Judge rejects lawsuit against TicketSwap
A Dutch court has rejected a lawsuit filed by a techno music event organiser against price-capped resale platform TicketSwap.
Entertainment Business and Nieuws.nl report that Amsterdam-based Free Your Mind (FYM) sought to ban TicketSwap from trading and reselling tickets for its events, accusing the firm of misleading customers by offering tickets with its SecureSwap guarantee despite there being no cooperation agreement between the two companies.
“If a festival organiser does not cooperate, TicketSwap cannot offer safe tickets,” claimed FYM ahead of the ruling in Amsterdam District Court.
However, FYM’s lawsuit has been dismissed by a judge, in a move that has been welcomed by TicketSwap CEO Hans Ober.
“Creating a fair and safe platform for buying and reselling tickets is what we at TicketSwap have been committed to every day for 11 years,” says Ober. “We are therefore pleased with the judge’s ruling, which shows that consumers should be able to resell their tickets.”
“We knew there was a chance that the judge would reject it, but we are happy with the discussion that has started”
Launched in 2012, Amsterdam-headquartered TicketSwap has attracted upwards of nine million users active in 36 countries worldwide.
It collaborates directly with event organisers to offer verified SecureSwap tickets on its platform, which makes the seller’s original ticket invalid while the buyer receives a completely new and unique ticket. But FYM says it does not work with TicketSwap and indicated it may yet pursue its complaint further.
“We knew there was a chance that the judge would reject it, but we are happy with the discussion that has started,” says a statement.
The judge also threw out a counter-claim by TicketSwap, which called on Free Your Mind to stop making negative statements against the company, saying it fell under freedom of expression.
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How TicketSwap is revolutionising ticketing in 2023
TicketSwap, IFF’s official title partner, has spent over a decade making ticketing fairer and safer – and the past year has been no different. The ticket resale app has seen great success in the past year with a roster of innovations – all designed to make the ticketing space fairer and safer for fans, organisers and artists alike.
Here are four things TicketSwap did in 2023 that placed them at the very front of the ticketing landscape…
Taking the headache out of ticket storage
Getting your hands on tickets to events is one thing – storing them somewhere safe and easily accessible is another challenge altogether. TicketSwap’s new Ticket Import Function enables fans to effortlessly import PDF tickets into the app, allowing for organised storage and hassle-free access. The Ticket Import Function also comes with juicy extras for fans, like the chance to win VIP upgrades at events, drinks tokens, queue fast-tracks and other TicketSwap benefits.
Future-proofing with FairShare
The events industry has been hit hard over recent years, with a staggering number of events being cancelled or postponed indefinitely. But TicketSwap’s new feature, FairShare, makes the secondary ticket market more future-proof for all parties.
With FairShare, any profit on tickets sold is shared equally between the ticket seller and event organiser. With this, both TicketSwap and fans invest in the event industry and support event organisers in producing events in the future. The new feature also ensures that there are fewer overpriced tickets in circulation.
FairShare also gives fans the perfect way to show up for their favourite artists, giving them the chance to invest back into the event industry and support their favourite event organizers.
Cutting edge content
Through its partnerships with event organisers around the world, TicketSwap has spent 2023 giving its following access to the most in-demand stages, sets, parties and events through its content offerings. By fostering social collaborations with acclaimed international artists and household names, the content team is redefining the live music and festival experience, bringing it right to fans’ fingertips – quite literally, across Instagram, TikTok and beyond.
And, for the fans who are feeling lucky, TicketSwap also launched a regular giveaway series offering fans the chance to win tickets to be there, in person, at their very favourite events – an initiative that has created an overwhelming buzz on the app’s social platforms.
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Strengthening trust with seamless integrations
TicketSwap’s alliance with experience platforms demonstrates the app’s dedication to revolutionizing the ticketing sector. These collaborations empower TicketSwap to offer its widely-used SecureSwap feature for numerous events, enhancing the resale security for secondary tickets across various occasions.
According to Mike Robinson, country lead UK at TicketSwap, the integration “allows old ticket barcodes to be invalidated, new barcodes to be generated and a brand new ticket issued to the customer.” This eradicates issues at the door around fraud, name changes and tickets being sold multiple times on different platforms – and, to quote Robinson, is “a game changer.”
