German industrial metal band Rammstein has claimed a legal victory against Viagogo, stating that a ruling preventing the company from selling tickets in Germany to their 2019 European tour provides a “warning” to the resale market as a whole.
Rammstein will go on their first-ever stadium tour from May to August 2019, organised by their long-time promoter MCT Agentur. The tour will support the band’s first studio album for a decade, which is due for release in the spring.
The band’s absence fuelled anticipation amongst it’s fanbase and CTS Eventim, Rammstein’s exclusive ticketing partner in most territories, reported record sales when the ticketing process opened earlier this month.
All tickets were personalised, with MCT only permitting resale through Eventim’s own fanSALE platform and München Ticket. Nevertheless, tickets soon appeared at vastly inflated prices on Viagogo despite MCT having stressed that all tickets offered through unauthorised platforms would be deemed invalid for entry.
Rammstein has long campaigned against the sale of overpriced tickets via resale platforms and the district court of Hamburg has now issued a ruling which states that Viagogo is now banned from selling tickets to the tour, as well as advertising that they have valid tickets for sale.
In a statement reported by German newspaper Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, the band’s lawyer said: “Together with the band, we are pleased that the district court of Hamburg has followed our opinion and has issued the ban.
“The decision of the court is a warning signal to all who think they could sell massively overpriced and invalid Rammstein tickets and also advertise these over the relevant search engines.”
The ruling comes after Bdv, the German promoter’s association, in August kicked off an anti-resale market campaign, while moving to sue Viagogo for damages.
Image: KinkESizemore
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