Gang of Youths are calling on the music biz and fans to help “eradicate” Viagogo from the Australian market

Gang of Youths have launched a campaign to kick controversial Swiss-based ticket reseller Viagogo out of Australia.

They’re collecting anecdotes from musicians, promoters and music fans on how they’ve been adversely affected in their dealings with the site.

They then plan to send these to politicians who’ve made statements in the past about clamping down on sites that receive consumer complaints.

In a post on Instagram, the band stated:  “As many of you have encountered, Viagogo has become one of the most disgraceful and disruptive scams our live industry has faced in recent years.

“Viagogo impacts promoters, managers, venues, ticket agencies and most importantly artists and their fans”.

“A number of different bodies over the past twelve months have been talking to both state and federal government regarding this issue”.

“There is an opportunity to help eradicate this business from Australia.

“We are calling for as many examples of how this fraudulent operation has affected your business, additionally, we are encouraging artists to also post on their socials so fans can reply with real-life examples of how they have been affected by Viagogo”.

The band announced:  “We intend to give this documentation to the Opposition Party to form part of their campaign pledge to have this site closed down”.

Hoping to get moving on the list before they head off back overseas to tour, they have asked for stories to be emailed to them by tomorrow (Wednesday, November 28) to [email protected].

View this post on Instagram

As many of you have encountered, Viagogo has become one of the most disgraceful and disruptive scams our live industry has faced in recent years. Viagogo impacts promoters, managers, venues, ticket agencies and most importantly artists and their fans. A number of different bodies over the past 12 months have been talking to both State and Federal Government regarding this issue. There is an opportunity to help eradicate this business from Australia. We are calling for as many examples of how this fraudulent operation has affected your business, additionally, we are encouraging artists to also post on their socials so fans can reply with real-life examples of how they have been affected by Viagogo. We intend to give this documentation to the Opposition Party to form part of their campaign pledge to have this site closed down. It would be greatly appreciated if you could send these examples to [email protected] by Wednesday this week.

A post shared by gang of youths (@gangofyouths) on Nov 25, 2018 at 6:34pm PST

Their move comes in the wake of Western Australia planning to table legislation to cap resale tickets at 10% of face value, as reported in TMN yesterday, while South Australia made its move in October.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is currently taking legal action against Viagogo after it received more than 400 complaints about the site in one year.

It initiated Federal Court action in August 2017 alleging it breached Australian consumer law when reselling entertainment, music and sports tickets from May 1 2017, and June 26 2017.

This was, it said, through false statements and engaging in misleading or deceptive conduct, regarding the price of tickets on its online platform by failing to disclose substantial fees.

“We allege that Viagogo failed to disclose significant and unavoidable fees upfront in the ticket price, including a 27.6 per cent booking fee for most events and a handling fee,” ACCC deputy chair Delia Rickard said at the time.