Adele fights back against the ticket touts

Last week Sir Elton John branded ticket resale websites “disgraceful” for selling tickets to his gigs at inflated prices, joining other big name such as Mumford & Sons, Prince and Coldplay, who have all recently attacked the resale “rip-off”. Adele is now taking much publicised action to fight off the touts on her latest dates. The Observer has also revealed that Justin Bieber fans wanting tickets for his October 2016 London O2 dates are being asked on Get Me In to hand over as much as £1,825 for seats with a face value of just £50. That figure includes a £285 cut taken by Get Me In.

The Observer has monitored the main sites in the UK (Seatwave, Viagogo, Get Me In and StubHub) and has found all four carry listings that appeared to be in breach of the Consumer Rights Act 2015, which requires anyone who resells an event ticket via a secondary market website to provide details of the seat row and number, as well as the face value and information about any restrictions amid fresh claims that many sites are flouting the law and supporting “industrial-scale touting”.  A spokesman for Viagogo told the Observer: “We make the sellers’ obligations regarding the listing of certain ticket information very clear at several points on our website. However it is possible that the seller doesn’t always have confirmation of the row and seat number at the time of listing.” Ticketmaster, which owns Get Me In and Seatwave, said the sites “work with those selling tickets on our sites to ensure that they understand their obligations to comply with their legal duties, including the requirement to list all available ticket details”. It added: “However, we are also concerned that some sellers may not list all the information, for fear of potential cancellation or blacklisting by event organisers.”

MBW reported that Adele's offical policy is that “The resale of tickets will not be tolerated” and in the pre-sale tickets to the star’s 36-date 2016 European tour this has been largely successful for the 57,000 tickets sold for 14-date UK and Ireland leg of the tour by independent ticketing operator SongKick. Just over 1,000 of these tickets had been listed for re-sale on sites such as Stubhub, Viagogo, GetMeIn! and Seatwave – so approximately 1.9% of the ‘first wave’ of Adele tickets ended up on secondary ticketing sites – much lower than the  average arena gig which sees closer to 20% on er-sale sites. Adele's management inisted on pre-registration and also monitored sales for suspicious activity from some 18,000 'likely or known touts'. Adele’s manager, Jonathan Dickins at September, told MBW “Until a law is passed in the UK that outlaws ticket resale profiteering you cannot stop it completely”. In the USA Adele went with a ticketless method for her now sold out North American tour, which means that fans who did manage to purchase tickets will not receive physical tickets. Instead, they will have to present their credit card and ID when they arrive at the venue on the day of their gig, and they will then be granted entry - if it matches. However demand for tickets is enourmous:  according to Billboard, over 10 million fans went online to try and buy one of the 750,000 tickets available, with four million New Yorkers reportedly online at the same time, with fan's furious with Tickemaster's failing online system.

In the UK, Sharon Hodgson MP had said the new changes to the law “are being utterly flouted by the major platforms, and the government needs to wake up to this scandal, which is affecting people all around the country and damaging our creative industries”. The number of tickets on sale for inflated prices shows the need for tough new laws to crack down on rip-off ticket sales, said Hodgson. She spoke out after Adele fans warned they were struggling to buy tickets for the singer’s tour, the first for four years, which follows the release of her new album, 25. Hodgson is Co-chair of the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on ticket abuse.

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2015/dec/19/ticket-resale-sites-new-scrutiny-touting-seatwave-viagogo

http://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/team-adele-wage-war-on-ticket-touts-and-so-far-its-working/

http://www.unrealitytv.co.uk/showbiz/adele-puts-a-stop-to-ticket-touts-with-ticketless-gigs-in-us-oh-dear/

Suspected Bestival scammer bailed

A teenager from Brighton has been arrested on suspicion of fraud following complaints about non-supply of Bestival tickets.  Eighteen year old Ben Hyland-Ward was arrested by Sussex Police on suspicion of fraud by false representation and released on bail. BBC News reports that police received over 60 complaints from music fans who paid Hyland-Ward for tickets to the 2015 Isle of Wight Festival but failed to receive anything in return.  A spokesman for Bestival estimated as many as 300 tickets had been bought.  A number of his customers set up a 'Stresstival' Facebook group. Hyland-Ward claimed he had set up a 'guestlist' with the Bestival organisers and then 'sold' tickets at a substantial discount. Bestival organisers have denied any such scheme. Hyland-ward has also claimed that he himself had been scammed.  Hyland-Ward has been bailed until November 10.  At one point a group of disgruntled customers surrounded his home and Hyland ward posted on the FaceBook page "I would like to give a huge apology to everyone as well. I am not asking for sympathy but it has been a horrible 24 hours and I have had some full death threats and I am in real danger."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-34200344

Ticketfly raises $50 milllion, and Amazon eyes up tickets

Software company Ticketfly has closed a new financing round, raising $50 million. The round was led by Riverwood Capital, Ticketfly plans to use the funds to accelerate development of its cloud-based live events platform, including new products and services for its existing client base. The financing will also fuel the company's move upstream into larger facilities, its expansion globally and into adjacent verticals, and a reimagined event-going experience for fans. The company's total funding to date is now $85m.

