West End musical Hamilton is concluding its anti-touting paperless ticketing system from December 2, in favour of third-party retailers in addition to Ticketmaster.
Hamilton, which developed a ticketing system, which is run by Ticketmaster, to combat online touts and “unauthorised profiteering of third-party resellers”, is set to revert back to a more traditional ticketing operation, with paper tickets to be available later this year.
The paperless system means physical tickets are not sent to audience members, who must instead swipe the payment card used to purchase their seats and show proof of ID in order to gain admission.
Producers of the show claim the system had “exceeded expectations” and that it had all but eliminated ticket touting at the show.
In a statement, the producers said, according to The Stage: “Two years of our campaigning along with the rest of the theatre and live music industries, the elevated awareness of this problem by government, consumer protection associations taking legal action against one site in particular, and a better-informed public, has led to the closure of two of these online retailers, a move towards compliance by a third and both public vilification of and concerted action against the fourth.
“As we approach the third year of the run, the producers of the smash hit Hamilton have decided to re-introduce a more traditional ticket selling operation at the Victoria Palace Theatre and slowly bring back third-party retailers in addition to Ticketmaster, all of whom we have worked with for many years on our other successful shows.”
They concluded that they were “confident the West End can slowly revert to a more open selling operation to the benefit of the public”.
The announcement comes after the Competition and Market Authority (CMA) suspended preparations for court action against Viagogo after the controversial resale company finally came into compliance with the UK competition regulator’s court order.
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