Swiss promoters call for anti ticket-tout laws

Audience magazine reports that Swiss promoters have called for tougher consumer protection laws in the fight against secondary ticketing and websites such as Viagogo, whose worldwide headquarters is in Geneva. Members of the Swiss Music Promoters Association (SMPA) have called for the Government to help tackle touts and inflated ticket prices on resale sites.SMPA Board member Dany Hassenstien said that existing Swiss consumer protection laws did not go far enough toprotect fas against touting and also called for Europe wide action to identify the best solutions in the battle against touting and secondary ticketing.

And in New Zealand, promoters are becoming increasingly concerned about the growth of fake ticket scams and online touting, some of which is linked to Viagogo. Ian Magan, local organiser for Australian promoter Garry Van Egmond’s AC/DC tour, has already issued two “cease and desist” warnings to Viagogo and is considering legal action.

SFX tie up with Viagogo

EDM specialist SFX has announced a five-year alliance with Viagogo which will make the secondary ticketing firm the official ticket resale partner for SFX-promoted events. SFX have also  reported  revenues of $33.3 million for the first quarter (Q1), up from $10.2m in the same period last year, while the net loss of $63.6m increased from $19.3m in Q1 2013. Attendance at events rose over 100 per cent to approximately 175,000 in Q1 compared to four in the same period last year, but long-term debt jumped to $422.1m from $75m. 

Viagogo publishes top 10 'scammed' UK shows

A new report from secondary ticketing website Viagogo, titled Scam Nation 2013, says that up to 4.7 million people paid for non-existent tickets last year, of which about a quarter probably never got their money back with fraudsters pocketing £50 million. The new report, based on a survey of 2000 consumers and some estimates about average ticket prices, echoes that issued by the London Metropolitan Police in February which also raised concerns about the growth in ticket fraud in the internet age who p/ut the loss to consumers at £40 million. Of the 4.7 million tickets fraudulently sold in 2012, Viagogo says music events accounted for the highest number, followed by comedy, theatre, football and rugby in that order. The report also reckons in the region of 240,000 fake tickets for Olympic events were sold. 

The top 10 scammed events were:

1. Coldplay - Mylo Xyloto Tour
2. Rolling Stones - 50th Anniversary Tour
3. One Direction - Take Me Home Tour
4. V Festival 2012
5. Jay Z and Kanye West - Watch The Throne Tour
6. Bruce Springsteen UK Tour
7. Stone Roses - Reunion Tour
8. Madonna - MDNA Tour
9. Michael McIntyre - Showtime! Tour
10. One Man Two Guvnors

Earl Spencer named in RAH ticketing row

Princess Diana's brother, Earl Spencer, has been named in the Times for 'touting' tickets in his debenture box at the Royal Albert Hall. Tickets in his twelve seat box for the upcoming 3A promoted Eric Clapton concerts are being sold on Viagogo for £315 - the face value is £95. The tickets are outside of promoter's control and the position on re-selling tickets in boxes is complicated - debenture sellers can re-sell tickets they do not want to use, but as a charity the Royal Albert Hall has been warned that excessive profiteering may challenge it's charitable status. Sharon Hogson MP called for debenture holders to prevent the sale of tickets "above face value". 

Viagogo lose court battle

Viagogo have lost an important court battle after the Supreme Court in London ruled the secondary ticketing service must release details of sellers of rugby tickets to the Rugby Football Union. The RFU's ticketing terms prohibit the resale of tickets. Viagogo said that the move would only apply to 'legacy' sales as their new data technology would render the curt ruling irrelevant.  

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.

Viagogo announces Olympics tie-up

Viagogo, Europe's largest online resale ticket marketplace, has announced two new partnerships this past week – a collaboration with the Spanish Olympic Committee and a second deal with Aristeia Corporate Hospitality, a leading European hospitality provider.

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.

