UK Music Interim Chief Executive Tom Kiehl is calling on Business
and Trade Secretary to hold an urgent summit to
tackle the touts behind “multi-million-pound scourge” of rip-off
festival and concert ticket prices.
The move comes amid mounting anger about the soaring cost of some
ticket prices, as greedy touts and organised gangs try to fleece
music fans desperate to buy tickets as Christmas presents for
friends and family.
Tickets for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour in the UK that went on
general sale for £110 were soon on secondary ticketing sites for
eye-watering prices of up to £2,600. Tickets originally costing
£48.50 for Girls Aloud’s new tour were being offered this week on
secondary ticketing sites for more than £2,000 each.
Concert tickets originally costing £81 for a Sugababes show were
put up for resale at more than double face value at £177 and
tickets for a Robbie Williams concert costing £100 were put on
resale for £177.
Just hours after tickets for Eurovision 2023 in Liverpool in May
sold out, they appeared on online secondary ticketing platforms
for exorbitant prices of up to £9,000.
UK Music, the collective voice of the UK music industry, who
represent AIM, BPI, FAC, The Ivors Academy, MMF, MPA, MPG, MU,
PPL, PRS for Music, is now calling on Business Secretary to convene an urgent meeting
to tackle excessive ticket prices and help millions of music fans
already battling a cost-of-living crisis.
In August 2021, regulators at the Competition and Markets
Authority (CMA) made a number of recommendations to the
Government to improve consumer protection in the secondary
ticketing market. However, ministers have failed to tackle the
problem.
UK Music Interim Chief Executive Tom Kiehl said the Government
should meet music industry leaders and campaigners to hammer out
a solution to stop unscrupulous sellers cashing in on music
fans.
Mr Kiehl said: “We need urgent action from the Government to end
the multi-million-pound scourge of rip-off ticket prices for
festivals and concerts.
“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.
“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 campaign manager Adam Webb said: “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.
“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.”
The call for action on ticket touts is one of the recommendations
contained in UK Music’s Manifesto for Music, published in
September, which you can read here.