Want to join us on the journey? Reach out to us at [email protected]
IG/TW/LI/TT: @ticketswap
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Dutch ticketing firms expand partnership
Dutch ticketing companies Eventix and TicketSwap have announced they are expanding their partnership in the German sector.
The move builds on their their previous collaborations on events such as Noisy and Whole Festival, and includes the introduction of TicketSwap’s FairShare feature, which divides profits from secondary ticket sales equally between the seller and the organiser of the event.
FairShare is intended to discourage ticket dealers who resell tickets for profit, as the profit margin for them is decreased.
“We are happy to support our ticketing partners with a new feature that extends our value proposition towards event organisers,” says Tamas Egei, TicketSwap’s head of international expansion. “With Whole and Noisy Festival, we paved the way for FairShare in Germany. I am confident that together with Eventix, we can continue to service event organisers to high standards.”
The two companies have already confirmed they plan to join forces once again during this year’s Amsterdam Dance Event, which ticket sales platform Eventix has partnered with for the next three years.
“Through our collaboration, we aim to simplify the ticketing process”
“We are incredibly proud to continue our partnership with TicketSwap as we expand further into the German market,” adds Dennis Behlau, country manager for Germany at Eventix. “Through our collaboration, we aim to simplify the ticketing process, making it safer, more transparent and worry-free for both event organisers and ticket buyers.”
Eventix announced its entry into the UK market earlier this month following its successes in Germany and Spain. The platform offers a ticket shop customisation feature, which it says allows promoters to “tailor the look and feel of their ticket shop to their brand, enhancing the customer journey and optimising conversion rates”.
“The key to growing your brand and increasing sales lies in the ability to take full control and ownership of your ticketing,” says Eventix CEO Joost Aanen. “We look forward to enabling UK organisers to set their own rules – whether it’s the aesthetics of their ticket shop, the fees, or the payout frequency. It’s your shop, your rules.”
Eventix also offers complete transparency and control over data and tracking.
“Ownership extends to customer data as well,” adds Aanen. “With Eventix, you can leverage this to execute effective performance marketing, track conversion from ad campaigns to ticket sales, and foster a community of loyal attendees.”
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TicketSwap: ‘Resale should be fair for everyone’
TicketSwap CEO and co-founder Hans Ober says new partnerships will dictate the company’s future expansion plans following a period of rapid growth.
The price-capped ticket resale platform opened offices in London (UK), Sao Paulo (BR), Stockholm (SE), Berlin (DE), Paris (FR), Madrid (ES), Milan (IT) and Krakow (PL) last year after raising US$10 million in funding from venture capital firm Million Monkeys.
The Amsterdam-headquartered firm has attracted upwards of nine million users active in 36 countries worldwide, plus 1.5m registered users in the UK. Partners have included LWE and Secret Garden Party in the UK, Hungary’s Sziget, Netherlands’ ID&T Group, Bootshaus in Germany, Norbergfestival in Sweden and Brazil’s Entourage and Ingresse.
“It’s really important to make sure we focus on the markets we are already in,” Ober tells IQ. “There are some companies that take us with them [into new international markets] and that is great – it is a really good starting point for entering new markets. But for now, we are keeping our focus laser-sharp on the markets we are in to make sure that we do as well as possible.”
“Resale is a huge problem, even today. So we definitely have a value proposition that can add something to the event industry”
Since launching the business in 2012, Ober believes that TicketSwap has served as a force for good in the often controversial secondary ticketing market.
“In the Netherlands and Belgium, we’ve completely turned resale around,” he contends. “Most of the big resale platforms, at least in the Netherlands, are either gone or are fading into the background. Fans are more aware of where to buy tickets and we are working with promoters to make it harder and harder for touts.
“Resale is a huge problem, even today. So with that in mind, we definitely have a value proposition that can add something to the event industry. We think resale should be fair for everyone, and that includes organisers and fans. We want to give everyone a good experience and make the touting platforms’ lives as hard as possible.”
One of TicketSwap’s methods is to work directly with event organisers to offer verified SecureSwap tickets on its platform, which makes the seller’s original ticket invalid while the buyer receives a completely new and unique ticket.
