Touring powerhouses back Fair Ticketing Reforms
Live Nation, CAA, UTA, Wasserman Music and WME are among more than 20 music organisations to come out in support of ticketing reforms.
Fans & Artists Insisting on Reforms (FAIR) Ticketing is appealing for policymakers to combat ticket touts by giving artists the right to decide how their tickets can be sold, transferred and resold, and for speculative ticket selling and other deceptive practices used to sell tickets to be made illegal.
In addition, the coalition is demanding the expansion and and stricter enforcement of the 2016 BOTS Act and for resale sites that serve as a “safe haven” for touts – and knowingly sell tickets that are illegally acquired – to be fined.
Finally, it is calling for all-in pricing across all ticketing marketplaces introduced nationally so that fans know the full cost of a ticket plus fees right upfront.
“Bots and scalpers cause chaos in the current onsale process, leaving lots of fans disappointed,” says Michael Rapino, president and CEO of Live Nation, which launched the Fair Ticketing Act last month. “Artists are fiercely protective of their fans and we need to make sure laws help artists control their concert intellectual property and how their tickets are sold. That would be a big step forward in helping fans buy tickets at the prices artists set.”
“FAIR Ticketing reforms give more control over ticketing to the artists so they can get tickets to real fans and prevent unauthorised resellers from charging exponentially more than face value”
Other high-profile supporters of the reforms include The Azoff Company chair and CEO Irving Azoff, Wasserman Music EVP and managing executive Sam Hunt and WME global head of contemporary music Lucy Dickins.
“No one cares more about fans than the artists,” says Azoff. “FAIR Ticketing reforms give more control over ticketing to the artists so they can get tickets to real fans and prevent unauthorised resellers from charging exponentially more than face value. I hope Congress will pass legislation for the good of artists and their fans.”
“Ticketing can be a frustrating and confusing experience for fans, and technological advancements in the space often end up being double-edged swords,” says Hunt. “FAIR Ticketing reforms are a crucial leap toward creating a process that is equitable and transparent to all parties.”
Dickins adds: “There is no doubt that change is needed in the current ticketing ecosystem to protect our clients and their work. The FAIR Ticketing reforms would provide the necessary tools to empower artists and creators who know their fans best while putting an end to deceptive ticketing practices.”
The artist coalitions, management groups, music labels and agencies to have signed on to back the “artist and fan friendly reforms”, include the following:
724 Management
Black Music Action Coalition (BMAC)
Creative Artists Agency (CAA)
Crush Music
The Core Entertainment
Endeavor
Faculty Inc.
Full Stop Management
Gellman Management
Laffitte Management Group
Live Nation Entertainment
Music Artists Coalition (MAC)
REBEL
Red Light Management
Salxco
Songwriters of North America (SONA)
United Talent Agency (UTA)
Universal Music Group
Vector Management
Wasserman Music
Wolfson Entertainment Inc.
WME
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UK ticket touts ordered to repay over £6m
Two UK-based ticket touts, who were jailed after fraudulently reselling event tickets, have been ordered to pay back more than £6 million (€6.96m) or face a further eight years in prison.
Peter Hunter and David Smith, who operated as the company BZZ Limited, were jailed in February 2020 for four years and 30 months, respectively, following an investigation by the National Trading Standards eCrime Team and trial at Leeds Crown Court.
The pair committed offences between May 2010 and December 2017, making a net profit of £3.5 million in the last two years of fraud alone, buying and reselling tickets to concerts by artists including Ed Sheeran, Madness, McBusted, Taylor Swift and Coldplay, as well as to shows including Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.
Yesterday’s (14 December) confiscation order follows a lengthy investigation by National Trading Standards and a complex and extensive financial investigation conducted by the Yorkshire and Humber Regional Economic Crime Unit (RECU). Smith and Hunter were found to have benefited from their crimes by a total of £8,750,732.00. They have been given three months to pay back £6,167,522.02 and face an additional eight years’ imprisonment should they fail to pay.
“We hope this sends a message to all those who choose to engage in fraud that there are severe consequences”
Ruth Andrews, regional investigations and eCrime manager for National Trading Standards, says the result “concludes a landmark case that demonstrates once and for all that dishonestly buying large quantities of tickets and reselling them at inflated prices is an unacceptable, illegal and fraudulent practice”.
“All too often fans looking to buy tickets to sport events, music concerts and other high-profile events find that official tickets sell out in minutes before reappearing on secondary ticketing sites at vastly inflated prices,” says Andrews. “This can have a significant financial impact on consumers and I hope this ground-breaking case helps drive long-term changes in the secondary ticketing market.
