Scour the resale market for Oasis Live ’25 tickets and the chances are you’ll find listings for all 40-plus dates, with two honourable exceptions. Conspicuous by their absence on secondary channels are the Gallagher brothers’ reunion shows at Dublin’s Croke Park on 16th and 17th August. So what’s the story?

“The thing with Ireland is that the legislation is actually really clear,” says Adam Webb, campaign manager for UK-based anti-touting campaign group FanFair Alliance. “So, it doesn’t talk about price caps or face value or any complications, it basically says you can’t resell for profit.”

Introduced in the Emerald Isle in 2021, the Sale of Tickets (Cultural, Entertainment, Recreational and Sporting Events) Act prohibits “the sale, or advertising for resale, of tickets for a price exceeding the original sale price for designated events.” Its application is limited to events that “give rise to significant demand” or where it would otherwise be “in the public interest” to ban resale at a price above face value.

Enforcement is a matter for the Garda Síochána (Irish police service). While there have been no reported prosecutions up to this point, the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment tells IQ the act has been “very successful.”

“Staff monitor Irish secondary resale platforms on a regular basis,” says a spokesperson for the government department. “Irish secondary resellers of tickets are aware of the legislation, and tickets for events that fall within the scope of the act are no longer offered for sale on these platforms. Promoters and organisers of events that are happening in non-designated venues have been proactive in applying to get their events designated.”

“Overall fraud in Ireland dropped by 25% in the first year of this legislation coming in”

Veteran ticketing and security expert Reg Walker of Iridium Consultancy estimates the act has killed off “95–97%” of ticket touting in the country. But its impact doesn’t end there.

“More interestingly is that, as a direct result, overall fraud in Ireland dropped by 25% in the first year of this legislation coming in,” he notes. “It’s almost eradicated ticket fraud in Ireland.”

A security crackdown – Operation Podium – was successfully carried out in the UK by the Metropolitan Police for the London 2012 Olympic Games, in line with requirements for host cities. Fines for those convicted of touting quadrupled from £5,000 to £20,000.

“There was very clear legislation put in place in respect of the resale of Olympics tickets,” says Walker. “Effectively, it was banned unless you had written authority from either a National Olympic Committee or the International Olympic Committee. But the key part of the legislation was it was supranational, i.e. it was an offence anywhere in the world. So, if you were a UK town and were selling through a website in Argentina, as someone tried to, it was still an offence.

“With the Olympics, the key was simple legislation, outright ban, supranational legislation. The most important fourth spoke in that wheel was enforcement.”

“Here’s the problem – the legislation is summary only, and it stops at the White Cliffs of Dover”

The resale of football tickets without authority in the UK has also been illegal since the 1980s, although Walker points out there is a loophole in that particular law.

“Here’s the problem – the legislation is summary only, and it stops at the White Cliffs of Dover,” he says. “So what you’ve had for years is a number of tout resale sites sitting over in Spain, Cyprus, etc, that harvest tickets in bulk for Premier League football matches, bounce them off these god-awful websites overseas, and it’s actually technically not illegal.”

Industrial-scale online touting has been a scourge for the live music industry in the digital age. Labour MP Sharon Hodgson tabled a private members’ bill in the UK as long ago as 2010, calling for a 10% cap on resale, which failed to get through parliament.

Ed Sheeran’s team went beyond the call of duty in cancelling around 10,000 tickets for the singer’s summer 2018 gigs after Viagogo refused a request from Sheeran’s team not to list the tickets for resale, while Oasis tour promoters Live Nation and SJM have vowed to void up to 50,000 tickets listed on unofficial resale sites for the band’s upcoming tour leg.

The battle has been given renewed impetus amid Labour’s landslide UK general election victory last summer, with prime minister Keir Starmer having pledged to introduce new legislation to cap ticket resale in the party’s manifesto.

“There is no point bringing forward new laws if we cannot enforce them”

Culture minister Chris Bryant also vowed that “change is coming” on secondary ticketing but warned that enforcement was crucial.

“There is no point bringing forward new laws if we cannot enforce them,” he said during a parliamentary debate. “We made manifesto commitments during the general election that we are absolutely determined to implement.”

The government formally launched a consultation into the market in early January. Walker is confident that legislation will materialise but includes a caveat.