“Often, the solutions in the market have been more oriented towards making big money, but we tend to do things differently,” suggests Ober. “We can definitely make resale completely safe and it’s all bound by our rules – and one of the most important rules is that prices are kept only 20% over face value. That way, we guarantee that people won’t overpay.
“We did a survey in the UK and almost 70% of the respondents were in favour of setting a price limit in the secondary ticket market, so that also emphasises that what we do is the right way.”
“A more and more common part of organising events is to make a rational decision about resale instead of just ignoring it”
Earlier this year, TicketSwap launched FairShare, which divides profits from secondary ticket sales equally between the seller and the organiser of the event. The feature is also designed to discourage ticket dealers who resell tickets for profit, as the profit margin for them is decreased.
If an event organiser chooses to use FairShare, the profit on a resold ticket – which at TicketSwap is a maximum of 20% – is split between them and the seller.
“There is always a challenge that people can still make a little bit of money, with [more expensive tickets] that 20% can add up quickly,” explains Ober. “So we introduced FairShare, so that way an organiser also gets a piece of it because, at the end of the day, they are the ones taking the real risks.
“Our biggest opportunities are in the fields where organisers want to have control over their tickets. A more and more common part of organising events is to make a rational decision about resale instead of just ignoring it – it’s now part of the whole sale strategy and we can definitely play a big role.”
He concludes: “For us, first of all, the high season is coming with all the festivals throughout Europe, so we are focusing on making sure everything goes well and as many tickets are being safely resold as possible. In the meantime, we already have to start preparing for the after-season to make sure we have partnerships lined up for after the summer.”
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TicketSwap shares resale profits with promoters
TicketSwap has introduced a new feature that divides profits from secondary ticket sales equally between the seller and the organiser of the event.
The FairShare feature also helps to discourage ticket dealers (who resell tickets for profit) as the profit margin for them is decreased, according to the ‘ethical resale platform’.
“The event industry, as well as fans, face challenges,” said Hans Ober, CEO at TicketSwap. “For example organisers’ profit margins are also coming under increasing pressure, and for fans, usurious rates are a major frustration. With the introduction of FairShare, we are making the ticket market a lot fairer again. This is how we invest together in the event industry.”
If an event organiser chooses to use FairShare, the profit on a resold ticket – which at TicketSwap is a maximum of 20% – is split between them and the seller.
“With the introduction of FairShare, we are making the ticket market a lot fairer again”
Event organisers using TicketSwap’s Sealed Tickets service can choose to activate FairShare on their own. The advanced feature allows barcodes on tickets to be released only several hours before an event begins. Until then, the buyer can also choose to resell their ticket within this system.
TicketSwap says this gives the organiser more control and fans maximum assurance that their ticket is valid.
Among others, event organisers Rotterdam Rave, Chasing the Hihat, Elevation Events and This is Live Group are already using FairShare.
Since launching in 2012, Amsterdam-headquartered TicketSwap has attracted 9 million users active in 36 countries worldwide, plus 1.5 million registered users in the UK.
Last year alone, the company opened offices in Sao Paulo (BR), Stockholm (SE), Berlin (DE), Paris (FR), Madrid (ES), Milan (IT) and Krakow (PO).
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TicketSwap launches sonic safety campaign
Price-capped ticket resale platform TicketSwap has launched global sonic safety campaign #dontmissabeat in response to findings showing music fans should be doing more to protect their hearing health.
Research shows that only one in 10 music fans in the UK wear earplugs to gigs, less than half of fans know what tinnitus is, and only 20% are familiar with the decibel rate of music when at a gig. The research was gathered in February 2023 by TicketSwap among 1,000 music event attendees in the UK, via research platform Attest, with further studies carried out in France and the Netherlands.
In collaboration with the UK Hearing Conservation Association (UKHCA), #dontmissabeat will see DJ partnerships, further medical specialist research into sonic safety, and TicketSwap cool-off zones at festivals around Europe, including Into The Woods ADE and Wildeburg. The campaign hopes to change behaviours regarding hearing health protection among music fans, with one in two young people now at risk of noise-induced hearing loss.
“You can enjoy live music in a safe way by using the right earplugs; so you still get the full experience but without the harmful levels”
“Many of us love the buzz and enjoyment from attending gigs and festivals. However, as sound levels can reach over 100dB, even short gigs have the potential to cause irreversible harm such as deafness, tinnitus, oversensitivity to noise added to increased risks for early onset dementia and cognitive impairment,” says UKHCA Clare Forshaw, founder and director.
