Winners blast ticket resale at StubHub Q Awards

Jack Garratt, James Bay and Bastille’s Dan Smith used their acceptance speeches at last night’s Q Awards – this year controversially sponsored by StubHub – to condemn the secondary ticketing market.

Speaking to IQ last month, StubHub’s Aimee Bateas called the sponsorship “a good example of us investing in the [music] industry” and said the ticket resale giant will “continue to seek more opportunities to continue this”, although the deal was heavily criticised by anti-touting group FanFair Alliance as attempting to “buy legitimacy” for StubHub.

Breakthrough act winner Garratt, best solo act Bay (pictured) and best track winner Smith (with Bastille, for ‘Good Grief’) are apparently in the latter camp, with Smith the most vocal: As reported by Music Week editor Mark Sutherland, the Bastille frontman said: “Exploitative secondary ticketing is fucking bollocks. It’s shit for fans, and it’s pretty shit for the bands as well.”

“Exploitative secondary ticketing is fucking bollocks. It’s shit for fans, and it’s pretty shit for the bands as well”

Garratt, meanwhile, said the fans who voted for him “deserve fair ticket pricing for the shows they want to go and see”, while Bay commented: “Apologies to my fans for ever having to deal with secondary ticketing sites. I hope we see an end to those.”

U2 won the award for best live act, while Madness were given the hall of fame prize, both presented by StubHub.

A full list of winners is on the Q website.

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