“What I’m less confident about is the enforcement,” he remarks. “And the enforcement actually is quite simple, because whilst there’s too many touts for police to go out and [arrest], the choke point is the platforms themselves. It would choke off their ability to dominate Google paid ads and give a false and misleading impression that they were official and the tickets were genuine – or that they even had them – so that would stop overnight. It would deprive them of the oxygen on which they survive.

“I think, personally, as long as the legislation is drafted correctly and supranational, the legislation will work, but the devil is going to be in the detail.”

“You shouldn’t have a middleman, that has nothing invested in the business, make any money from it”

Live Nation boss Michael Rapino also spoke out in favour of regulating the resale market during an interview at a conference in LA in the autumn.

“We would love for resale to be regulated in some sense, cap it at 20%,” he said. “You shouldn’t have a middleman, that has nothing invested in the business, make any money from it.”

US senator Richard Blumenthal recently suggested that current customer protection measures were falling short and called on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to “investigate and take strong enforcement action against deceptive and unlawful practices” in the ticketing market.

In an open letter published in December, he demanded vigorous enforcement of the Better Online Ticket Sales Act (BOTS Act). Blumenthal claimed the FTC had only enforced the BOTS Act, which bans ticket bots, once since it was enacted in December 2016.

Meanwhile, the “outrageous” level of touting activity taking place across Europe prompted a small group of concert promoters to unite in the late 2010s to try and do something about it. The gathering morphed into a formal organisation, the Face-value European Alliance for Ticketing (FEAT), which has the key objective of promoting face-value ticket resale.

“In an ideal world, the EU and UK would also share a joined-up approach”

“One of the main problems with ticket touting is that it is an industrial-scale business, operating across countries and regulatory systems at the expense of concertgoers,” reflects FEAT director Sam Shemtob. “In many EU member states, there are no laws on ticket resale beyond Europe-wide consumer rights regulations, which need to be properly enforced if they are to be effective.

“With music tourism flourishing, the rationale for harmonising the law across the EU increases. In an ideal world, the EU and UK would also share a joined-up approach.”

Shemtob describes the EU’s recent Digital Services Act (DSA) as “a step in the right direction,” but notes that it requires promoters to dedicate “time, resources, and legal expertise to first file reports on illegal ticket listings and then escalate them to national regulators.”

“Our recent experience with DSA reporting has left much to be desired,” he sighs. “Some resale platforms have failed to reply to reports addressed to them despite this being their legal obligation.

Meanwhile, the regulators set up to enforce the new digital rules have also been slow to get off the ground, and we are yet to see any investigations into or sanctions against rule-breaking by online ticket resale platforms.”

“The requirement for ticketholders and, above all, resale platforms to obtain approval from the promoter has helped to curb unauthorised reselling”

Shemtob breaks the methods of regulation currently adopted by different countries at a national level into two categories.

“The first is in France and Belgium, which have a ‘promoter-authorised resale’ model,” he says. “French criminal law is clear that tickets can only be resold for an event with authorisation by the event promoter. Fans can usually still resell their tickets, but it must be on a designated marketplace, sometimes with a cap on ticket price. If resellers are not authorised, promoters can legally challenge them.

“Secondary platforms that continue to allow unauthorised traders to list tickets can be held to account by larger-scale action – for example, French live entertainment union Ekhoscènes have successfully challenged Viagogo and Google on several occasions.”

Maxime Lignel of approved Rennes-based resale site Reelax Tickets says the regulations have had a “significant impact” on the French market.

“The requirement for ticketholders and, above all, resale platforms to obtain approval from the promoter has helped to curb unauthorised reselling and has contributed to a more controlled and fair market for consumers,” insists Lignel, “although there are always challenges in ensuring full compliance.”

“The main problem is the lack of control at the doors”

The second model of regulation, meanwhile, is in place in Ireland, as well as Denmark, Italy, Poland, and Portugal.

“These countries have an outright ban on ticket resale above face value, legislation which is easy for consumers and resellers to understand,” notes Shemtob. “Resale platforms operating in these countries have far fewer tickets listed at exorbitant prices, as doing so is in clear contravention of the law.”

Barley Arts founder Claudio Trotta, who has been fighting against the excesses of the market for more than two decades, organised the world-first Negation of Secondary Ticketing conference in 2017. He was later invited to take part in a debate on the issue in the European Parliament.