And it seems Amazon is moving into concert and festival ticketing, having started selling tickets to London West End theatre shows earlier this year via its Amazon Local platform. Among the music events seemingly headed to the Amazon no-booking-fee tickets store are a Tom Jones concert, Bestival and Camp Bestival. Geraldine Wilson, GM for Amazon Local in the UK said: "We wanted to offer a convenient way for Amazon customers to book tickets to a wide selection of music, theatre and comedy events around the UK in a few clicks".

and two former AOL executives have raised $20 million in investment for a new app, Bkstg, that aims to provide a one-stop shop for any one artist's fans, offering ticketing, video, merch and social networking all in one place. Among the investors that Erika Nardini and Ran Harnevo have recruited are Live Nation, Scooter Braun Projects, Modest! Management and the Three Six Zero Group

Una launches new ticketing pass

A new start up in the ticketing space called Una Tickets , which aims to put tickets to concerts and other events onto a special card that music fans could use at multiple events, has announced a funding round of £1.1 million from private angel investors, in addition to £250,000 awarded by the government's Innovate UK funding. The new system tackles various issues in the ticketing space, including ticket fraud and touting. Stating that "what the Oyster Card did for transport, the Una Pass is about to do for ticketing", the firm says its new system can "abolish prolific ticket crime, unethical touting and extortionate admin fees by completely reinventing the ticket". While for the live industry, Una offers "ticketing, access control, cashless payments and real-time onsite analytics" and the Una Pass model also hopes to put an end to unpopular booking fees in the live space. 2,000 early adapters will get a free pass.

Dice appy with no fee tickets

Mobile ticketing platform Dice, which counts the Robbie Williams management team of David Enthoven and Tim Clarke, Metropolis Music boss Bob Angus Anghus Baskerville from 13 Artistes amongst its backers, as well as White Star Capitak, has launched a new app that can sell tickets at face value with no booking fee. Tickets are sent straight to mobile phones and also offers a queing service for sold out shows. DFice already has shows including Ghost Poet, Julian Cope and Paolo Nutini on sale and will go UK wide from March.

Glasters gone in 26 minutes

The Glastonbury Festival sold all of its general public admission tickets (120,000) in just 26 minutes on the morning of Sunday 5th October - a new record for the event. More than one milllion people had registered to buy tickets. A re-sale of returns will take place in April 2015. About 15,000 pre-sale tickets for coach users and 'green' visitors were sold earlier in the week.

Ticketing surcharges deter half of all customers from coming to shows

A new study from UK consumer group Which? says that  theatre-goers and music fans face massive mark-ups on the value of some online tickets. The study shows that compulsory charges are added to 72% of tickets sold online, and nearly half of those surveyed (49%) said the charges had put them off buying tickets for an event altogether. In one study, only 3% of tickets were being sold at face value without any additional compulsory fees like booking or delivery charges. The survey of 2,000 customers looked at 15 events with tickets sold through 20 different outlets in all. One example given was tickets to comedian Jimmy Carr's show at Wolverhampton Civic Centre which have a face value of £25. To this a 38% surcharge is added by means of a £3 booking fee and a compulsory delivery fee if £6.50. Tickets to War Horse at the new London Theatre had £18.75 in fees added to by StarGreen to a face value of £62.50 and tickets to Strangers On A Train at the Gielgud Theatre had fees of 35% added. Shows by Miranda Hart, Rizzle Kicks, Ellie Goulding, Russell Brand and Joan Rivers all had 20% (and more) added in charges. Some agencies even charge people to collect in person at the box office,  with Ticketmaster adding £3, and some agencies charged to 'print at home' - The Times reported that TicketWeb and Eventim both charged £2.50. 

Richard Lloyd, executive director of Which?, said: "Consumers tell us they are feeling ripped off by the level of ticketing charges and the lack of transparency means it is almost impossible for people to compare prices when booking online" adding "We want to see the ticketing industry play fair on ticket fees, so that all charges are displayed up-front and with a clear explanation of what they're for."

A Ticketmaster spokesperson told Sky News: "To suggest that ticket fees are hidden is utterly misleading and factually incorrect. Before a customer purchases a ticket, any additional fee is always displayed clearly. The fees cover a wide range of costs to provide the services which ensure the best and easiest possible experience for our customers from purchasing a ticket to accessing the event" and the Society of Ticket Agents and Retailers (STAR) pointed out the sales through multiple outlets promoted healthy competition and ensures prices are 'kept as low as possible'.  See Tickets, owned by France's Vivendi, refused to comment to Which? 