“You can enjoy live music in a safe way by using the right earplugs; so you still get the full experience but without the harmful levels, avoiding being right in front of the speakers and giving your ears a rest are all simple ways you can enjoy sound in a sustainable and healthy way.
“The UKHCA are proud to support TicketSwap with their sonic safety campaign and hope it brings about awareness and action to keep gig and festival goers safe from hearing health harm so they can continue to enjoy live music and entertainment for a long time to come.”
“The latest industry data we collected showed us that we’re not doing enough as a music industry to promote hearing health”
Amsterdam-headquartered TicketSwap, which works with event organisers such as LWE and Secret Garden Party in the UK, aims to inspire both music fans and event organisers to start making sonic safety a priority.
“TicketSwap is run by just over 220 music fans, all of whom live and breathe music; either making it, or attending live events regularly,” says James Fleury, marketing lead at TicketSwap. “We know just how invaluable the experience of live culture is to our daily lives: it has a unique power to inspire and elevate us emotionally and intellectually.
“As a community, we are passionate that everyone can keep experiencing music to its fullest beauty, for as long as we can, and the latest industry data we collected showed us that we’re not doing enough as a music industry to promote hearing health. Hence, I’m proud that TicketSwap is starting a long-term commitment today to make sure music fans worldwide have the most accurate information on practices which’ll enable them to keep enjoying music safely, together.”
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TicketSwap continues to expand with UK launch
Ethical ticket resale platform TicketSwap is continuing its European expansion by launching in the UK.
The resale firm caps all ticket resale prices and also works directly with event organisers to offer verified SecureSwap tickets on its platform.
Since launching in 2012, the Amsterdam-headquartered company has attracted 9 million users active in 36 countries worldwide, plus 1.5 million registered users in the UK.
This year alone, the company has opened offices in Sao Paulo (BR), Stockholm (SE), Berlin (DE), Paris (FR), Madrid (ES), Milan (IT) & Krakow (PO).
The company’s international expansion comes after its first investment of US$10 million from Million Monkeys.
Hans Ober, CEO of TicketSwap says: “We’re delighted to formally enter the UK market, having already built a huge community of more than 1.5 million dedicated live music fans over the last few years.
“It’s clear there is a need for another innovative resale platform in the UK, and we look forward to working alongside the most respected and innovative brands in live British music to get as many fans to the artists and shows they love as possible.”
“It’s clear there is a need for another innovative resale platform in the UK”
Michael Robinson, Country Lead, TicketSwap UK comments: “I’m really excited to be leading TicketSwap’s partnership efforts in the UK, alongside our stellar team Sharen & Chris. TicketSwap has so much to offer promoters, especially with regards to helping them reach sell out quicker and identifying new audiences – something that’s so important in such a competitive landscape. We’re looking forward to working closely both with our partners and associated trade bodies across the UK.”
To mark its UK launch, TicketSwap has announced exclusive partnerships with the likes of LWE (Junction 2, Cogo, Tobacco Dock), with many others in the pipeline.
Paul Jack, Owner LWE (Exclusive promoters at Tobacco Dock) says: “We’re delighted to be one of TicketSwap’s launch partners for the UK market, helping to bring a safe ticketing experience to over 250,000 live music fans across more than 70 events annually. Fans today demand the flexibility to be able to sell their tickets last minute, and through our collaboration with TicketSwap we can ensure every event we run reaches full capacity, which results in a quality experience for everyone; artists, fans and promoters.”
TicketSwap says it works with several UK-based trade associations across the music industry to ensure its operations respect certain industry regulations, as well as providing data and insight on consumer behaviours.
The firm is also a member of the self-regulatory body for the entertainment ticketing industry STAR (the Society of Ticket Agents & Retailers), as well as the Association of Electronic Music, Association of Festival Organisers (AFO) and Music Venue Trust.
TicketSwap this year partnered with the International Live Music Conference (ILMC) and was the title sponsor of its sister event, the International Festival Forum (IFF).
Outside of the UK, TicketSwap works with over 6,000 promoters, venues, festivals and ticketing companies including ID&T Group (Netherlands), Sziget Festival (Hungary), Bootshaus (Germany), Norbergfestival (Sweden), Entourage and Ingresse (Brazil).
