LPA calls on Turnbull Government to outlaw ticket bots

As laws pass this week to criminalise ticket bots, Australia is failing to keep up with international effort to fight this threat to the live music industry.

Live Performance Australia has renewed its call for the Turnbull Government to support similar legislation outlawing the use of ticket bots being used to purchase high quantities of tickets, which are then sold on the secondary market.

LPA Chief Executive Evelyn Richardson said “Ticket bots are a growing problem around the world. They are being used to scoop up large numbers of tickets to popular shows which make it harder for genuine fans to get tickets to see their favourite artists.

“Bot activity also affects the operation of ticketing websites, slowing down performance and making it harder for fans to complete their purchase.

“For some popular shows, bots can make up the majority of visits to online ticketing sites

“Bots are a problem for all e-commerce businesses not just our industry. This is a global problem and the impact on fans is enormous. Ticketmaster has publicly reported that it blocked 5 billion attempts by bots to unfairly access their websites globally in 2015 and bot activity increased by 10 percent in 2016.

“The UK and US have taken action, but the Turnbull Government is missing in action. Bots are a global problem, and Australia should be part of the global response.”

This article originally appeared on The Industry Observer, which is now part of The Music Network.