Which? is launching a campaign to bring down the cost. The move by Which? follows the successful lobbying of regulators to force airlines to scrap debit card surcharges. A dozen airlines including easyJet and Ryanair last summer pledged to include the charge in the headline ticket price.

More at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/consumertips/household-bills/10520701/Watchdog-pans-ticket-agents-for-fleecing-theatre-goers.html and http://www.theguardian.com/stage/theatreblog/2009/oct/28/booking-fees-theatre

Bots batter box offices

The New York Times has thrown the spotlight on the software that automatically buys up tickets to in-demand events, usually for resale on the secondary ticketing market in an article highlighting the problems it is causing big players in the US live sector, and on how the big primary ticketing providers lie Ticketmaster are trying to combat the auto-buy phenomenon. Ticketmaster has introduced a system i which can spot users on its website most likely to be 'bots' and (at least) slow their progress down although Jim Glancy of independent promoter The Bowery Presents explained "There are sold out shows in reserved seat houses in New York City where we will have 20% no show, and that 20% will be down in the front of the house. It's speculators who bought a bunch of seats and didn't get the price they wanted".  Michael Rapino, chief of Ticketmaster's parent company Live Nation, expressed his frustration saying  "As with hackers, you can solve it today, and they’re rewriting code tomorrow,” said Michael Rapino, Live Nation’s chief executive. “Thus the arms race.”

Last month Ticketmaster sued 21 people for buying tickets using bots, with one accused of buying up as many as 200,000 tickets per day before the general public could get to them. CMU Daily says the cases could provide some insight on how American law might be used to counter one of the main problems with the burgeoning secondary ticketing marketplace

Read the full New York Times article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/27/business/media/bots-that-siphon-off-tickets-frustrate-concert-promoters.html?pagewanted=all&_r=2&

Hot Stones in the UK, cold Stones in the US

Despite selling out their two Hyde Park shows in London in record time, the Rolling Stones shows in the USA have failed to sell, with the Observer newspaper suggesting the the tour guarantee offered by promoters AEG may be renegotiated as ticket prices are discounted. Some fans are blaming the high US ticket prices - ranging from $170 to $635, with VIP packages at $2000, on the band's greed, and others are not prepared to travel to the limited number of shows. London prices were between £95 and £300, although some £750 UK hotel and ticket packages remain unsold according to reports. The band have also announced that they are headlining the already sold out Glastonbury Festival.

Ticketmaster and Facebook make online improvements

Ticketmaster has added a 'transfer' option to it's US-based platform, which means that American customers can transfer tickets to friends at no cost, with the barcode from the original ticket cancelled and a new bar-code issued to the friend.The process will enable consumers who buy tickets for a group to more easily distribute the actual tickets to each group member, and people who can no longer attend a show to transfer their ticket to another person within the Ticketmaster system - friends receiving transferred tickets will need Ticketmaster accounts. And Facebook is testing a 'buy tickets' button that could be added to event pages on the social network site, and which would link to primary sites selling tickets to the featured event. 

100 hit by fake Mumford scam

The BBC report that 100 Mumford and Sons fans were turned away from the band's show in Portsmouth after it was discovered that their tickets, brought at inflated prices from secondary ticketing sites, were fakes. Police received a report that about 100 people were refused entry to the city's Guildhall on Thursday night and fan Paula Wynne told BBC News her partner had bought a pair from resale website Viagogo for £200. The tickets had a face value of £23.50 each.  Viagogo said duped fans would be offered real tickets to a future Mumford & Sons gig or a voucher to the value of the original purchased ones.

Redbox moves into tickets

Redbox, the US DVD rental kiosk operator owned by Coinstar has announced an expansion to live event ticket sales. The company is hoping to become a major  competitor in the industry, with “affordable service fees and easy access for consumers”.

Viagogo target football

Viagogo, which recently upped and left the UK for a new home in Switzerland after a Channel 4 TV expose, has announced a raft of new agreements with Premiership football clubs including European champions, Chelsea, Aston Villa and English league champions Manchester City as well as five German Bundesliga clubs, two Dutch Eredivisie clubs, one Spanish La Liga club, and several Italian Serie A clubs which include FC Bayern Munich, and PSV Eindhoven. The partnership means that the company will now provide ticketing solutions for some of the world's biggest club according to an August press release. According to viagogo, allowing fans to resell their tickets to games they cannot attend will ultimately help fill empty seats and increase game-day revenue through the sales of food and merchandise. Fans cannot sell football tickets at games - Under the UK's 1994 Criminal Justice and Public Order Act, now extended by the 1999 Football (Offences and Disorder) Act, any fan selling or offering to sell, without authority, a ticket for a "designated football match" in any public place faces a fine of up to £5,000. 