For-profit secondary ticketing was effectively outlawed in Italy in 2018 with the introduction of the Battelli law, which empowered communications industry regulator AGCOM to go after offenders and even shut down websites that continually break the law. Furthermore, the rules oblige personalised tickets to be checked on entry for all shows over 5,000-capacity, which has not been met with unanimous approval from organisers.

“The main problem is the lack of control at the doors,” stresses Trotta. “With most of Barley’s shows, the amount of secondary ticketing is very, very small. [But] I can’t say the same for many other promoters’ shows, where the controls do not exist at all.”
In Germany, there is no ban on ticket resale. However, promoters can restrict the resale price through the terms and conditions, usually at no more than 25% above face value.

“We have found these bodies are often slow to react or ineffective in policing this market”

A high-profile case saw Rammstein and European promoter MCT Agentur win a further court ruling in Germany in January last year, which compelled resale sites to abide by legal rules in the marketplace. The parties had previously obtained an interim judgement against Viagogo regarding the band’s 2023 European stadium tour. FKP Scorpio also obtained similar injunctions against the company – which acquired StubHub for $4.05bn in 2019, in a deal that brought together the world’s two largest secondary ticket sellers – for Ed Sheeran concerts in 2019 and 2021.

Down Under, almost every individual state and territory in Australia has laws governing the secondary ticketing market.

“In almost all cases, it limits the amount that a ticket can be ‘sold’ or ‘scalped’ to 110% of the original sale price,” explains Jarni Blakkarly, investigative journalist for Australia’s leading consumer advocacy group CHOICE. “By limiting the amount a ticket can be resold [for] to only 10% above what was originally paid for it, fans are meant to be protected from dodgy ticket scalpers, though there are questions as to how well this is working.”

Responsibility for enforcing the legislation falls to each state and territory’s consumer protection or fair-trading body, but Blakkarly questions the level to which that has been carried out.

“We have found these bodies are often slow to react or ineffective in policing this market,” he reports. “We have seen countless examples of these laws being breached and resulting in little to no action from the regulators, who have the power to issue big fines but don’t seem to have the resources or the will to do so.”

“If you take either the touts away or you take Google away, there’s no business”

Six years ago, the Australian Federal Court found that Viagogo misled consumers with obscured fees and claims of ticket scarcity. The ruling – and AU$7m penalty imposed for the breaches of the Australian Consumer Law – was upheld by the full federal court in 2022.

Nevertheless, Blakkarly professes to have seen both international and local ticket reselling websites “consistently and regularly breach the laws with little to no consequences.” And while he says government regulators have a part to play in policing the space, he also calls on the aforementioned Google to up its game.

“There is a role for search engines like Google to make sure that when you search ‘Oasis Sydney tickets’ in the search bar, you are taken to the legitimate official ticket seller and not unwittingly redirected to a reselling site that may overcharge you or leave you scammed,” argues Blakkarly.

Google’s influence on the secondary ticketing market has repeatedly been called into question by campaigners. Viagogo was banned from advertising on the platform globally in July 2019 after the latter came under fire from lawmakers for allegedly accepting advertising money from sites listing tickets fraudulently, but the ban was quietly lifted four months later.

“It’s been a bit of a journey with Google, in that they’ve been receptive at certain points,” said FanFair Alliance’s Webb, speaking at a panel event in London in October. “For three months, Google removed them from their advertising networks, and in that period, their traffic absolutely flatlined… If you take either the touts away or you take Google away, there’s no business.”

“We hope the Digital Fairness Act will further tighten up legislation around ticket resale”

This past autumn, the European Union published the results of its ‘fitness check’ reviewing existing consumer protection legislation across the EU. FEAT, along with other stakeholders in live music and ticketing, responded to the consultation, with 60% of stakeholders agreeing that more needs to be done to prevent ticket touting.

“A Digital Fairness Act consultation is now expected in the spring, led by EU commissioner for consumer protection Michael McGrath,” says Shemtob. “This will pave the way for new legislation that will consolidate and improve digital, tech, and consumer law online. We hope the Digital Fairness Act will further tighten up legislation around ticket resale.”

And as India and the Philippines join the growing list of territories considering touting crackdowns, they would be well-advised to heed the words of CHOICE’s Blakkarly in their discussions.

“Good laws need to be enforced,” he asserts, “otherwise they aren’t doing anyone any good.”

• The ILMC panel Pricing the Ticket: Balancing Expectations will take place at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London from 3.15pm to 4.15pm on Wednesday 26 February

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The Face-value European Alliance for Ticketing (FEAT) is looking to the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) to clamp down on illegal ticket resale after once again taking aim at Google’s influence on the secondary ticketing market.

