UK music biz applauds as Govt review calls for scalper clampdown

The UK music industry has applauded the nine recommendations of a 227-page report on the secondary ticketing market, commissioned by the Government.

It says that ticket resale websites such as Viagogo, StarHub, Get Me In! and Seatwave should be taken to court if they failed to comply with new consumer protection laws. A report recently found that these did not often provide information as original ticket price, and seat and row numbers.

The review, lead by economics professor Michael Waterson from Warwick University, followed an outcry by the music industry, sporting bodies and consumers over the rise of professional resellers, known as scalpers or touts. They bypass technology safeguards to buy large numbers of tickets at face value and resell them for inflated prices through online marketplaces.

Source: German Viagogo protest groupVianogo

The review insists that consumers be put ahead of the market. Professor Waterson suggests that reseller websites should “take more responsibility and undertake greater checks to identify traders.”

A Government body such as National Trading Standards, supported by the police, should investigate flouting of the rules and enforce compliance through the courts if necessary. If this was not effective, professional scalpers and services “selling beyond a certain volume of tickets” should be licenced.

However he did not go as far as calling for a ban on ticket resales (“would not lead to the absence of secondary ticketing, but would simply drive it underground/offshore”) or price caps, which the music industry had been hoping for.

Nevertheless, a group of 30 music industry figures – including the managers of Radiohead, Ed Sheeran, Mumford & Sons, Paul McCartney, Arctic Monkeys, Noel Gallagher and One Direction – applauded the review.

“Professor Waterson exposes a dysfunctional and under-regulated ticketing market,” said the statement. “His review calls on Government to enforce the law, and for secondary ticketing sites to apply the law and show responsibility. Fans must have clarity and fairness.

“The music business has a significant role to play in driving change, and we are committed to work with partners to promote pro-consumer practices and technologies.

“UK audiences are confused by the ticket-buying process. In the worst instances, they are being ripped off and sold short by industrial-scale online ticket touting.

“Professor Waterson has clearly recognised these long-term failings, and makes nine pragmatic recommendations that, if implemented, will help reform the market.”

StubHub, citing moves by artists as Adele to cancel resold tickets by tracing their seat numbers, said: “We are concerned that there are still insufficient legal safeguards to stop event organisers using row and seat number details to cancel without compensation tickets offered for resale. Transparency should not come at the expense of people’s right to resell their tickets.”

Thankfully, the review, made in consultation with the live music industry, remains balanced. Professor Waterson acknowledges that resale often benefits consumers, and that almost a third of tickets on secondary sites are priced below face value, “offering a useful service to consumers and allowing more people to attend the event”.

It also tells the live music industry that there needs to be greater transparency, including the standardization of pricing and refund information. Primary ticketing vendors also need to reveal if all tickets on sale are from the venue’s entire ticket stock. Too often, he points out, a large number of presales, corporate tie-ins, priority and premium bookings seem to be allocated before the general public.

“It is clear that in many cases, only a minority of tickets is actually available for purchase at the time of the general sale, leading many people to waste time in trying to access them, and possibly to panic buy.”

The fact that a number of primary operators, including Ticketmaster, operate their own secondary agencies suggests their “implicit approval of such activities.”

It suggests that primary vendors invest more in more secure software to stop scalping, and to use ballots and identity checks to prevent under-priced tickets falling into the hands of scalpers. “If ticket prices are set below what the market will bear, the ticketing strategy and venue control strategy should be designed in the light of this,” and to use ballots and identity checks to prevent under-priced tickets falling into the hands of touts. “If ticket prices are set below what the market will bear, the ticketing strategy and venue control strategy should be designed in the light of this,” Professor Waterson said. They should also report software bypasses (“bot attacks”) to police to be investigated.

The report suggested the UK secondary ticketing market could be worth as much as £1 billion (A$2.03 billion) a year. Figures from the Local Government Association last week estimated that that music and sports consumers lost over £5 million ($10.5 million) to online ticket fraud last year, up from £3.35 million ($6.8 million) in 2014.

Customers who bought fake tickets lost an average of £444 ($901) per sale, with social media sites accounting for nearly half of all reported scams.

In February, scalpers were advertising Adele tickets for £25,000 ($50,760) each while Radiohead dates this month were going for nearly 100 times face value.

The UK Government will now discuss the recommendations and decide which, if any, are to be implemented