Stubhub have also inked deals with three clubs to be those clubs' official ticket re-sale partner.

Burning Man tickets underbaked

Having sold out in 2011, the Burning Man festival faced a different problem this year after a system to beat the ticket touts seemingly left the event undersold with hundreds of tickets available at under face value on secondary ticketing sites and sites like craigslist and eBay. For 2012, organisers introduced a ticketing system based on a lottery - which caused outcry amongst many loyal 'burners' who failed to get tickets - and then tickets still appeared on secondary sites at inflated values. But now tickets for the week long event are freely available and theories range from the fact that burners need to plan for a week long desert stay some time in advance, to the extreme hot weather in the USA this year which may have deterred fans. Gate for the week long event in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada opened on Monday August 27th. 

Michigan looks to ban bots

The Michigan House and Senate are currently debating bills that would make it illegal to use or sell ticketing bot software in the state which can be used to buy up multiple allocations of tickets to popular events. 

Fake tickets hit T and Wireless

A Scottish man, Paul Reidy, has appeared in court in Scotland accused of selling three music fans fake VIP tickets to last weekend's T In The Park, and for then posing as a security guard at the festival so he could 'escort' the ticket holders onto the site. Reidy is accused of selling the 'tickets' for £300 each; he pleaded not guilty to the charges made against him, and will go on trial at Perth Sheriff Court in October. Meanwhile in London hundreds of fans were reportedly turned away from Live Nation's Wireless Festival this weekend, also having been sold fake tickets, seemingly via websites like Gumtree and eBay. 

Those affected by fakes at Wireless has been asked to contact the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau through its website www.nfib.police.uk.

Samsung launches tickeless technology at Knebworth

Samsung Electronics UK has today announced its involvement in the first roll out of ticketless technology at live music events in the UK. As part of an association with Kilimanjaro Live and Intellitix, Samsung will bring RFID technology to festival goers for the first time this summer promising secure access to the gigs and virtually no queues. The Red Hot Chilli Peppers’ upcoming gig at Knebworth on 23rd June will mark the first time the technology has been used by an artist anywhere in Europe. This will be followed by music and wakeboarding festival Wakestock, which is set to become Europe's most technologically advanced festival after deploying the technology.  

Special RFID wristbands are being issued which will be read on arrival to validate visitors’ entry. At the wearer’s discretion, the bands can be linked to their social media profiles or used to enter competitions associated with both events. The promoter of both events, Stuart Galbraith from Kilimanjaro Live, commented: "We’ve been waiting for the opportunity to use RFID technology for a while as it’s a great way to enhance and grow the customer experience for concerts and festivals of the future. We are very excited to be working with Samsung and Intellitix in being one of the first UK promoters to embrace this new technology and look forward to developing adaptations across many events."

IOC to "investigate" 2012 Olympic tickets scandal

In a perhaps an all too predictable story, a ticketing scandal involving more than a quarter of the 204 countries represented at the Olympics looks set to hang over the London Games, after it emerged that an internal investigation is unlikely to be completed before the opening ceremony.

The International Olympic Committee has promised to investigate allegations that 27 agents representing 54 countries were prepared to offer thousands of unauthorised tickets at prices of up to £6,000 to undercover Sunday Times reporters posing as Middle Eastern buyers.

After an emergency board meeting, the IOC said it took the allegations very seriously and referred the matter to its ethics commission. "Should any irregularities be proven, the organisation will deal with those involved in an appropriate manner. The NOCs [national Olympic committees] are autonomous organisations, but if any of the cases are confirmed the IOC will not hesitate to impose the strongest sanctions," it said in a statement. Re-selling Olympic tickets is a specific summary offence in the United Kingdom, punishable by a fine of up to £20,000.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/jun/17/olympics-ticketing-scandal-london-games

One Direction sell out!

Pop sensations One Direction, the British/Irish boy band who are ruling the music charts on both sides of the pond and down under have sold out their spring U.S. tour so quickly that the group has decided to give fans another chance to see them...next year! Not only did the group's scheduled dates in May and June sell out rapidly, but according to Hollywoodreporter.com, a special performance on December 3rd at, Madison Square Garden, which was announced only on April 3, sold out in ten minutes. Wow. But will they still be called One Direction we wonder as the trade mark case brought by the US band of the same name hangs heavy around their young necks …..

AIF launches ticket exchange service for UK festivals

The Association of Independent Festivals has launched its own ticket exchange for sold out festivals allowing fans who have bought tickets but can no longer attend will be able to resell their tickets via the new website, though at face value only. The Ticket Trust, which will be run by ethical merchandise company Sandbag, will verify tickets are genuine and make sure they get to buyers. Buyers will be charged up to a 10% commission.