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TicketSwap announced as Title Partner of IFF 2022
TicketSwap, the fan-focused resale platform which operates in 36 countries, will be the Title Partner of IFF 2022.
The firm’s involvement will bring benefits to this year’s edition including additional networking facilities at the 27-29 September event, which will be presented “in association with” the company.
TicketSwap caps all ticket resale prices and also works directly with event organisers to offer verified SecureSwap tickets on its platform. The resale company is headquartered in Amsterdam and has serviced over 8 million fans around the world.
“We are very excited to be partnering with IFF this year as Title Partner,” says Mike Robinson, UK lead at TicketSwap. “TicketSwap is the leading resale platform, so it’s a perfect match to be partnering with the leading music festival conference. We are looking forward to discussing the ticket resale landscape with our agency and festival partners, and outlining the benefits and solutions that a TicketSwap partnership can provide.”
“TicketSwap’s involvement will allow us to improve the experience of delegates when the booking agency and festival sectors unite in London in three weeks’ time”
IFF co-founder Greg Parmley says, “As the first Title Partner that IFF has welcomed, TicketSwap’s involvement will allow us to improve the experience of delegates when the booking agency and festival sectors unite in London in three weeks’ time. We’re delighted to have them on board.”
The invitation-only event takes place in Camden, London, at the end of the month. With 800 delegates from 40 countries expected, IFF mixes showcases, debate and a wide-ranging programme of parties and events.
Other supporting partners for IFF 2022 include Ticketmaster, Tysers, Vatom, Roskilde Festival, Mad Cool Festival, Music Venue Trust, Aloompa and the UK’s Department for International Trade.
This year’s IFF programme is now complete while the first round of showcasing artists have already been announced and include Dead Pony, Gigi Moss, The Native, Panic Shack & Zand.
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The LGBTIQ+ List 2022: James Fleury, TicketSwap
The LGBTIQ+ List 2022 – IQ Magazine’s second annual celebration of queer professionals who make an immense impact in the international live music business – was published in the Pride edition (issue 112) last month.
The July 2022 issue, which is available to read now, was made possible thanks to support from Ticketmaster.
To get to know this year’s queer pioneers a little better, we interviewed each individual on their challenges, triumphs, advice and more.
Throughout the next month, IQ will publish a new interview each day. Catch up on the previous interview with Hatice Arici, promoting director/artist agent at Charmenko in Turkey.
The series continues with James Fleury (he/him/his), marketing lead at TicketSwap in the Netherlands.
Tell us about a personal triumph in your career
I think the milestone I’m most proud of is probably establishing my own agency Nouvague, which over time became internationally respected for the way it approached the promotion of classical music in a digital world. I founded Nouvague in 2014 through the Prince’s Trust’s Enterprise Programme, where I received a small amount of funding and a business mentor, and spent five evenings a week including all day Saturday and Sunday managing my friend’s restaurant in South London, in order to fund the early years.
Eight years later, I had notched a portfolio of clients which included some of classical music’s most successful artists, including Grammy Award-winners Joyce DiDonato, Eric Whitacre and Sheku Kanneh-Mason. In 2017, I was invited to give a lecture at the Royal College of Music; I was later informed by the college that I was one of the youngest people ever to lecture at the college. I am particularly proud of both achievements, as I felt that – as a gay, Anglo-Indian man – I held a valued voice in an industry that has been historically dominated by the white elite, and is still reluctant to show progressive change today. You learn so much from starting your own business; how to navigate people, perseverance and the need to constantly find creative solutions to barriers you or your clients are facing. I learned more about myself and my work in those eight years than I ever could have working for a huge corporation.
“My school in South London exiled me from all musical activity on religious grounds, after I came out as gay”
What advice could you give to young queer professionals?
In the words of Dory “just keep swimming”. You’re always going to face people who take an obstructive view because they simply do not have the emotional capacity to understand or place a value on your identity. Those qualities are exactly what will set you apart creatively and intellectually from your counterparts, so bottle that up and keep swimming in the direction you want to go, regardless how hard it gets!
What’s the best mistake you’ve ever made?
