Going paperless reduces Maiden touting ‘by 95%’

Proving once more than artists can eliminate touting if they actually want to, Iron Maiden’s decision to go paperless on their The Book of Souls UK arena tour has been credited with reducing the number of tickets appearing on secondary sites by more than 95%.

According to promoter Live Nation, by implementing extensive paperless ticketing – and mandating that all other tickets carry the name of the purchaser, and require their credit card and ID at the door – the number of tickets for sale “at inflated prices on secondary platforms plummeted by over 95% compared with the band’s last UK arena tour, in 2011”.

In 2010, 6,294 tickets appeared overnight on three of the major resale platforms – Viagogo, Seatwave and Get Me In! – on the day of sale. In 2016 this had dropped to 207, all on Viagogo, as Live Nation/Ticketmaster had agreed delist the tour at Iron Maiden’s request.

StubHub also followed suit.

“Iron Maiden and their management should be commended for their innovative approach to tackling touts”

Maiden manager Rod Smallwood comments: “We are delighted that the paperless ticketing system and other measures we instigated here in the UK have proved a massive deterrent to touts and counterfeiters. We want to thank our fans for their enduring support and patience.

“We appreciate that our stringent policy has meant fans having to jump over one more hurdle in the ticket-buying process, but the results speak for themselves, and I think everyone can agree this was well worth it. On the first day of public sale, we sold over 100,000 tickets nationwide direct to genuine fans through the proper legitimate channels. This is an incredible achievement, and a victory for concertgoers – not least as this is a full 12-date UK tour we’re undertaking, not just a couple of dates in the bigger cities.

MP Nigel Adams, a prominent anti-touting campaigner in parliament and chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Music, adds: “Iron Maiden and their management should be commended for their innovative approach to tackling touts. For too long, genuine fans have been fleeced by professional, well organised and greedy large scale touts who use secondary ticketing sites to profiteer. With both industry and government beginning to take action against the touts, I am hopeful we will see a fairer ticketing industry sooner rather than later.”

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