Why Government Legislation Of Secondary Ticket Resale Would Be Bad For Music Fans (Feature)
Tuesday, 08 February 2011
Written by Dave Ball
Anyone who has been attending concerts, sports games or any other ticketed events for more than 10 years will have noticed a significant drop in the number of dodgy looking blokes wandering around outside venues mumbling to anyone passing ‘buy or sell, anyone need tickets’ but a Labour MP is claiming this is a bad thing.
The fall in the number of ticket touts loitering outside arenas and stadiums approaching anyone within 100 yards of a venue in the hours leading up to the nights entertainment is largely to do with the rapid growth of secondary ticket sale websites making it easier for people to move unwanted or spare tickets to events without leaving the safety of their houses.
Labour MP Sharon Hodgson introduced a private members bill to parliament on 21st January titled ‘Sale of Tickets (Sporting and Cultural events) which was written to target the ‘problem’ of ticket re-sale, suggesting a maximum increase of 10% be added to the face value of any ticket being sold on a secondary marketplace. Hodgson’s reasoning is that this would basically only cover postage and credit card charges so it would mean the re-seller could only make a very minimal profit and therefore forcing touting out.
The basis of the bill is that touts are using intricate IT skills to book blocks of tickets and then almost immediately re-list them on secondary sale websites. She also has gained the support of several big names, including the managers of some of this years leading ticket selling bands such as Arctic Monkeys and Iron Maiden.
However, seeing managers of bands such as these supporting her has more than a hint of hypocrisy about it. Managers, along with venues and promoters, have been withholding blocks of tickets for years with the reason to ‘drop’ these tickets into the secondary market, thus taking a cut. On the surface it appears this may be more about being upset the money doesn’t drop into their own pockets than support for the fans. Primary ticket prices have rocketed over the past two decades padding the pockets of music executives, already forcing many fans away from larger events, although that may be a separate feature for another day.
Now, there is no questioning the frustration of spending hours online or on the phone only to find that the gig you’ve been desperately trying to get a ticket for has now sold out and the only way to get in is to pay over the odds, but consider the alternative. If, for example, I had tried to get tickets for Iron Maiden in Cardiff, forgotten they go on sale at 9am and by 10am they are sold out what do I do? Well, under the current rules I can use any number of websites to buy tickets; albeit at an inflated price with the guarantee of tickets being legitimate or my money back. Or I could wait and see if ticket prices fall on the secondary market. Ten years ago, and under the new legislation, my option would be to turn up on the night with a pocket full of cash and pay a tout an equally inflated figure with no come back if I get to the door and get a “sorry mate, that’s a fake”.
For me this comes down to the type of issue that becomes a ‘lesser of two evils’ type of situation. Whatever legislation is brought in touting will happen, this is a given in the same way there is a black market for any other consumable commodity. Where government and the already over stretched police force should be focussing is on removing ticket fraud and scam websites where real harm is done.
The current system is not perfect but it comes down to supply and demand at its most basic. If, going back to my example I’m willing to pay £40 at face value for Iron Maiden but not £75 at re-sale then that’s my own choice of value and every consumer has the right to say ‘nope, that’s too expensive for me’. If, on the other hand, I am willing to pay the price, brilliant I’ve got a ticket for an event I thought I’d have to miss with no fraud risk. I have also been in a situation with tickets to an event I bought with every intention of attending before my situation changed. The event in question was the Isle Of Wight festival in 2008 and, having paid in full, without secondary sale websites I would have had to swallow the loss (over £300 for the pair) rather than getting my money back. When posting the tickets for sale I chose to price them at face value plus costs, something which glancing around a few sites isn’t that unusual.
There is a temptation to forget the other side of secondary sale sites and that is the large number of tickets which actually sell at or below face value. A phenomenon seen more and more frequently in the USA for sporting events such as baseball, ice hockey and basketball where even sold out events can have tickets selling on the secondary market for just a few dollars. This is happening more and more in the UK too for music events where supply outstrips demand.
Edward Parkinson, UK director for Viagogo has also seen this happening more often, "Over the past 12 months, around 50% of tickets sold on Viagogo sold at or below the face value." Interestingly, he also says that 95% of the people selling tickets on their site have sold less than ten over a 12 month period which seems to point away from organised groups block selling tickets and more towards people with legitimate reasons to sell.
Of course the other option is for promoters to manage re-sale themselves. Glastonbury festival has mastered the art of stopping touting by using their photo ID scheme. When you pay your deposit you have to supply a registration number which is set up earlier through the festival website and contains a passport type photo. This is printed on your ticket and checked at the wristband collection area. They then leave a window for people to return tickets if they wish and these are then re-sold by the festival themselves.
Perhaps most tellingly, Ticketmaster who are the biggest primary ticket seller in the World disagree with the bill, "Ultimately any attempt to restrict the resale market would be unenforceable as it would continue to take place but move from legitimate websites where consumers are protected, to an unregulated market," a spokesperson says. "There is a difference between legitimate resale websites that provide consumers with the tickets they purchased and fraudulent ticketing websites where consumers buy tickets which they never receive." This grouping of both regulated secondary sites and fraudulent scam sites is my biggest issue with the bill.
The result of the proposal on 21st January was that the bill was ‘talked out’ meaning they ran out of time to discuss the matter to a conclusion, presumably this will result in the bill being back on the agenda for 13th May with Hodgson claiming if the current government don’t take it forward she hopes it to be among Labour’s election manifesto pledges. In the meantime she continues to look for support from within the industry and from the public.
For me, as I said earlier it’s a case of secondary re-sale being the lesser of two evils. I never bought from touts as I saw several friends and strangers get to a ticket gate and be turned away after they’d spent a fortune on what turned out to be a forged ticket. I prefer to be lucky enough to get tickets from primary sellers when they go on sale but I am glad to have the option of using a secondary site if needed where my money and ticket are guaranteed not to be part of a scam. More importantly than anything the ticket buying public should be able to pay whatever they are willing for a ticket and have the peace of mind they are buying legitimately.
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