Not going to university. Fun fact; I never wanted to work in music… I wanted to be a war correspondent! It wasn’t really my decision to leave school early, to be honest. Despite the fact that I was a terrible A-level student, the nail in the coffin was when the incoming head of music at my school in South London exiled me from all musical activity on religious grounds, after I came out as gay.
Music was such a huge part of my school life. By eighteen, I’d toured the world as a chorister, performing in some of the world’s most renowned classical venues and cathedrals, so once that door was closed, I instinctively knew I didn’t want to be there anymore. It was a huge blow to my confidence, as I had already chosen the university I wanted to go to, as well as the scholarships and summer programmes I had applied for in the coming years.
In one weekend, I went from having a 4/5 year plan to no direction at all which was pretty confronting. I took a full-time job managing a telemarketing and customer experience department for a television company in London, while at the same time singing for a choir in London. It was then that I recognised just how underserved classical music was with marketing strategists who understood how to build campaigns both online and offline, and that was the moment the seed was planted for Nouvague.
“It’s frustrating to have people treat you differently because you don’t meet their expectations of what a queer person should be”
Tell us about a professional challenge you’ve come across as a queer person in the industry
The one that to this day I encounter the most is the fact that – to someone else’s definition – you are not gay enough. I can’t even put into words how ridiculous this notion even is. It’s especially frustrating to have people treat you differently because you don’t meet their expectations of what a queer person should be. We are such a rich, diverse community of identities, that to be all ‘queer-washed’ as the same contradicts the very nature of why we became a community in the first place; to celebrate and protect individuality.
One thing the live industry could do to be a more inclusive place?
Well, let’s start by paying people what they’re worth! I saw the recent stats from Women in Control the other day, demonstrating how the gender pay gap is actually increasing. For queer people and those from ethnic backgrounds, this gap is even worse. Let’s start by paying our creators and executives according to their technical skills and more importantly, we need to keep pushing every day inside and outside organisations to achieve full transparency on what music executives are paid. In my eyes, salaries should be public company-wide, but we’re far, far away from that.
A cause you support
The Prince’s Trust. In short, this organisation changed my life. Their programmes positively impact the lives of so many queer and ethnic young people who have been impacted by a range of issues, including homelessness, crime, domestic violence, a lack of confidence or support at home.
“For queer people and those from ethnic backgrounds, [the pay] gap is even worse”
The queer act you’re itching to see live this year
Will Young. His journey through Pop Idol was on national TV at a time when I was just discovering my own sexuality. Witnessing how the media treated him made me hyper-aware of how queer people were viewed in society. To see him still performing to full auditoriums today is a testament to his mental and emotional strength.
Your favourite queer space
Mighty Hoopla! I lost my Hoopla virginity in 2021, and was absolutely gutted to miss it this year due to work. I remember being hyper-anxious the first year – walking to Brockwell Park, talking to my friend Nicky about how the idea of 15,000 queer people in one space was quite an overwhelming and intense concept – but as soon as we arrived, all of those inhibitions evaporated.
Singing along to Gabrielle’s Dreams on top of my mate’s shoulders is core memory vibes! The East Creative gang have done a brilliant job at really developing the festival so it continues to meet the needs and expectations of all faces within our community, both online and offline. As a result, it’s become a highlight fixture in the calendar every year, and I’ll be back at Brockwell Park for the 2023 edition!
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ILMC 34: Inside ticketing’s new normal
International ticketing executives have given a mixed picture on live music markets around the world as the business bids to pick up where it left off pre-pandemic.
ILMC’s Ticketing: All change please! session heard from Ticketmaster UK’s Sarah Slater, Marcia Titley of Eventim Norway & Sweden, John Talbot of AXS Europe, Dice’s Amy Oldham and TicketSwap’s James Fleury, with Michael Hosking of Singapore-based Midas Promotions offering a promoter’s perspective.
Quizzed on the state of play by chair Richard Howle of The Ticket Factory, the panel reported contrasting fortunes to date.
“In Scandinavia, restrictions were lifted in December in Denmark, in January in Norway, and February in Sweden, so we’re about three, four months in,” noted Titley. “When the restrictions were lifted, ticket sales jumped, which was great, we were all thrilled. And then they kind of plateaued.”
