- Consultation will look at new measures to prevent consumers being fleeced by ticket touts as part of government’s Plan for Change
- Announcement puts music, theatre, comedy and sports fans back at the heart of live events and delivers plan for change to keep more money in the pockets of working people
- Pricing practices in the live events sector – including so-called ’dynamic pricing’ – also under the spotlight to ensure ticketing works for fans
A new cap on the price of resold tickets for concerts, live sport and other events are among measures that have been announced by the government today, as part of plans to clamp down on ticket touts fleecing the public.
It comes amid a concerning increase in fans wanting to get tickets for popular tours and events coming up against professional touts hoarding tickets and reselling at heavily inflated prices, while others have been caught out by a lack of transparency over the system of dynamic pricing.
According to analysis by the Competition and Market Authority (CMA), typical mark-ups on tickets sold on the secondary market are more than 50 per cent and investigations by Trading Standards have uncovered evidence of tickets being resold for up to six times their original cost. According to research by Virgin Media O2, ticket touts cost music fans an extra £145 million per year.
The CMA has estimated the value of tickets sold in 2019 through secondary ticketing platforms to be about £350 million, with around 1.9 million tickets sold on these platforms. 1.9 million tickets accounted for around 5 to 6% of the number of primary tickets sold in 2019.
That’s why the government has today launched a public consultation which sets out a range of measures in the ticket resale market that aim to better protect fans, improve access to live events and support the growth of the UK’s world leading live events sector.
The consultation will explore a range of options to make ticket resales fairer and more transparent, which include:
- Introducing a cap on the price of ticket resales – with the consultation seeking views on a range from the original price to up to a 30 per cent uplift, and limiting the number of tickets resellers can list to the maximum they are allowed to purchase on the primary market. These measures would prevent organised touts reselling a large number of tickets at vastly inflated prices and disincentivise industrial scale touting.
- Increasing the accountability of ticket resale websites and apps – creating new legal obligations so that they are held responsible by Trading Standards and the Competition and Market Authority for the accuracy of information they provide to fans.
- Strengthening consumer enforcement – review of existing legislation to bring it up to date, including stronger fines and a new licensing regime for re-sale platforms to increase enforcement of protections for consumers. Trading Standards can already issue fines of up to £5,000 for ticketing rule breaches. The consultation will look into whether this cap should be increased.
These measures come as part of the Government’s Plan for Change, with these plans aimed at saving money for consumers and keeping more money in the pockets of hardworking people.
Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said:
From sports tournaments to Taylor Swift – all too often big events have been dogged by consumers being taken advantage of by ticket touts.
These unfair practices look to fleece people of their hard-earned income, which isn’t fair on fans, venues and artists.
Fans enjoying themselves in the moment are what make concerts and live events the thrilling experiences that they are, which is why as part of our Plan for Change, we are putting them back in control.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said:
The chance to see your favourite musicians or sports team live is something all of us enjoy and everyone deserves a fair shot at getting tickets – but for too long fans have had to endure the misery of touts hoovering up tickets for resale at vastly inflated prices.
As part of our Plan for Change, we are taking action to strengthen consumer protections, stop fans getting ripped off and ensure money spent on tickets goes back into our incredible live events sector, instead of into the pockets of greedy touts.
Musician and DJ Fatboy Slim said:
Great to see money being put back into fans pockets instead of resellers. Fully behind this effort to make sure more people can enjoy incredible arts and music events across the country without being ripped off. It is part of the change this government were elected to make.
Rocio Concha, Which? Director of Policy and Advocacy, said:
For far too long, fans have faced an uphill battle to find face value tickets to see their favourite artist perform or sports team play live so it’s absolutely right the government wants to make ticketing fairer for consumers.
In recent years, touts have been allowed to charge fans hundreds of pounds extra for secondary tickets, it has been very difficult for resale platforms to be held to account for poor practices and consumers have had to watch out for scam tickets circulating online. The recent Oasis ticket sales also highlighted the flaws of so-called dynamic pricing in this market – with some customers queuing for hours for tickets only to find that prices had risen dramatically and were no longer affordable.
The government must use this consultation to regulate the industry properly, ensure ticket resales don’t exploit fans and decide when the use of dynamic pricing is unfair and shouldn’t be allowed.
Jon Collins, chief executive of LIVE, the live music trade body, said:
LIVE welcomes this positive step to put fans back at the heart of live music by tackling ticket touting. We have been a long-term and vociferous advocate for regulation of the secondary market, supporting the great work of the FanFair Alliance, and are pleased to see government delivering on its manifesto commitment in this area.
We are delighted that measures which permit responsible and fair fan-to-fan resale, while eliminating third-party profiteering, will be brought forward. This will reduce the incentive for touts to squeeze fans out of the primary sale and highlights the need to set the cap on resales at or near the original price.
We look forward to continuing to work with government to ensure fans can enjoy our world-class live music sector.
Alongside the consultation, ministers have launched a call for evidence into pricing practices in the live events sector, such as dynamic pricing. Dynamic pricing adjusts ticket prices based on demand, time, and availability, which can lead to increased costs for popular events or prices being brought down where there is increasing availability or reduced demand.
Often this is done to sell unsold tickets and fill seats but, in some cases, a lack of transparency has meant customers being caught unawares by last minute price rises for high demand events.
The call for evidence will seek views on how the ticketing system in the live events sector is working for fans and whether the current system provides sufficient protection from unfair practices. It will consider whether there is potential for new harms to consumers to arise from emerging business trends including the use of new technologies and dynamic pricing.
The ticket resale market plays a valuable role for consumers and needs to work better for fans. It can provide a legitimate and safe way to transfer unwanted tickets to help more people to attend events. It can also ensure revenues flow back to the creative and live events sector, without fans facing inflated prices due to touts. These measures would apply to a range of events covering sport, music, theatre, comedy and beyond.
Major events and tours are key cultural moments, which is why it is important that consumers experience openness and transparency when buying tickets, allowing a fair process for fans looking to see their favourite artists or sporting stars.
The move delivers on a manifesto commitment to address the problem of consumers finding it difficult and expensive to attend live events because of ticket touting. The government pledged to put fans back at the heart of events by introducing new consumer protections on ticket resales.
Naomi Pohl, General Secretary Musicians’ Union said:
This consultation is very welcome and addresses key issues that affect fans, the artists they love and the wider music industry. Secondary ticketing diverts money away from artists and makes it harder for them to tour and ultimately to make new music. Unfair ticketing pricing and practices can also damage the relationship between artist and fan.
We believe that the money fans pay for tickets should always go to fund their favourite artists’ careers and the wider music ecosystem; not into the pockets of touts.
UK Music Chief Executive Tom Kiehl said:
UK Music welcomes this move to support music fans and a music industry which generates £7.6 billion a year for the economy and supports 216,000 jobs.
Music lovers have been exploited for too long by a secondary ticketing market which is driven by greedy touts and automated bots charging rip-off prices and sucking money out of our sector.
This announcement should pave the way for greater transparency over ticketing for live events and ensure music fans can see their favourite acts at an affordable price.
We want to see an end to speculative selling with a clear price cap that means tickets can only be resold under a fair and reasonable system of resale.
There needs to be far tougher controls on the secondary market and the use of digital bots to protect genuine music fans and put them first to restore the integrity of ticket sales for live events.
We look forward to continuing to work with the Government to ensure every part of the UK music industry’s eco-system benefits from these changes so we can ensure our sector continues to grow and thrive.