Viagogo to fight on despite second court loss

Viagogo has vowed to fight on despite losing a Court of Appeal decision in the UK ordering it to hand over details of suppliers of rugby football tickets which were resold on Viagogo. In a statement, the ticket resale platform said "We are committed to vigorously defending our customer's rights and private information, therefore we will appeal today's decision" adding "In the meantime, no customer information has been shared and we are confident that no customer information will ever be shared." At the time of writing no specifics have been given of any appeal. RFU spokesperson Sophie Goldschmidt said that “placing tickets for sale on secondary ticketing sites is in direct contravention of the RFU's ticketing terms and conditions, and if the seller can be identified, they face tough sanctions including possible court action" adding "Individuals who believe they have anonymity by trading their tickets through such secondary sales sites are no longer invisible, and we will do our utmost to ensure that tickets go to genuine fans."

UK managers push for ticket resale legislation

Concert promoters and artist managers in the United Kingdom are calling on the country's culture secretary to back a proposal that would cap resold ticket profits at 10 percent above face value. The plan was initially proposed in Parliament earlier this year by member Sharon Hodgson, but it has since languished but was kicked back into play at a meeting with Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt where industry representatives including Muse manager Anthony Addis and Iron Maiden manager Ron Smallwood called for action. A 2010 Government report said that the secondary ticket market could police itself – and after the meeting the Department of Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) released a statement saying that it did not anticipate a move towards regulation. Edward Parkinson from secondary ticket platform Viagogo told ticketnews.com that price caps were not the answer.

Cancelled gigs "cost UK fans £12.7 million a year"

New research from Viagogo says that UK fans lose out to the tune of £12.7 million when gigs are cancelled and re-arranged. Viagogo surveyed 1,500 people and say the results show that 2 million fans were affected last year - and a third of these could not make the new date - and of this third almost one half (an estimated 303,600tickets) did not re-sell their tickets or ask for a refund and with an average ticket price of £42 means that Viagogo estimates that £12.7 million was wasted by fans.

Viagogo to appeal court setback

Ticketnews.com reports that UK-based secondary ticket company Viagogo has been granted leave to appeal a ruling by Judge Tugendhat that would have forced it to turn over the names and personal information of resellers Rugby Football Union tickets(RFU). RFU terms and conditions prohibit the re-sale of their tickets for matches at its TwickenhamStadium and it made the unique argument that after the tickets were resold those who bought them were trespassers. The league wanted the names of the resellers to piece together the transactions and determine who the alleged violators were. Viagogo refused on the ground that this was a violation of privacy rights of its customers. In other ticketing news, in New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has signed the state's paperless ticketing bill into law, a move that continues to keep New York as the only state that makes non-transferable paperless tickets illegal. Cuomo signed the bill, A06856A, late last week after the legislation received overwhelming support from both the state Assembly and Senate.

High Court intervenes in UK ticket re-sale row

Ticketnews.com reports that UK secondary ticket company Viagogo has been ordered by the High Court to turn over the names and other personal information of resellers of Rugby Football Union (RFU) tickets who have sold tickets for a premium above face value because the RFU tries to control resale to help keep prices affordable. The league took a unique approach in their case against Viagogo by convincing the judge, Mr Justice Tugendhat, that they considered those who bought tickets for above face value to be trespassers, because those fans allegedly violated certain RFU (contract of sale) rules that disallow the resale of tickets above face value. Mr Justice Tugendhat said “a reasonable person holding an RFU ticket (however he has acquired it) should not be surprised or aggrieved that RFU wish to know his identity," adding "The identity of individuals who enter onto premises such as the Stadium may be important to the owners of those premises for a number of obvious reasons, including security. And as RFU point out, Viagogo's own conditions permit it to communicate the personal data of its customers to partner organisations, presumably for marketing purposes. The customers who Viagogo refers to as "innocent" might be presumed to suppose that RFU was a partner of Viagogo, or that RFU had as much interest in using their names for marketing as Viagogo's partners."