The DSA introduced new measures from August requiring large search engines to clamp down on illegal product listing, including working with risk-affected parties to carry out assessments of ‘systemic risks’ relating to illegal content.

FEAT, which is dedicated to the promotion of face-value ticket resale across the continent, says it is estimated that Google is responsible for driving two-thirds of traffic to Viagogo. Viagogo was banned from advertising on Google globally in July 2019 after the latter came under fire from lawmakers for allegedly accepting advertising money from sites listing tickets fraudulently. The ban was quietly lifted four months later.

At FEAT’s AGM in Barcelona last week, members agreed that by failing to properly consider the continued prevalence of illegal ticket resale advertising, large search engines may already be in breach of their new responsibilities. FEAT is also looking to adjust ticket T&Cs to enable event organisers to de-list resale ticket listings more aggressively via the DSA’s notice and action mechanisms once the regulation comes into force more widely.

“With new Europe-wide regulations coming into effect for predatory resale platforms in the New Year, we united at a critical moment”

“With new Europe-wide regulations coming into effect for predatory resale platforms in the New Year, we united at a critical moment,” says FEAT founding director and Doctor Music founder and CEO Neo Sala.

The organisation is also planning the next phase of its Make Tickets Fair! campaign,which  was launched earlier this year by a coalition of live industry organisations and professionals from across Europe launched with the intention of helping music fans avoid being ripped off on the secondary ticketing market.

“During the meeting we agreed exciting plans to use the DSA to get illegal ticket resale listings taken down, as well as ramp up the ‘Make Tickets Fair!’ campaign to help educate music fans on safe ticketing,” adds Sala.

Launched in 2019, FEAT has welcomed new member Kiki Ressler, MD of German booking and touring company KKT, which represents 64 artists including Die Toten Hosen and Die Ärzte.

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Live music professionals have raised further questions about Google’s influence on the secondary ticketing market.

In a session at Primavera Pro in Barcelona yesterday (1 June), Neo Sala (Doctor Music), ticket resale specialist Nicole Jacobsen (previously tickets.de), Sam Shemtob (FEAT) and Scumeck Sabottka (MCT-Agentur) discussed how search engines host advertisements from unauthorised ticket resale platforms such as Viagogo, which appear at the top of the search page, above organic listings for official ticket sellers.

The panel noted how the advertising policies of search engines do not permit advertising that deceives users – either by excluding relevant information or providing misleading information – but suggested Google did not appear to be adequately enforcing this policy.

“We see a close parallel between the situation now with the live events industry, to that in the noughties with the record business,” said FEAT director Neo Sala, founder & CEO of Spain’s Doctor Music. “I think we all remember when you’d Google a song name and ‘mp3’ and you’d be met with piracy links as the first, second, third results. Today, try Googling ‘Harry Styles tickets’ and you’ll see a link to unauthorised, overpriced tickets right at the top. The live industry needs to ask Google to take the same sensible steps as they did with the record industry and start guiding fans to trusted, official sources.”

Viagogo was banned from advertising on Google globally in July 2019 after the latter came under fire from lawmakers for allegedly accepting advertising money from sites listing tickets fraudulently. The ban was quietly lifted four months later.

“In this environment of strengthening legislation, search engines ought to start asking what kind of companies they are”

The panel said that, during Google’s brief ban on advertising from Viagogo in 2019, global traffic to the site fell by two thirds, which it claimed highlighted the extent of its influence.

A coalition of live industry organisations and professionals from across Europe launched the Make Tickets Fair! campaign earlier this year with the intention of helping music fans avoid being ripped off on the secondary ticketing market. The panel also touched on the development of the initiative.

“Across Europe, countries including Belgium, France, Ireland and others have outlawed unauthorised ticket resale,” added FEAT (Face-value European Alliance for Ticketing) director Sam Shemtob. “The European Court of Justice meanwhile has ruled that event tickets are a contract for services, subject to terms and conditions of the event promoter; and the incoming Digital Services Act promises to tighten consumer protections in e-commerce further.

“In this environment of strengthening legislation, search engines ought to start asking what kind of companies they are. Do they want to enable the activities of ticket scalpers, and support the anti-consumer and anti-artist practices of unauthorised resale platforms? Or, do they want to stand up for their users and guide them toward legitimate tickets for the events they want to attend? We hope companies like Google will choose the latter option.”

