Government bans ticket touting to guard followers from rip-offs

Music and sport followers will not be ripped off on the ticket resale market due to new measures which is able to destroy the working mannequin of ticket touts.

The Government has right now (nineteenth November) introduced plans to make it unlawful for tickets to concert events, theatre, comedy, sport and different dwell occasions to be resold for greater than their unique price.

Ticket touting has turn out to be more and more subtle lately. Touts purchase giant volumes of tickets on-line, typically utilizing automated bots, earlier than relisting them on resale platforms at vastly inflated costs. This has brought about distress for thousands and thousands of followers and broken the dwell occasions trade.

The proposals will stamp out this apply, bettering entry for real followers when tickets initially go on sale and ending rip-off pricing on the resale market. This is all a part of the federal government’s plan for nationwide renewal by creating fairer programs and giving hard-working folks the respect they deserve. This is all a part of the federal government’s plan for nationwide renewal by creating fairer programs and giving hard-working folks the respect they deserve.

The new guidelines introduced right now clarify that:

• Ticket resale above face worth might be unlawful – this might be outlined in laws as the unique ticket worth plus unavoidable charges, together with service fees
• Service charges charged by resale platforms might be capped to forestall the worth restrict being undermined
• Resale platforms may have a authorized responsibility to watch and implement compliance with the worth cap
• Individuals might be banned from reselling extra tickets than they had been entitled to purchase within the preliminary ticket sale

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy stated:

For too lengthy, ticket touts have ripped off followers, utilizing bots to snap up batches of tickets and resell them at sky-high costs. They’ve turn out to be a shadow trade on resale websites, appearing with out consequence.

This authorities is placing followers first. Our new proposals will shut down the touts’ racket and make world-class music, comedy, theatre and sport inexpensive for everybody.

Business Secretary Peter Kyle stated:

The UK is dwelling to a superb vary of music, entertainers and sporting stars – however when followers are shut out – it solely advantages the touts. That’s why we’re taking these daring measures to smash their mannequin to items and ensure extra followers can take pleasure in their favorite stars at a good worth.

Dan Smith, lead singer of Bastille, stated:

It’s such nice information that the federal government has stepped up and launched a worth cap on resale tickets – one thing I’ve been campaigning for alongside O2 and the FanFair Alliance for a very long time. It’s a superb step in the direction of defending music followers from being ripped off and can enable extra real followers to see their favorite artists carry out at face worth costs. I’m welcoming a world the place there are not any extra resellers snapping up all the tickets and massively inflating their costs.

The new guidelines will apply to any platform reselling tickets to UK followers, together with secondary ticketing platforms and social media web sites. Businesses who break the laws might be topic to monetary penalties of as much as 10% of world turnover from the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), below new powers launched the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers (DMCC) Act 2024.

According to evaluation by the CMA, typical mark-ups on secondary market tickets exceed 50%, while investigations by Trading Standards has uncovered proof of tickets being resold for as much as six instances their unique price.

Government evaluation means that these measures may save followers round £112 million yearly, with 900,000 extra tickets purchased immediately from major sellers every year. Inclusive of all charges paid, the typical ticket worth paid by followers on the resale market might be lowered by £37.

Today’s announcement comes forward of the Autumn Budget, which is able to deal with reducing NHS ready lists, reducing the nationwide debt and reducing the price of dwelling, and driving extra productive and environment friendly use of taxpayers’ cash by rooting out waste in public companies.

The use of pricing methods like dynamic pricing has been one other main supply of frustration for live performance goers, and the federal government undertook a name for proof to discover the problem earlier this yr. Today the Government welcomes the dedication from the Society of Ticket Agents and Retailers (STAR) who’re convening the sector to determine finest apply, together with on worth transparency.  

This will construct on the current announcement by the CMA, who in September secured commitments from Ticketmaster to enhance pricing info, following the Oasis ticket sale. This consists of giving followers 24 hours’ discover of tiered pricing, offering clearer worth info throughout on-line queues, and ending deceptive ticket labels – addressing the important thing points that aggrieved followers throughout the Oasis sale.

The CMA’s enforcement motion on this case, and the measures agreed with Ticketmaster, ship a transparent message to all ticketing web sites that followers should have entry to clear and well timed pricing info with correct ticket descriptions, particularly the place there are completely different pricing fashions and queues in play. In future, the CMA will have the ability to reply much more swiftly and robustly (together with imposing fines of as much as 10% of world turnover) to breaches of client regulation, following the introduction of its new enforcement powers below Part 3 of the DMCC Act.

