Senate passes anti-scalping motion – but the problem is bigger than bots

Australia is finally on the path with Canada and the United Kingdom to ban ticket bots as a way to combat ticket scalping.

As TMN reported earlier this week, Adelaide independent Senator Nick Xenophon brought online ticket scalping back to Senate after an unsuccessful attempt in 2014.

In that instance, the Federal Government did nothing to address the issue despite recommendations by a Parliamentary committee. Its argument is that there are already laws that protect consumers in these instances.

This week too, the Government showed lukewarm interest. Senator Xenophon’s motion passed the Senate with votes from the Opposition, the Greens and Senators Jacqui Lambie and Derryn Hinch.

Senator Xenophon’s motion acknowledged, “There is a benefit in having a secondary marketplace for consumers to on-sell tickets when they have a legitimate reason to do so.” But it adds that “many consumers are not aware that they are buying from a secondary market site … resulting in consumers purchasing tickets that are not genuine, or at a vastly inflated price”.

Xenophon’s approach has merit. Recent high-profile issues with scalping as major tours such as Elton John and Midnight Oil sell out across the country show that the problem needs a national approach rather than the current piecemeal state-by-state strategies, which is hardly worrying scalpers.

But some executives have their doubts about how much the federal government can really do to combat it.

“Assuming it’s even practical, there is nothing simplistic about it,” Gary Bongiovanni, Editor in Chief of the US-based global live music publication Pollstar, told TMN overnight.

“Technology always seems to be one step ahead. The bots are more a symptom of the problem… which is for artists to squeeze as much money out of the ticket buyer without letting some of that revenue leak into the secondary market where they don’t get their share.”

But what’s the real problem?

Some in the live music industry, both in Australia and overseas, suggest that bots are being used as a convenient scapegoat so that no one looks at the other issues.

In its 2014 inquiry, the Senate Economics References Committee found that part of the problem was due to primary ticket sellers. One of these was that in many instances, the best tickets were held back for corporate partners and VIP packages.

Evelyn Richardson, CEO of Live Performance Australia, whose members include promoters, agrees with legislation against bots.

But she has expressed that the Government should do more to enforce the current consumer protection laws, which she says are enough to protect ticket buyers.

She told the committee, “Current available evidence, both domestically and internationally, illustrates that specific anti-scalping legislation is unwarranted, ineffective and unenforceable due to the inability of legislation to have an impact on the online operations of the secondary market.”

A solution offered by Brian Chladil, co-founder of Oztix, is to regulate the ticket companies, and then use the force of the law to go after the “cowboys” who follow illegal practices.

Others suggest ticketing companies be made to build systems that are scalper-resistant. They should also be compelled to work with law enforcement agencies when they chase up those involved in illegal activities.

The live music industry continues to urge ticket buyers to be better educated about their rights.

Ian Magan, head of the New Zealand Entertainment Operators Association (NEOA) is among those voices, saying that reselling tickets at inflated prices is down to greed, and resellers are “taking advantage of the public’s lack of knowledge of the ticketing process”.

Pollstar’s Bongiovanni warned that any future debate in Australia about on-line scalping will also centre around who actually owns the ticket in the first place.

“It’s been an ongoing fight,” he told TMN. “The fans say they bought it, so they own it, and feel they should be able to sell or give it away as they please.”

“The artist claims it’s their show and their name is on the ticket. The venue reckons it’s their building, and they are responsible until the show plays out. The promoter claims they are the ones who put everything together and are financially responsible.

“The ticket company says they are the ones issuing the ticket and they control it.

“Where this really comes into play is the underlying customer data. Everyone wants to own it and not share it with the other parties.

“It’s an important matter, because a lot of the issues with ticketing lead back to who can resell it. The distinction is between the primary market or the secondary market.”

Consumer rights organisation CHOICE, which earlier this month issued a report detailing instances of the abuses and “dodgy pricing practices” in the system, sent its report on to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

Reports are that a number of promoters are also filing their own reports to the ACCC.

Representatives of CHOICE, Frontier Touring and Chugg Entertainment were contacted for this story.