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Prodiss has hailed a “landmark decision” after Google failed in its appeal against a ruling banning the purchase of adverts promoting tickets sold by unauthorised secondary ticketing platforms in France.

The French live music association brought the lawsuit against Google France and Google Ireland after noticing advertisements for tickets to shows by Rammstein, Drake and Metallica on sites including Viagogo.fr, StubHub.fr and Rocket-Ticket.com at, or near, the top of Google’s search results.

In France, it is illegal to sell tickets without authorisation from the event organiser.

The Judicial Court of Paris found Google liable for reputational damage to live entertainment professionals back in 2020, noting that by accepting advertising from ticket resale sites, it may have given fans the false impression that rightsholders benefit from inflated secondary market prices.

The court prohibited Google Ireland, which operates Google Ads (formerly AdWords), from allowing the purchase of advertising keywords relating to the sale of tickets for shows in France, unless the purchaser can prove that they have written authorisation from the rightsholder.

“This is another step in the right direction to ensure a fair, safe, and legal process for ticket sales in France”

That judgement, which applies to all live shows taking place in France, has now been upheld, with the company also fined €300,000 in damages.

“This is a landmark decision for us,” says Prodiss CEO Malika Séguineau. “We are very pleased that the court of appeal has ruled in favour of protecting the rights of the producers and the rights of the audience. After several previous decisions against illegal platforms over the last years, this is another step in the right direction to ensure a fair, safe, and legal process for ticket sales in France.”

Sam Shemtob, director of the Face-value European Alliance for Ticketing (FEAT), adds: “This is a big win for those of us who want to see tickets in the hands of fans and not sold on by price-gouging touts. Rightfully, a lot of fans’ anger gets focussed on the resale platforms themselves, but Google is a major player in steering people away from face value tickets sold by the primary seller, even when there are still tickets available. The clearer Google’s role becomes for all to see, the better.”

Google began accepting advertising from Viagogo once more in November 2019, having previously banned the site from its AdWords platform.

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A court in Paris has prohibited Google from selling keywords to advertisers, including Viagogo and StubHub, which (re)sell tickets without the promoter’s permission.

Ruling in favour of French live music association Prodiss, which brought the case against Google France and Google Ireland (Google’s European headquarters are in Dublin), the Judicial Court of Paris found Google liable for reputational damage to live entertainment professionals, noting that by accepting advertising from ticket resale sites, it may have given fans the false impression that rightsholders benefit from inflated secondary-market prices.

The Tribunal judiciaire additionally declared that Google had “undeniably participated” in facilitating unlawful resale “with full knowledge of the facts”.

Prodiss brought the lawsuit after noticing advertisements for tickets to shows by Rammstein, Drake and Metallica on sites including Viagogo.fr, StubHub.fr and Rocket-Ticket.com at, or near, the top of Google’s search results. In France, it is illegal to sell tickets without authorisation from the event organiser.

The court prohibited Google from allowing the purchase of ad keywords relating to the sale of tickets for shows in France

Google will have one month to act on the ruling, which will apply to all live shows taking place in France, including ticket retailers based elsewhere but selling tickets for French shows.

In the 15 October judgment, the court prohibited Google Ireland, which operates Google Ads (formerly AdWords), from allowing the purchase of advertising keywords relating to the sale of tickets for shows in France, unless the purchaser can prove that they have written authorisation from the rightsholder.

It also ordered Google to pay Prodiss €40,000 for in damages and an additional €20,000 under article 700 of the code of civil procedure (CPC).

In November, Google began accepting advertising from Viagogo once more after having previously banned the site from its AdWords platform.

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‘Tipping’ artists, by making one-off, typically small payments during virtual events, is gaining popularity internationally, benefiting musicians who have been hit by the global stoppage in concert touring.

Virtual tipping has its origins in China, where the concept of donating to musicians, video producers, writers and podcasters has been the norm since at least 2013. Among the services that allow the tipping of creators are messaging app WeChat (for writers), podcasting platform Ximalaya FM and music streaming services QQ Music, KuGou and Kuwo. All are owned by, or have significant investment from, tech giant Tencent (which also recently acquired a 10% stake in Universal Music Group).

