MCT cancels TM contract over secondary ticketing

German promoter MCT Agentur has terminated its contract with Ticketmaster (TM) over the activities of resale platform Seatwave, recently acquired by TM. MCT founder and CEO Scumeck Sabottka cancelled the deal with TM after discovering tickets for his Katy Perry and Jonathan Jeremiah concerts being offered for resale at inflated prices on Seatwave.   Sabottka, a fierce opponent of secondary ticketing, told Audience that he signed a deal with Live Nation Entertainment (LNE)-owned TM in April 2014 and a joint statement pledged a “commitment to fans and artists to protect against unauthorised resellers”. 

Ticketmaster buys Seatwave

Ticketmaster has bought the 'operating assets' of secondary ticketing firm Seatwave which will enable the ticketing giant to extend its resale business into a number of new European markets, including Germany, Italy and Spain. Under the new deal, Seatwave will continue to operate separately but as "a Ticketmaster company". According the official statement, this move "builds on Ticketmaster's successful strategy of creating best-in-class, consumer-friendly resale platforms in the United Kingdom, Australia and the United States".

Channel 4 blasts open secondary ticketing market practices

The UK's Channel 4 has been able to broadcast an expose of Viagogo and Seatwave's business practices, despite a legal challenge by Viagogo which was thrown out by the High Court. When it comes to where the tickets came from for the secondary market, SJM, Phil McIntyre, MCD, Metropolis, Live Nation and 3A were all named as alleged providers of 'allocations' to Viagogo - providing tickets for events including the V Festival, Strictly Come Dancing. Coldplay, X-factor and in particular Take That - whose tickets had an average 100% mark up. Even Channel's own charity Comedy Gala was apparently on sale on secondary market places! But in particular the programme alleged that "Power sellers" (errrmmmm, touts) and "professional sellers" (ditto) provide allocations, and tickets were also acquired by as Viagogo's own staff using their own (multiple) credit cards registered to different addresses to secure (or 'harvest') tickets

The programme, titled 'The Great Ticket Scandal' involved secret filming, and busted wide open the idea that the sites are 'fan to fan' facilities, alleging that it was the professional 'brokers' who list over two thirds of the tickets on Seatwave - in a billion pound market that includes sport, classical music and even the National Gallery's Leonardo da Vinci exhibition and the Last Night of the Proms.

MP Sharon Hodgson was interviewed and suggested that legislation was needed to regulate the market.

In the USA, Ticketnews.com reports that Live Nation Entertainment may face steep fines after a possible violation of Ontario's anti-scalping law. On Feb. 13, tickets for Madonna's concert in Ottawa's Scotiabank Park were sold out within 21 minutes of being placed on-sale. However on resale websites such as Kijiji.ca, however, tickets remained available. On Live Nation Entertainment's subsidiary site, VIPNation.com, Madonna fans could purchase a concert ticket for $1500 despite its $350 face value.