UK moves to regulate secondary ticketing stalls

The UK Parliament has cancelled ticket touting select committee inquiry ahead of the snap General Election. Ongoing inquiries instigated by Parliament's Culture, Media & Sport Select Committee on ticket touting and the effect of Brexit on the creative industries, tourism and the Digital Single Market have also been put on hold. Chair of the committee, Damian Collins, said in a statement: "Although we are unable to complete these important inquiries, there is no bar to our successors in the next Parliament taking up the evidence received - which has been published on the committee's website - and finishing them. Given the importance of all these subjects, we hope that the new committee will do so".

In other ticketing news, Live Nation boss Michael Rapino has said that he doesn't think efforts to legislate against secondary ticketing will have much effect, saying that the industry should focus on pricing and technology issue. through its Ticketmaster business, LNE owns secondary ticketing platforms like Seatwave and Get Me In. "As long as the [ticketing] market's gigantic, you'll have sophisticated players trying to figure out how to monetise it", Rapino said at the Canadian Music Week conference "My instincts are always on the free market" adding "I just think [efforts to legislate against touting are] so unrealistic. I think some of these [efforts] are decent attempts, but I don't think overall, until you start pricing the product better, and/or have better technology to deliver the fan their ticket, that you'll start to make a difference. We're the only industry in the world that has a higher retail value the second it's sold".

Competition Authority to investigate 'big four' ticket re-sellers

The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has opened a compliance review into the four largest secondary ticketing websites. The CMA is carrying out a review to see if the four sites – Viagogo, Ticketmaster-operated Seatwave and Get Me In! and eBay-owned StubHub are providing adequate information to consumers. It is asking anyone with relevant information about the platforms and their practices to get in touch by the July 12 deadline. Consumer group Which? recently monitored the four sites and concluded the rules outlined in the amended Consumer Rigts Act of ticket resales were not being followed. It follows 
Mumford & Sons manager Adam Tudhope call for anti-touting campaigners to keep up the pressure on the government following the Waterson report on secondary ticketing, warning its recommendations will be “meaningless” without political backing. Tudhope told Music Week “the status quo is intolerable”, and backed the economist’s nine “pragmatic and achievable” recommendations. “He’s not saying there should be new legislation, but rather that government should be making sure that existing consumer law is applied to this market, and that secondary sites should stop flouting the law”.

UK Government appoints Michael Waterson to review secondary ticketing

The UK government's Department Of Culture, Media & Sport has announced that Professor Michael Waterson will lead the review of the secondary ticketing market which follows from from the newly passed Consumer Rights Act - after MPs Mike Weatherley and Sharon Hodgson managed to ensure that some but not all of their concerns regarding the secondary ticketing market were enshrined in the Act- although one key proposal - that people reselling tickets online must publish their identity, was not included. That information would have allowed anti-touting promoters to more easily cancel tickets being touted as they appear on resale sites. The new legislation did provide for a review of consumer protection measures in the secondary ticketing domain. Prof Waterson, specialises in industrial economics, including the economics of retail will chair the review. Interested parties have been invited to submit evidence by 20 Nov. 

Conservative MP Philip Davies is one MP who is publicly against regulation, sharing the same view as the secondary ticketing market that that increased regulation will have little effect on touts and will simply result in less not more protection for consumers saying: "Now that a chair of the government's ticket review is in place, it is imperative that a proper review of the entire market is carried out. As an economist, Professor Waterson will know that the regulations introduced in the Consumer Rights Act have done little to bring down prices, instead harming fans by making it easier for their tickets to be cancelled" and  "The government needs to realise that needless intervention is not the answer and will only serve to drive many consumers away from safe online platforms and into the arms of street touts. Any regulations in this area therefore need to be carefully thought through and firmly guided by the available evidence".

See the call for evidence on the DCMS website here.

UK to regulate ticket re-sales

In a policy U-turn, the UK Government is set to regulate ticket touting, with those breaching the new laws face fines of up to £5,000. The onus on stopping it is to be shifted onto venues, however. The move came from the UK Government who had previously rejected attempts to amend legislation. The amedment now stands a much better chance of passing into law.  Iron Maiden manager Rod Smallwood recently criticised the “ever-increasing plague of ‘secondary ticketing’ excess” as a “blight on live music and sports events and much to the detriment of fans”.

