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UK Music interim chief executive Tom Kiehl has called on the UK’s Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch to hold an urgent summit to tackle ticket touts.
The calls follow the ‘mounting anger’ over the soaring prices of some concert and festival tickets, as touts try to take advantage of music fans look to buy passes as Christmas presents.
According to a release from UK Music, tickets for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour in the UK went on sale for roughly £110 (€128/$140) per person, but were soon on secondary ticketing sites for up to £2,600. Similarly, tickets for the recently announced reunion tour for Girls Aloud went on sale for £48.50, but were soon on resale platforms for more than £2,000 each.
“We need urgent action from the government to end the multi-million-pound scourge of rip-off ticket prices for festivals and concerts,” said Kiehl.
“Fans are being ruthlessly exploited by ticket touts who snap up thousands of tickets with a view to reselling them for huge profits. The government should give music lovers everywhere a Christmas gift by tackling the greedy Grinch gangs that are determined to rob them of their hard-earned cash.”
Kiehl added: “We are keen to work with the government and campaigning organisations like FanFair Alliance to look at new curbs to deal with extortionate resale prices and help protect consumers against the rip-off merchants behind this racket.
“We hope the Prime Minister will listen to our request for a meeting so we can all unite behind a plan to combat this problem and help nurture the talent pipeline on which our world-leading music industry depends.”
FanFair Alliance is an ongoing campaign against online ticketing touting.
“The UK is falling behind other major music markets who are taking affirmative action against unscrupulous online ticket touts and the rip-off websites they trade from,” said FanFair Alliance campaign manager Adam Webb.
“FanFair believes British audiences deserve similar protections to countries such as Ireland, France and Australia, and that new legislation is now essential to stamp out unlawful and anti-consumer practices.”
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