“We’re making progress, but it’s slower than I think we all had hoped”
While observing a week-by-week improvement, she added that Covid has appeared to have triggered a change in purchasing habits, with a shift towards buying tickets later in the day.
“They’re waiting, and I think we can all understand why,” she said. “I think we’re all holding our breath a little bit wondering if some new variant’s going to pop up tomorrow. And shows aren’t selling out, so that sense of urgency isn’t there.
“One thing we’re starting to see in Scandinavia as well is uncertainty if shows and festivals are actually going to happen. Just recently, last week, one of our biggest festivals in Norway had to cancel because of Covid complications… So this has also affected consumer behaviour.
“Also, I think we’re trying to find ways to get people to go back to live. I think people have got a little bit stuck on their couches and we need to try to find a way to get them to remember what live was all about. If we can get them into the shows then we will be able to build up that kind of credibility in the market. We’re making progress, but it’s slower than I think we all had hoped.”
“One of the greatest impacts of Covid is it has made people, generally, quite lethargic”
Citing sold-out stadium shows by Justin Bieber in Singapore and Malaysia, Hosking stressed that demand was visible for certain artists, but returned to the theme of audience lethargy.
“The real test will be maybe the B and C-listers,” he offered. “I think one of the greatest impacts of Covid is it has made people, generally, quite lethargic. The old days of having to do everything immediately seems to have waned. And of course, Asia’s not one country, it is several countries and there are still very different restrictions about touring. But Justin is living proof that if the people want you bad enough they’ll go out and buy tickets.”
Talbot, who joined AXS last summer, said the business had faced an “existential threat” and attempted to put its travails into perspective.
“To use a hospitalisation analogy, we were hit by a truck and now we are in the recovery from that period, and it’s not going to happen overnight. We’ve got a cost of living crisis. People can see the alternatives to going out – because they were denied so long, they’ve got other options and they can entertain themselves in different ways.
“We do need to teach the market that going out, congregating, seeing live events is a really, really important part of our culture and they should come back to it. But those challenges are nowhere near as existential as what we were facing only a matter of months ago, so I think there’s a lot of reason to be very cheerful.”
“Half of our customer services activity at the moment is reuniting customers with the tickets they bought in 2019 and 2020”
He added: “We’re finding that a lot of our best customers are holding four or five tickets to shows that are yet to play off… So how do you sell to the market new events, when they’ve already got commitments, and sometimes they’ve forgotten that they’re holding these tickets?
“Half of our customer services activity at the moment is reuniting customers with the tickets they bought in 2019 and 2020. So when that clog disappears, as it will, I think that’s when we can really start to see new on sales not being buffeted by those market forces.”
Slater and Oldham suggested the state of affairs in the UK was more favourable across the board, in part, due to being able to press ahead with a partial festival season in 2021.
Slater, who received the Golden Ticketer gong at the 2022 Arthur Awards, pointed to Ticketmaster’s stellar business in the final quarter of last year.
“We were really able to capture that pent-up demand that the pandemic brought,” she said. “Q4 was absolutely huge: We had Reading & Leeds sell out; Creamfields sell out; we’ve got new sites for festivals; there are lots of tickets out there, but we’re selling all our tickets as well.
“We’re really positive; we were lucky that we got the summer [2021] in the UK, so we’re in a slightly different position to everyone else.”
“People are demanding to have choice and flexibility now when it comes to buying tickets”
“The market’s certainly buoyant,” added Oldham, Dice’s VP of content, Europe. “We had over a million people go out in London last month, which is extraordinary. The place where it’s the most buzzy is with emerging talent – the waitlist for artists like Fred Again is astronomical. People are buying really early because they’ve got the protection of knowing that they can give their ticket back if they can’t go.”
James Fleury of price-capped ‘ethical’ ticket marketplace TicketSwap said the Amsterdam-based firm had already twice broken company records in the first four months of 2022, and backed up Oldham’s point on flexibility.
“People are demanding to have choice and flexibility now when it comes to buying tickets,” he said. “Buying a ticket anymore isn’t necessarily a commitment to attend that specific event. It is for the top four or five artists that I really love, but for the other artists where we maybe like one single or a couple of tracks… I think it’s important that we also promote that flexibility.
“Our challenge this year as a company is to educate both fans, but also partners – promoters and festivals – about why having that choice and flexibility is important on the fans’ side.”
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