According to news site Ozy, the popularity of tipping on the three streaming services specifically is “credited by industry analysts for helping Tencent Music record a post-tax profit of [US]$263 million in the first half of 2018.” According to contemporary filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, 9.5 million Tencent Music users – equivalent to 40% of its total paying user base – paid for tips in the form of virtual gifts and other ‘social entertainment experiences’.

Comparatively, the Ozy article adds, “Spotify reported net losses of $461.4 million in the second quarter of 2018, and Pandora lost $92 million the same quarter.”

Now, however, Spotify is hoping to develop its own virtual tipping culture, last week announcing the introduction of ‘Artist Fundraising Pick’, which allows listeners to donate via artists’ profiles using PayPal, GoFundMe or Cash App.

“This is an incredibly difficult time for many Spotify users and people around the world,” says the Stockholm-based company, “and there are many worthy causes to support at this time. With this feature, we simply hope to enable those who have the interest and means to support artists in this time of great need, and to create another opportunity for our Covid-19 music relief partners to find the financial support they need to continue working in music and lift our industry.”

Tipping is credited with helping Tencent Music record profits of $263m in H1 2018

As well as predominantly non-music services such as Twitch, which enables viewers to tip (‘cheer’) its video streamers, several music-focused platforms are aiming to help artists get paid while touring is off limits.

Encore Musicians – a UK-based marketplace that connects event planners with artists and bands – has introduced ‘Music Messages’ for its locked-down customers, enabling them to send personalised musical messages to their loved ones. The company’s co-founder, James McAuley, tells TechCrunch that recipients of the videos (which cost from £15 to commission, with £2.50 going to the UK’s National Health Service) have the option to add a tip, with many contributing up to £50 per video.

“The reactions from both the senders and recipients have been extremely heartwarming, and musicians are having fun with it,” McAuley explains. “This is also reflected in the success of the tipping mechanism, with people sometimes tipping more than the original video amount.”

Elsewhere, SoundCloud is building on its existing tipping capabilities – a partnership with Twitch, announced in March, allows creators to monetise livestreamed concerts – by allowing artists to add ‘support links’ to their profile pages, with links to either financial exchanges (PayPal, Cash App, Venmo, etc.) or online stores/fundraising pages such as Kickstarter, Bandcamp or GoFundMe.

The company says it will retain support links, or a version of the feature, “until more impactful solutions present themselves, or it is no longer necessary for our most impacted creators.

“We’re all in this together and it’s important to everyone that creative projects continue unabated. So, use this to fund your projects, offset bills or get whatever you need to stay on your feet.”

Speaking to IQ earlier this month, British singer-songwriter Emma McGann explained that her audience on YouNow – another live video streaming platform – is large enough that when her upcoming US tour was torpedoed by the coronavirus outbreak, she sold enough $20 YouNow ‘Virtual Tour Passes’ to cover losses stemming from the cancellation.

“On YouNow, fans can tip their favourite performers throughout a broadcast”

McGann is one of a handful of artists whose fanbases are primarily on YouNow, which has long had a culture of fans tipping creators. A recent Daily Dot article explains: “In addition to being able to purchase stickers and private messages with in-app currency and status, fans can use money to purchase ‘bars’ in packs, and tip their favorite [sic] performers throughout a broadcast, earning shout-outs in turn. YouNow stars who’ve made a name for themselves can join its partner program[me], which entitles them to a cut of the proceeds from the sale of this digital currency that gets spent on their broadcasts.”

“Most livestreaming platforms have a criteria you have to hit before your channel is eligible to be monetised,” explained McGann, who is a YouNow partner, “but the community you build should be your first concern over the monetisation aspect. Interaction and community [are] the most important part of your livestreams. Monetising that content will be difficult if you’re not consistent.”

On tipping specifically, she added: “Calls to action during your streams can help to push traffic to your music, your merch store or wherever your viewers can support you…”

One company, though, that isn’t joining the tipping revolution is Google, which has reportedly nixed plans in the US that would have seen it facilitate donations to popular websites, including those of artists and musicians. The tipping tool, linked to Google Pay, would allow a one-time donation of between 25¢ and $5 via a floating button at the bottom of the screen. (On Google-owned YouTube, fans already can tip creators using the ‘super chat’ feature.)

Google trialled the functionality with artist Miranda Sings, as well as the New York Times, Tech Crunch and the Points Guy, a travel advice site.

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Just four months after its indefinite suspension from Google Ads, Viagogo’s ads once again appear at the top of Google’s search results for some of the biggest upcoming shows, after the ban was quietly lifted last week.