ENDS

Stakeholder quotes:

Ben Lovett, Marcus Mumford, Ted Dwane (Mumford & Sons)

“For years, many of us as artists have been pleading for changes to be made around secondary ticketing. We still feel so passionately about it. Touts and scalpers have run amok and taken advantage of the good will and passion of music fans for many years. This hurts both the fan and the artist, whatever the scale of the shows. This regulation will curb the predatory behavior of these bad actors, often through pseudo-legitimate secondary ticketing systems, whilst preserving the ability for fans to resell if plans change. It’s going to have a major positive impact, especially on the affordability of getting to see your favourite gigs.”

Indie-rock band Alt-J stated:

“Last week, our band joined dozens of artists and music organisations urging the Prime Minister to clamp down on ticket touting through the introduction of a cap on ticket resale prices. Although we’re pleased the Government has listened to this collective call, it is now imperative that they put these measures into place as quickly as possible.”

Stuart Camp, Ed Sheeran’s supervisor and founding father of Grumpy Old Management, stated: 

“For anyone who cares about music fans and ticket prices, today’s announcement is long overdue. We’ve seen first-hand the positive impact of price caps elsewhere in the world, and these proposals have the potential to transform the UK’s live music sector and protect audiences from exploitation. I trust they will be implemented without delay.”

Tom Kiehl, Chief Executive, UK Music, stated:

“We are delighted to see the Government take action to clamp down on unscrupulous touts and introduce caps in the secondary ticketing market. For too long, touts have been ripping off music fans with extortionate prices that hit both music lovers and our world-leading sector.”

Annabella Coldrick, Chief Executive, Music Managers Forum stated:  

“Alongside a variety of outstanding supervisor members we established the FanFair Alliance marketing campaign towards industrial-scale ticket touting in 2016 offering in depth proof to Parliament and Government of the harm to artists and followers from industrial-scale ticket touting. 

“Change has been a long time coming, but it is hugely satisfying to see artists, music companies, consumer groups, regulators and policy makers come together in agreement on the urgent need for a price cap. This should be a game changing moment. We now look forward to the swift introduction of legislation and real improvements for UK music lovers.”

David Martin, CEO, Featured Artists Coalition stated:

“Online ticket touting needlessly prices UK music followers a whole bunch of thousands and thousands of kilos every year. For far too lengthy, this cash has actually been extracted from the UK’s dwell music sector, and deposited into the pockets of law-breaking touts and the offshore resale platforms they function from. 

“It’s why today’s announcement is so significant, and why it is so strongly supported by the Featured Artists Coalition. We believe that a price cap is the only way to curb the excesses and exploitation of the secondary ticketing market. It must be introduced without delay.”

Adam Webb, Campaign Manager, FanFair Alliance stated:

“This is implausible information for music followers. It’s taken years of FanFair campaigning to get thus far, however having listened to the considerations of artists, campaigners and the broader music sector, the Government now has a transparent and pragmatic plan in place to deal with the scourge of exploitative on-line ticket touting. 

“However, there is an urgency to deliver. Every day that passes before new legislation comes into effect, will see more fans ripped off by touts. For that reason alone, it is vital a cap on ticket resale prices is introduced and enforced at the earliest possible opportunity.”

Gareth Griffiths, Director, Partnerships and Sponsorship, Virgin Media O2:

“Today’s news is a victory for live music fans everywhere, and O2 is celebrating alongside them. After eight years campaigning for a fairer ticketing market alongside FanFair Alliance, we know this bold action promised by government will finally give concertgoers – and artists – the protection they deserve from exploitative ticket touts. We now urge the government to make no delay and act quickly on its word – it’s time to restore fairness for all in live music.”

The band, Keane:

“Music fans are sick of being ripped off by unethical online touts. As a band, we have always tried to implement measures that keep tickets in the hands of genuine fans, while supporting capped, consumer-friendly resale. We have no problem with people reselling tickets at cost price and we hope that the Government’s actions will allow those kinds of services to flourish.”

Phil Harvey, Manager, Coldplay:

“As long as this legislation is brought in quickly, it should be a game-changer that will transform fans’ experience of buying concert tickets.”

Notes to editors:

• These new guidelines comply with in depth session with ticketing platforms, the dwell occasions sector and followers, and are set out in two authorities responses revealed right now.

• The authorities will introduce major laws to implement the brand new measures on ticket resale, together with deciding the precise degree of the cap on service charges, when Parliamentary time permits.