For the thrill of a live event
Until the past few years, taking a risk on eBay or standing down some dark dodgy alley way handing over a ticket tout your hard earned cash were the only alternatives to getting in (or not getting in) to a sold-out event.
A fan desperate for a ticket
The Internet has revolutionized our world and secondary ticketing is no exception. Online secondary ticket brokers have been flooding the U.K. market in recent years with a fresh and secure way to get a hold of those sold-out tickets.
The emergence of online ticket brokers has been hailed as a godsend for fans desperate to attend sold-out events, as well as for those who have found themselves stuck with tickets they can no longer use or obtain a refund for. Opponents within the entertainment and sporting industries see secondary ticket selling industry as a parasite siphoning funds away from their businesses. There have been heated debates in the U.K. as well as in the U.S. as to whether the practise should be regulated or outlawed. It is interesting to note that when one goes to a Bureau de change and exchanges their pounds for dollars, for example, the same principle is at work that some secondary ticketing brokers use to their advantage. The Bureau de Change buys dollars in bulk and sells them back to customers at a higher rate than they paid for them. Paper historically comes at high premiums in our society.
Currency also comes at a premium
Many secondary ticket brokering websites come with guarantees that beat even primary ticket selling agencies. Brokers such as TheOnlineTicketExchange, Viagogo, Seatwave, and Get Me In! offer tickets to sold-out events and even guarantee that you will get the ticket you ordered in time for the event or your money back. Seatwave offers buyers a guarantee that they will reimburse customers the full price of the ticket plus 50% of what they paid if the ordered ticket does not arrive in time. All of the above brokers promise sellers that they will receive prompt payment for all orders that are confirmed and fulfilled. Seatwave also offers its customers a free “Ticketcover,” which provides a full refund in the event that a performance is cancelled. This insurance also covers circumstances such as an accident or illness that would prevent the customer from getting to the event. Fans wanting tickets to sold-out events finally have a quick, hassle-free, and safe way to get them.
Research shows that tickets bought through secondary brokers do not always cost more than tickets bought from the source. Rugby World Cup tickets for the South Africa vs. Tonga game sold for just £9 on Seatwave, down 84% from the original £55. George Michael tickets have sold for £45, which is £10 less than the primary price.
The World Cup is a once in a lifetime event some punters will pay a high premium to witness
Joe Cohen, the founder of Seatwave, explains: “Typically, 15% of tickets are sold at below face value, about 15% at face value, and the remaining 70% at a premium.”
So why are there such heated debates as to whether or not secondary ticketing is glamorised “scalping” and should be regulated or even outlawed? A conference organized by the U.K. based University of Westminster’s MusicTank entitled “Ticket Touting: Going, Going…Gone?” fuelled the high octane debate as panellists discussed the ethics of secondary ticketing.
The Resale Rights Society (RRS) was launched last December in an effort to create a secondary-ticketing licensing system. The chairman elect of RRS, Marc Marot, warned at the conference that the music industry must act now to stop agencies outside of the concert business from controlling ticket pricing. Marot cited the example of Apple Computer, the company behind the iTunes music store, and its use of cutting edge technology to control the price of digital downloads.
Others at the conference offered arguments in opposition to Marot’s claims. Carl Leighton-Pope, managing director of talent agency Leighton-Pope Organisation, observed: “The secondary market is going main stream. Now that secondary ticketing is here, we have to embrace it. Nobody is going to be able to do anything about it, especially if the public wants it.”
John Whittingdale, a member of the U.K. parliament and chairman of the select committee for the government’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) supported Leighton-Pope’s view, calling for an open market and self regulation: “I don’t regard it realistic to ban secondary ticketing. Marc’s solution isn’t ideal either. It has not been properly formulated yet, but it represents a possible middle way.”
It has been suggested that the entertainment and sports industries raise the price of the primary tickets to greatly reduce the secondary ticket brokering industry’s margins. However, this is a catch-22 as the augmented prices would alienate the very fans that support these industries. One of the consumer groups the secondary ticket market targets are those fans with the capital to comfortably afford high-status “sold-out” event tickets.
Rihanna concerts are in high demand
In a statement from the House of Commons Culture, Media, and Sport Committee in a report on “Ticket Touting” ordered to be printed by the House of Commons on the 18th of December 2007, it is written:
“Although unauthorised reselling of tickets has been made a criminal offence in the context of tickets for football matches and for Olympic events, those offences were created as specific responses to particular circumstances, rather than to mark disapproval in principle of secondary selling (whether or not for profit). To extend the ban to other specific events would simply exacerbate the confusion inherent in the existing two-tier system and would do nothing to address the complaints of the organisers of other events.
Any attempt to ban the secondary market outright would also be a very serious step in that it would criminalise what has been a perfectly lawful activity, which is evidently valued and freely made use of by many consumers, in order to support the industries’ endeavours to target particular audiences. We do not consider that it would be either practicable or right to do so.”
The report clearly favours self-regulation within the secondary ticket selling industry and suggests that a percentage of the proceeds from the selling of secondary tickets go to the primary seller. However, it would prove difficult for the many secondary sellers who have found themselves with a few spare tickets because their mates backed out to adhere to this process.
The verdict is out on secondary ticket selling. Buying tickets to sold-out events and selling tickets you no longer want or need has never been easier with the onslaught of reputable and secure online secondary ticketing brokers and market places.