The controversial secondary ticketing giant – which yesterday announced its acquisition of chief rival StubHub for over US$4 billion – was banned from advertising on Google globally in July following pressure from the live music industry and consumer-rights groups, leading to a reported 70% reduction in website traffic.

The decision to prevent Viagogo from paying its way to the top of the Google’s search results came after the search engine removed more than 2bn ads found to be in breach of its policies or the law in the previous 12 months, IQ reported at the time. In 2017, Google updated its AdWords policy to force secondary sites to be clearer on pricing and prevent them from posing as official sellers, among other measures.

The suspension was hailed as a “landmark moment” by anti-ticket touting campaigners, with Adam Webb of FanFair Alliance describing it as “a major step forward [in] preventing exploitation of audiences in the secondary ticketing market”.

While many in the industry put little stock in Viagogo’s promises that it would work to have the suspension lifted “as quickly as possible” – one campaigner says they hoped the ban would be permanent – the Swiss-based company is already back to advertising on Google Ads globally, with the exception of countries whose regulators have not yet told Google they are satisfied Viagogo is in compliance with local law (at present, the Czech Republic, Sweden, Finland, Hungary, Japan, Slovakia and Taiwan).

Viagogo has agreed to not advertise in the Czech Republic, Sweden, Finland, Hungary, Japan, Slovakia and Taiwan

A spokesperson for Viagogo tells IQ that, “after having worked closely with them [Google] in the background”, the site’s ads were reinstated last week. “The company has worked closely with Google and is pleased with this outcome.”

With the exception of the seven territories listed above, IQ understands Viagogo is now deemed to be in compliance with the following Google criteria:

• To cease advertising where doing so breaches the law, and come into compliance with local legal and regulatory requirements, including ensuring that all consumer warnings issued by official authorities are appropriately remediated
• Make clear the total ticket price at the beginning of the customer journey, as well as separating out the fees, as is required by the Google Ads event ticket sales policy
• Make clear any applicable delivery fees
• Make clear that tickets subject to resale restrictions may not provide access to the event (the full disclaimer, approved by the UK’s CMA and also used in other territories, reads: “Please note that your ticket may be invalid for entry to the event. It’s only in rare cases that customers have been refused entry to events similar to this, although those events may not have had resale restrictions. You will be protected by our guarantee if you attempt entry and are refused. That’s our promise – enjoy the event.”)
• Cease advertising tickets for resale where resale is “legitimately prohibited”
• Cease claiming that tickets are valid when organisers and event promoters find them invalid

“The company has worked closely with Google and is pleased with this outcome”

It is understood Google’s decision to reinstate Viagogo ads is not related to the company’s takeover of StubHub, which reportedly came as news to Google execs yesterday.

At press time, searches for which Viagogo advertisements appear at the top of Google search results in the UK (where IQ is based) include “the 1975 tickets”, “Billie Eilish tickets”, “Madonna tickets”, “Rod Stewart tickets”, “Travis Scott tickets”, “Lewis Capaldi tickets” and “Diana Ross tickets”.

In a statement, a Google spokesperson says: “Any advertiser can appeal a suspension, and if we find that they have made appropriate changes to their account they may be eligible for reactivation.

“We still continue to enforce our policies and we will take action against ads or accounts that violate our policies.”

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Humanitix, a ticketing startup donating all profits from booking fees to charity, has announced an event ticketing partnership with Facebook.

The integration of Humanitix with the social media platform means users can simultaneously launch events on both platforms.

“It’s a really big deal for us because it takes a long time to get an integration like that over the line with Facebook,” Humanitix co-founder Joshua Ross told Pro Bono News. “Hopefully there’ll be more to come in terms of the opportunities to partner with them.”

Sydney-based Humanitix, founded in 2016 by Ross and Adam McCurdie, directs all profits from booking fees – 4% transaction price plus AUD$0.99 – to educational programmes in Australia and overseas.

The ticketing service has donated over AUD$380,000 (USD$259,000) to charity and processed more than AUD$9 million ($6m) in ticket sales.

“There’s billions of dollars in these booking fees and no one likes them but event organisers put up with it because they need to do it,” explains the Humanitix co-founder.

“We think there’s a massive opportunity in ticketing, where fees can be more modest, and you can have the best of both worlds”

“Our objective isn’t to make booking fees zero, it’s to solve inequality through education programs. But we think there’s a massive opportunity in ticketing, where fees can be more modest, and you can have the best of both worlds.”