“The defendants have learnt again today that crime does not pay and their futures have been irrevocably damaged by their criminal behaviour as a result. We hope this sends a message to all those who choose to engage in fraud that there are severe consequences.”
Hunter and Smith, used dishonest and fraudulent tactics to purchase multiple tickets from primary ticket sellers such as Ticketmaster, Eventim and AXS, circumventing the platforms’ terms and conditions and their automated systems to block multiple purchases. They also engaged in “speculative selling” by listing tickets for sale on secondary ticketing websites that they had not purchased and did not own.
“Yesterday’s developments should be a trigger for wider investigations to tackle the excesses in this market”
The duo’s appeals against their convictions were rejected by the Court of Appeal in November 2021.
“Music fans should be delighted with the result of this landmark case,” says Adam Webb, campaign manager for anti-touting organisation the FanFair Alliance. “The sums involved are staggering, and give an indication on the massive harm being inflicted on consumers. However, Hunter and Smith are only the tip of the iceberg. They are not outliers by any stretch of the imagination, and many others still operate outside of the law.
“Yesterday’s developments should be a trigger for wider investigations to tackle the excesses in this market – whether that’s the activities of touts, their methods of acquiring tickets in bulk from primary agents, or the secondary platforms they sell through.”
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Japan mulls ID card plan for concerts
Concert-goers in Japan could require government-issued ID cards to attend gigs under plans being considered by the government to help combat ticket touting.
According to Japan Today via Yomiuri Shimbun, the country’s minister of digital affairs Taro Kano has told the cabinet’s digital agency to open talks with event organisers to encourage them to require ticket-holders to present their My Number Card when buying tickets, and again when entering venues.
The card is typically used as a form of identification for pension, tax, and other government functions, and the requirement would confirm the fan attending the show was the same person who bought the ticket.
However, critics of the proposal say it would make it impossible to purchase tickets for the 40% of residents who are yet to apply for a card, and would also rule out those without smartphones.
The move would also lock travellers and short-term visitors out of live entertainment events unless organisers set up separate protocols
In addition, the report notes the move would also lock travellers and short-term visitors out of live entertainment events unless organisers set up separate protocols.
Arama Japan recalls Japan’s previous attempts to curb touting, including the introduction of facial recognition technology and the launch of campaign group Tenbai No (Resale No) in 2014, backed by 116 music acts, 24 events, and four music organisations. Tenbai No took out full page ads in two of Japan’s biggest newspapers, which read: “We are against the high-priced reselling of tickets, which is depriving music of its future.”
In the same year, it notes, a woman was arrested after allegedly making 10 million yen (€70,500) profit by scalping tickets for boy band Arashi.
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European live sector demands tougher touting laws
More than 130 representatives from across Europe’s live sector have signed an open letter calling for the EU to introduce tougher laws to combat online ticket touting.
Signatories include Ed Sheeran’s agent Jon Ollier of One Fiinix Live and manager Stuart Camp of Grumpy Old Management, Ian McAndrew of Wildlife Entertainment, Alec McKinlay of Ignition, CAA’s Emma Banks, Andy Cook and Jamie Shaughnessy, UTA’s Jules de Lattre, Beth Morton and Jamie Waldman, Pure’s Angus Baskerville and Jodie Harkins, and representatives from Paradigm, Primary Talent International, All Artists Agency and Progressive Artists.
Dozens of trade organisations have signed up alongside promoters such as DEAG, Doctor Music, DreamHaus, FKP Scorpio, Goodlive Artists, Greenhouse Talent, Karsten Jahnke Konzertdirektion and MCT Agentur, and festivals including Rock en Seine (France), Cruilla (Spain) and Paleo (Switzerland). Venues such as The O2 in London and Brighton Centre have also lent their support.
“We need tougher rules to help us fight back”
The letter, which comes as the EU reaches the final stages in negotiating rules for a Digital Services Act and has been circulated among policy-makers, was penned by the Face-value European Alliance for Ticketing (FEAT), in association with FanFair Alliance, International Federation of Musicians, Pearle – Live Performance Europe and promoters’ associations BDKV and Association of Musical Promoters (APM).
It asks that marketplaces of all sizes be required to collect and maintain up-to-date information on sellers, as well as for marketplaces to verify the seller information obtained, and be required to carry out periodic spot-checks on products, to help detect fraudulent tickets.
“I, like others who have signed this letter, am sick and tired of parasitic secondary ticketing sites ripping off fans and live events businesses,” says Scumeck Sabottka, founding partner of FEAT and CEO of MCT Agentur. “We need tougher rules to help us fight back and I hope that a stronger framework can be established to achieve this.”
Live performance professionals can sign the letter here.
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