Biggest names in music press Government over ticket resale price cap

Some of the biggest names in music including Coldplay, Dua Lipa and Radiohead have urged the Government to honour a pledge to cap ticket resale prices.

They have joined artists including The Cure’s Robert Smith, New Order, Mark Knopfler, Iron Maiden, PJ Harvey and this year’s Mercury Prize winner Sam Fender to sign a statement calling for a cap to “restore faith in the ticketing system” and “help democratise public access to the arts”.

Other signatories include the watchdog Which?, FanFair Alliance, O2, the Football Supporters’ Association and organisations representing the music and theatre industries, venues, managers and ticket retailers.

In the statement, the coalition says new protections are needed to “help fix elements of the extortionate and pernicious secondary ticketing market that serve the interests of touts, whose exploitative practices are preventing genuine fans from accessing the music, theatre and sports they love”.

It adds: “For too long, certain resale platforms have allowed touts to bulk buy and then resell tickets at inflated prices, forcing fans to either pay above the odds or miss out entirely. This erodes trust in the live events sector and undermines the efforts of artists and organisers to make shows accessible and affordable.

“Introducing a cap will restore faith in the ticketing system, help democratise public access to the arts in line with the Government’s agenda and make it easier for fans to spot illegal behaviour, such as ticketing fraud.”

The Labour manifesto promised stronger protections to stop consumers being scammed or priced out of events by touts using bots to buy tickets in bulk the moment they go on sale, which they can then sell on for huge mark-ups on secondary ticketing websites.

The Government has since pledged to cap resale prices to shut out online touts – but more than a year after it first promised action, and seven months since its consultation on the issue closed, there has been no clear indication of when new laws will be introduced.

The statement comes as a new investigation from Which? found prolific sellers in locations including Brazil, Dubai, Singapore, Spain and the US hoovering up tickets for popular events in the UK before relisting them at vastly inflated prices on StubHub and Viagogo.

Which? found Oasis tickets for Wembley Stadium shows listed for £3,498.85 on StubHub and £4,442 on Viagogo.

A seat for the Minnesota Vikings vs Cleveland Browns NFL clash at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was listed for £3,568.39 on StubHub, while a Coldplay ticket, also for Wembley Stadium, was £814.52 on StubHub.

Which? found a ticket for the All Points East festival in London’s Victoria Park, headlined by Raye, listed for £114,666 on Viagogo.

The watchdog found it was often difficult for buyers to establish the seller’s identity or to contact them – despite the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) securing a court order in 2018 requiring Viagogo to outline the identity of traders.

Which? also found evidence of speculative selling – when tickets are listed on secondary sites even though the seller has not bought them yet.

Tickets for a Busted vs McFly show in Glasgow, which were available through Ticketmaster – the original seller – were simultaneously being listed on StubHub and Viagogo at double the price.

Which? consumer law expert Lisa Webb said: “Today’s joint statement makes clear that artists, fan organisations and consumers reject the broken ticketing market that has allowed touts to thrive for too long.

“The Prime Minister pledged to protect fans and a price cap on resold tickets will be a critical step towards fixing this industry, but he must commit to this legislation by including it in the next King’s Speech.

“Further reforms are also needed to ensure sellers actually own the tickets they advertise before listing them, that resale platforms ensure the identities of sellers and key information about a ticket are verified and that the new rules are effectively enforced.”

Adam Webb, campaign manager at FanFair Alliance, said: “FanFair Alliance has campaigned against the exploitative activities of online ticket touts since 2016. Operating via under-regulated, offshore resale platforms, their parasitical and frequently unlawful practices cost UK ticket buyers hundreds of millions of pounds each year.

“The only pragmatic way to address this problem is through a cap on ticket resale prices – a measure that has been adopted successfully in a number of other countries, including Ireland and Australia.”

UK Music chief executive Tom Kiehl said: “UK Music fully supports a ticket resale price cap to support all those music lovers who have felt forced to pay exorbitant prices on the secondary market.

“We are calling on the Government to swiftly deliver on its pre-election promise to bring in a price cap. It’s high time we delivered for the fans who are the lifeblood of our industry and drive ticket touts out of business once and for all.”

A Government spokeswoman said: “This Government is fully committed to clamping down on touts and is going further to put fans back at the heart of live events.

“We have carefully considered evidence provided in response to our consultation earlier this year and will set out our plans shortly.”