Last year, the company received AUD$1 million ($682,000) in grant funding from the Google Global Impact Challenge and a $1.2m ($819,000) grant from the Atlassian Foundation.

“Humanitix has become the fastest growing ticketing platform in Australia and New Zealand,” comments Australian communications and arts minister, Paul Fletcher. “It’s great to see Facebook getting behind them. This support will help Humanitix to keep on with its mission to make a difference in our community.”

The ticketing service has worked with the likes of Sydney Youth Orchestra, UN Women and Football Federation Australia, the Grounds of Alexandria and Illawarra Folk Festival. Most events currently serviced by Humanitix have a capacity of under 20,000, although the platform is capable of catering for larger events.

Humanitix operates in Australia and New Zealand, with plans to expand to the United States within the next year.

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The number of fans visiting the Viagogo site has plummeted since the secondary site was banned from advertising through Google, the Guardian has revealed.

According to figures obtained from analytics service SimilarWeb, traffic to Viagogo’s UK site has dropped 80% – from 4.5 million visitors per month to 820,000 – and by 70% on its global site – from 15.3m to 4.5m monthly users – in the almost three months since Google banned the site from paying to appear at the top of search results.

“Google is a key part of any company’s advertising mix and the suspension has certainly seen a decline in traffic from this source. However, as a global business we employ multiple marketing methods, to ensure we can reach the widest global audience effectively,” reads a statement issued by Viagogo.

“This has allowed us to manage any impact of the suspension on the overall business, whilst we are working with Google to resolve their concerns and be reinstated. Viagogo has long enjoyed a close working relationship with Google and we are in discussions presently to resolve the suspension.”

“Google is a key part of any company’s advertising mix and the suspension has certainly seen a decline in traffic from this source”

According to a 2017 IQ report, secondary ticketing sites such as Viagogo were paying up to 15 times more than promoters to appear at the top of Google’s sponsored search listings.

The move to bar the site from Google’s paid-for search results was widely welcomed by the industry with promoter Kilimanjaro Live, UK Music and anti-tout campaign groups FanFair Alliance and Face-value European Alliance for Ticketing among those to show support for the decision.

Viagogo has faced a number of court orders and lawsuits around the world. Most recently, New Zealand’s Commerce Commission was granted permission to pursue a temporary injunction against the site.

In September, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority decided to halt legal proceedings against the secondary site, in a move that concerned anti-tout groups.

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New Zealand’s Commerce Commission has successfully appealed against a High Court decision that prevented the issuing of an injunction against Switzerland-based online ticket reseller Viagogo.

On Wednesday (2 October), New Zealand’s Court of Appeal overturned the High Court’s ruling that it did not have the jurisdiction to place an injunction against Viagogo, given that the secondary site had not been served with court proceedings in its native Switzerland.

In February, the High Court had rejected the Commerce Commission’s application to place an interim injunction against Viagogo. The injunction sought to prevent the use of “false and misleading” information around ticket prices and availability.

The judgement finds that, although the court “cannot finally determine a claim against a defendant while any protest to jurisdiction is outstanding”, the power “to grant interim relief is not limited in the same way”.

The Commission had claimed that Viagogo misled consumers by marketing itself as an “official” seller, exaggerating the scarcity of tickets, indicating tickets “guaranteed” entry and advertising ticket prices without including additional fees.

“The Commission will need to consider the changes made to Viagogo’s website, and decide whether in light of those changes it wishes to pursue its application for interim relief”

However, the judgement notes that “matters have moved on” since the hearing, stating that the Commission needs “to consider the changes made to Viagogo’s website, and decide whether in light of those changes it wishes to pursue its application for interim relief.”

A Viagogo spokesperson comments: “We have worked hard to address the New Zealand Commerce Commission’s concerns and remain committed to ensuring that Viagogo’s platform is compliant with the law.

To that end, given the extensive changes that have been made to the site, it is our hope that we can work directly with the Commerce Commission to resolve any outstanding issues.”

Viagogo legal action in an array of countries. The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) recently halted proceedings against the site due to increased transparency, in a move that concerned anti-tout groups.

Courts in Australia and Germany have recently ordered Viagogo to make changes to the way it presents information. The site was banned from advertising through Google in a “landmark moment” in July.

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