A spokesman for the Government said: “The provisions agreed today will allow them [venues] to flourish, whilst ensuring consumers are better informed when buying second-hand tickets.” Tory peer Baroness Neville-Rolfe said that “light-touch regulation” was needed

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/online-ticket-touts-may-face-5000-fines-under-law-to-stop-ripoff-prices-10068053.html

UK ticketing reforms voted down

A bid to tighten the laws on ticket re-sales in the UK has been defeated in the House Of Commons, as MPs voted 289 to 204 against an amendment to the Consumer Rights Bill. 

http://www.pollstar.com/news_article.aspx?ID=815872

UK guidelines on ticket re-sales 'do not go far enough'

The UK government has issued new guidelines to secondary ticketing platforms to increase transparency but the move has attracted criticism from the All Party Parliamentary Group on Ticket Abuse which has warned that the new conditions do not go far enough. The new rules will come into play on the 13th June and require secondary ticketing sites to show the seat number of tickets sold via their platforms, and in some cases the face value of the original ticket. The APPG is pushing for secondary ticketing websites to also have to show who the seller of a ticket is - particularly where it's actually the show's promoter or the resale site itself - and also for assurances that fans will be compensated for travel and accommodation expenses if and when tickets turn out to be fake or cancelled and the APPG is looking to see if their suggestions could become law by amendments to the current Consumer Rights Bill.

Second UK investigation into touting announced

In the UK, Westminster's All-Party Parliamentary Group on Music has announced it will be holding an inquiry into ticket touting later this year, with a view to reporting in 2015. The investigation will specifically focus on the impact of the booming secondary ticketing market on the music business, the artist community and music consumers. The separate and newly formed APPG on Ticket Abuse had already said it too would investigate secondary ticketing and hat group held its first evidence session on Wednesday with representatives from the sport, theatre and music sectors contributing, including Kilimanjaro Live CEO Stuart Galbraith.

Are gig tickets too cheap?

This is the fascinating headline for an article in the Observer (The New Review, 18.08.2013) where Music Week editor Tim Ingham takes on columnist and music writer Jude Rogers over the thorny issues of ticket pricing, touting, the secondary market and fans .....  with " thousands of tickets being bought then sold for huge profits via online resale platforms. This 'secondary market' has become its very own parasitic industry: technologically endowed racketeers snap up all the best seats, freezing genuine music lovers out of any chance of paying face value"

Well worth a read http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/17/are-gig-tickets-too-cheap

Ticketmaster launches new US resale platform

Audience had reported that Ticketmaster is launching a new 'integrated' primary and secondary ticket re-sale platform in the US called TM+ saying the site can prevent ticket fraud and provide customers with a "safe, secure transaction" and greater transparency for buyers according to Live Nations COO Joe Berchtold. Ticketmaster are also opening a Vienna office to build a presence in the Austrian market. And Live Nation itself has set up a new venture with BDG Music in the Baltic States. Headed up by BDG's Peeter Rebane, the new venture will be be called Live Nation Baltics and operate in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. 

Touts target the boss

Tickemaster have reported what looks like a concerted attempt by touts (scalpers) to acquire Bruce Springsteen tickets for the Boss's next US tour. Tickets for a new Springsteen tour went on sale last Friday, and as the Ticketmaster site struggled to cope with demand, with many fans finding frozen screens when they tried, frustratingly tickets were appearing on re-sale sites such as StubHub (although tickets remained available through Ticketmaster). Many suspected that touts were using sophisticated computer programmes to buy tickets, and the company said "We have been experiencing highly abnormal traffic patterns on our site this morning that have impacted the fan buying experience for some customers. Early indications suggest that much of this traffic came from highly suspicious sources, implying that scalpers were using sophisticated computer programs to assault our systems and secure tickets with the sole intention of selling them in the resale market. We are investigating the source of the problem and are working to resolve it as quickly as possible, but tickets are selling so please stay patient".

Photo: Nick Cordes (c) 2009

Quebec gets tough with secondary ticketing

Ticketnews.com reports that a proposed bill that would essentially wipe out the ticket resale market in the Canadian province of Quebec could end up being watered down to allow for a regulated secondary market. Government officials concluded two days of hearings about the bill on September 13, and are considering some changes to the bill in part because the Canadian Ticket Brokers Association (CTBA) and others argued that banning ticket resale in the province would drive the secondary market underground where consumers could be at greater risk of being scammed.