Iron Maiden unveil paperless system for 2017 tour

In announcing their first UK arena tour in six years, Iron Maiden have also unveiled plans to combat ticket piracy.

The British rock icons’ 2017 tour will be paperless in full or in part at all UK venues, with all tickets purchased on resale sites deemed invalid. Instead of printed tickets, fans will present their photo ID and credit card at the venue entrance.

“We do not want our fans being ripped off either by counterfeit tickets or through costly mark-ups on so called secondary ticketing websites,” said Iron Maiden manager Rod Smallwood. “These problems now affect the UK more than any other country outside of the U.S.A. We believe the most successful way to prevent this is by implementing Paperless ticketing.”

The secondary ticketing market is worth an estimated $1.5 billion globally. While some major resellers like Ticketmaster argue they are safe and transparent, ticket brokers are using ticket bot technology to automatically buy a large number of ticketsand illegally profit from music fans.

Smallwood said ticket piracy was reduced using paperless ticketing at both their London shows in 2013 and throughout their North American tours since 2010.

“This is a simple procedure and goes a long way to minimising the resale of tickets and reducing fraud by requiring the original cardholder purchaser to be present at entry,” he said.

Iron Maiden are working with promoter giant Live Nation and its ticketing company Ticketmaster on the paperless system along with the following measures:

– Each ticket holder will present a photo ID at the entrance of the concert venues.

– There will be a maximum of 4 tickets per person per show.

– When tickets are not paperless, the ticket holder will still be required to show ID at the door.

– There will be a team dedicated to monitoring ticket sales through the Iron Maiden fan club pre-sale and will report and investigate suspicious activity.

– A customer support team will be available to deal with any of the legitimate issues fans may have.

– Buying a ticket from an unauthorized source is either invalid or counterfeit

The UK Government’s Consumer Rights Act came into effect last October. It requires that music, entertainment and sports consumers must be made aware of the ticket’s original price before it is sold on, any restrictions on the ticket, and standing or seating info such as block, row and seat numbers.

However, areportreleased in March suggested some major secondary ticketing sites are selling concert tickets in ways that contravene UK law.

Locally, promoters, venues and some ticketers are calling for a review of Australia’s ticket resale industry by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

Mushroom Group’s Michael Gudinski toldThe Herald earlier this month: “We hate it … we’re against it. Some of the prices I’ve seen are extreme, and it doesn’t go to the artists or the promoters. It’s a great frustration and I think the ACCC should look at it.’’

Nigel Adams MP, Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Music and Member of Parliament for Selby and Ainsty said in a statement:

“I’m pleased that Iron Maiden are taking a principled position and standing up for music fans. I’d like to think the whole industry can learn from this initiative and use technology to put a stop to the industrial level of touting that has been a blight on the live music industry for so long.”

Iron Maiden toured their Book of Souls world tour nationally in May with Dainty Group. The five Australian and two New Zealand dates, including sold out dates in Auckland, Sydney and Melbourne, saw the band sell 67,510 tickets and gross over A$7.1M in revenue.

The band’s 2017 UK arena tour dates will be announced tonight.