The Government is moving forward with plans to outlaw the resale of tickets for live events at inflated prices. This initiative aims to combat ticket touts and secondary ticketing websites that resell tickets for multiple times their original value.
The Labour manifesto had pledged to provide enhanced safeguards to prevent consumers from falling victim to scams or being priced out of events by unscrupulous touts. These touts often employ automated bots to purchase tickets in large quantities as soon as they are released, only to resell them at exorbitant mark-ups on secondary ticketing platforms.
While a consultation had considered setting a cap on resale prices up to 30% above face value, reports from the Guardian and Financial Times suggest that the Government is leaning towards imposing a limit equal to the face value of the ticket, with additional fees still permissible.
The Government has refrained from commenting on these reports, but the anticipated announcement, possibly on Wednesday, follows a concerted effort by prominent music artists to advocate for cost reductions for fans. Notable figures like Coldplay, Dua Lipa, and Radiohead have joined forces to urge the Government to fulfill its promise of capping resale prices.
Renowned musicians such as Robert Smith of The Cure, along with New Order, Mark Knopfler, Iron Maiden, PJ Harvey, and Sam Fender, have endorsed a statement calling for a cap on resale prices to rebuild trust in the ticketing system and ensure broader public access to arts and entertainment.
Various industry stakeholders, including Which?, FanFair Alliance, O2, and the Football Supporters’ Association, have also thrown their support behind the price cap proposal. Rocio Concha, director of policy and advocacy at Which?, hailed the potential move as a positive step to curb exploitation by professional touts and return ticket control to genuine fans.
Live Nation Entertainment, the parent company of Ticketmaster, has expressed its backing for the Government’s initiative to prohibit ticket resale above face value. The company emphasized its existing policy of capping resale prices at face value in the UK and endorsed the crackdown on exploitative resale practices to maintain accessibility to live events.
However, StubHub, a resale platform, raised concerns that the price cap could inadvertently drive ticket transactions towards unregulated black markets, potentially exposing fans to risks like fraud and limited recourse. Meanwhile, Viagogo cautioned that past experiences in countries with price caps have led to increased fraud rates, emphasizing the need for caution in implementing such measures.