UK live music industry responds to Ticketmaster’s closure of secondary ticketing sites

The UK live music industry has responded favourably to Ticketmaster’s move to close down its secondary ticketing sites Get Me In! and Seatwave.

The decision was made in an attempt to stamp out inflated prices online by scalpers.

Get Me In! and Seatwave will be replaced with a new fan-to-fan ticket exchange which will trade tickets for the original price.

Andrew Parsons, MD of Ticketmaster UK, said: “Closing down our secondary sites and creating a ticket exchange on Ticketmaster has always been our long-term plan.

“We’re excited to launch our redesigned website which will make buying and selling tickets fast and simple, with all tickets in the same place. “

The new exchange will be rolled out in the UK and Ireland in October and Europe in early 2019.

Now only two of the UK’s big four secondary ticketing sites remain, StubHub and Switzerland-based Viagogo.

A spokesperson for FanFair Alliance, set up by the UK music industry to fight huge resale ticket mark-ups, said, “After a long campaign to change the UK ticketing market and to put power into the hands of artists and their fans, the Fanfair Alliance warmly welcomes this move by Ticketmaster.

“While enforcement action is still urgently required to clamp down on rogue operators such as Viagogo, we are now much closer to a genuine transformation of the secondary market – where large-scale online touts are locked out, where innovation can flourish, and the resale of tickets is made straightforward, transparent and consumer-friendly. “

Richard Davies, CEO of Twickets which works directly with artists such as Adele and Ed Sheeran and promoters to monitor the resale process, welcomed the news.

“It is encouraging to see the biggest ticketing company in the world taking this step, which validates our face value resale policy of the past seven years.

“The decision will hopefully enable those who are no longer able to attend a Ticketmaster show to pass on tickets at face value to those who wish to attend.”

Davies too warned there was still a challenge for a fairer more transparent, resale market.

“Companies such as Viagogo and StubHub, and Ticketbis in Europe, still tout tickets on an industrial scale, placing profit ahead of fairness to consumers.

“Twickets remains the only site enabling fans to buy and sell tickets for any event at face value, without the eye-watering markups that have left so many consumers dejected and distraught.”

Jonathan Brown, chief executive of Society Of Ticket Agents And Retailers (STAR), said: “This excellent news from Ticketmaster means that ticket buyers will have another safe and trusted place to resell their tickets.

However, resale for profit will continue elsewhere and the spotlight is therefore on the remaining marketplaces, including those based overseas.

“The ongoing enforcement work by the Competition and Market Authority and others to ensure compliance with UK legislation is crucial.”

Both Get Me In! and Seatwave were among the resellers told by the Competition and Markets Authority in April, after an investigation, to provide more information to customers as the seat standing area or location.

The two brands joined the Ticketmaster Resale platform in Australia