Advertisement

Arctic Monkeys & Ed Sheeran among UK artists taking stand against ticket touts

A number of Britain's leading musicians are backing a new campaigned targetting ticket touts. Arc...
Newstalk
Newstalk

15.41 14 Jul 2016


Share this article


 Arctic Monkeys & Ed Sheer...

Arctic Monkeys & Ed Sheeran among UK artists taking stand against ticket touts

Newstalk
Newstalk

15.41 14 Jul 2016


Share this article


A number of Britain's leading musicians are backing a new campaigned targetting ticket touts.

Arctic Monkeys, Ed Sheeran, Little Mix, Iron Maiden, Noel Gallagher and One Direction are just some of the names signed up to the FanFair Alliance, which is calling on the government in the UK to place tougher restrictions on websites that resell concert tickets.

Ian McAndrew, manager of Arctic Monkeys, said he wants to "make it easier for fans to buy tickets".

Advertisement

Speaking at the launch of the FanFair Alliance in London today, he commented:

"The aim of the FanFair Alliance is to take a unified stand against rampant profiteering in the secondary ticketing market.

"We are also urging the Government to take measures and commit resources to enforce existing legislation."

The secondary ticketing market is thought to be worth over £1 billion per year.

A petition set up in May has already gained 44,000 signatures.

While McAndrew said the practice of resellers snapping up tickets and then advertising them at extremely inflated prices online was "the number one grievance" he hears from fans, the four main secondary ticketing websites – Seatwave, viagogo, Stubhub and Getmein – say high prices are rarely achieved.

The Alliance claims in its declaration:

"Industrial-scale online ticket touting is ripping off fans. It is also hugely damaging to artists at all levels of their careers and to music businesses across the board.

"Because UK consumer law is not currently enforced, touts can act with impunity and under the cloak of anonymity: hacking into online ticketing systems, scalping inventory, inflating prices and profiteering via under-regulated resale sites."

It has also outlined the steps the UK government needs to take to deal with the problem:

  • Stronger enforcement of the Consumer Rights Act 2015
  • Increased transparency
  • "Proper corporate responsibility" from the websites
  • That the abuse of technology to buy tickets for re-sale should be a criminal offence
 

 

 


Share this article


Read more about

Business

Most Popular