohead have signed an open letter to the government calling for action over secondary ticketing sites.

 

Published in The Times, the letter says fans are being "ripped-off by touts who anonymously exploit fair ticket prices via online ticket marketplaces".

 

It urges the government to put "the public's interests before the touts".

 

A government consultation on the resale of tickets closes on Friday.

 

"As artist managers, we deplore the increasing industrial-scale abuse and insider exploitation of tickets for music, arts and sports events by ticket touts," the letter says.

 

"The consequence in many cases is that fans will attend fewer shows, meaning that the profits made by such immoral practice is also money lost from the industry."

 

It is signed by managers for the UK's biggest live acts including One Direction, Little Mix, Radiohead, Mumford and Sons, Iron Maiden, Arctic Monkeys and Noel Gallagher.

 

'National disgrace'

 

The letter agrees there is a need for "genuine, transparent ticket resale/exchange" through businesses selling tickets at face value, and urges the review to recommend "all parties in a ticketing transaction should indentify themselves".

 

Earlier this week concert promoter Harvey Goldsmith told the BBC the issue of secondary ticketing websites was "a national disgrace".

 

He told Radio 4's Front Row programme that tickets to U2's recent London shows were advertised for up to £3,300 on resale sites, despite a face value of £182.

 

"We're asking the government to pass a law which says you cannot sell a ticket for more than 10% of its face value," Goldsmith told the BBC.

 

Consumer magazine Which? also called for a crack-down on ticket resale sites earlier this month, arguing consumers face a "stitch-up".

 

The group spent eight weeks monitoring four of the biggest secondary ticketing websites and said it found "some really unusual behaviour".

 

Music fans have until 23:00 GMT on 20 November 2015 to make their views known in the consultation.

 

The industry letter was compiled by Twickets, an online site which allows fans to sell spare tickets only at face value or below.

 

Here is the full list of signatures and which artists they represent:

Julian Wright & David Furnish, Rocket (Elton John, The Strypes)

Stuart Camp (Ed Sheeran)

Chris Martin, Guy Berryman, Jonny Buckland & Will Champion (members of Coldplay)

Richard Griffiths, Harry Magee & Will Bloomfield, Modest! (One Direction, 5 Seconds of Summer, Little Mix, Olly Murs, Cheryl)

Chris Hufford & Bryce Edge, Courtyard (Radiohead, Gaz Coombes)

Adam Tudhope, Everybodys (Mumford & Sons, Laura Marling, Keane)

Marcus Russell & Alec McKinley, Ignition (Noel Gallagher, Oasis, Catfish & The Bottlemen)

Paul Loasby, One Fifteen (David Gilmour, Jools Holland)

Ian McAndrew, Wildlife Entertainment (Arctic Monkeys, Royal Blood, The Last Shadow Puppets, Travis)

Ian Grenfell, Quietus (Chrissie Hynde, Suede, Simply Red, Simple Minds)

Paul McDonald, Closer Artists (George Ezra, James Bay, James Morrison, John Newman)

Jamie Oborne, All On Red (The 1975)

Sam Eldridge, Urok (Jess Glynne, Plan B, Tom Odell, Mystery Jets)

Rod Smallwood, Phantom Music (Iron Maiden)

Tony Smith, TSPM (Nick Mason, Genesis, Phil Collins)

Niamh Byrne & Regine Moylett. Eleven Management (Blur, Gorillaz, The Clash, Kano, Jamie Hewlett, Spoek)

Stewart Young. Part Rock Management (Foreigner, Zucchero and Emerson, Lake and Palmer)

Mike Greek, Emma Banks, Creative Artists Agency

Geoff Meall, United Talent Agency

Jeff Craft, Ian Huffam, Xray Touring

Rob Challice, Coda Music Agency

 

x

Thank you Sweet Baby Jesus!

Great! As we didn't know Coldplay care about their fans.

Props to Coldplay for representing themselves

This is gross

MSG Executives Fired After Being Caught Scalping Tickets

A number of executives working for Madison Square Garden were recently fired, after it was discovered that they had been involved in a major ticket scalping scandal. The NY Post reports that at most 10 individuals, working in the ticket sales department, had been purchasing the lower-priced tickets and posting them at inflated rates on second party websites like StubHub.

 

“It was uncovered through an internal investigation that a small handful of employees were breaking company policies and, as a result, they were relieved of their responsibilities," said an unnamed spokesperson for the venue. While the tickets in question were mainly for sporting events, including Knicks and Rangers games, it's unbelievable to think that these individuals would be cheating fans out of possible seats just to turn a quick buck.

 

New Petition Urges Congress To Pass Bipartisan Bill Banning Scalper Bots

 

The executive ticket sales staff had access to tickets normally reserved for sporting event group sales, and, because of their high-level position, they were able to acquire the tickets without anyone being alerted. Thankfully, the organization conducted an internal investigation, and relieved these leeches from their duties.

 

This news comes around the same time that the Attorney General launched a full-scale investigation into the ticket sales industry, uncovering that less-than-half of all tickets are made available to the public. Between ticket bots and insider access, it's no surprise that Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman called ticketing a "fixed game."

 

[Via NY Post]