Ticketing review is a kick in the teeth to concert-goers says NEC Group

A GOVERNMENT review on secondary ticketing will sell concert-goers short, the ticketing arm of The NEC Group has said.

The Ticket Factory said it was disappointed with Professor Micheal Waterson’s comments following a government review about the secondary ticketing market that stopped short of advising a ban on ticket resales or price caps – both of which The Ticket Factory was lobbying for.

The group underlined its position on secondary ticketing last year when it announced that superstar Adele would be appearing at a series of concerts at the Genting Arena.

In order to protect concert-goers from touts it said it would cancel tickets appearing on secondary websites if they were originally purchased from the agency.

Tickets for the shows at the end of March had appeared on some websites at up to £2,000, well in excess of the face value.

However, the agency said it was pleased that the review did find that online secondary marketplaces had been failing to provide information required under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, such as the exact seat number.

Prof Waterson, who led the review, recommended that a government body such as National Trading Standards, supported by the police, should investigate breaches of the rules and enforce compliance through the courts if necessary.

Stuart Cain, managing director, The Ticket Factory said: “The report is another wet squib and a kick in the teeth for artists and true music fans.  

“So, the primary industry should find better ways of protecting consumers, enforcing the Consumer Rights Act and get better at addressing cyber-crime?  A ban on ‘bots’ and this type of activity would have been welcomed by us; what might be ‘technically’ legal still isn’t right – surely that’s why we needed this review in the first place?

“We already have to actively invest time and money in protecting our website from greedy profiteers who have truly devious methods of buying up tickets. This is a global game orchestrated by well financed organisations and cyber-warriors in bedrooms across the world.  We need more help and protection to take these guys down and make it harder to access tickets in the first place.”

He said legislation forcing proof of identity would have been a starting point, as would the promotion and adoption of ethical ticketing re-sellers such as Twickets, which caps prices.

However, he said neither of these appeared likely.

“How do the recommendations work when one of the world’s biggest primary ticket agents owns one of the world’s biggest secondary sites,” he added.

“In reality, all the secondary ticketing market does is legitimise touting and take away the risk.  Why put a price on a website for ten times its face value unless you want to make a profit from the real fan?  Without legislation capping prices and managing the murky grey lines between where the ticket will come from, the secondary players will continue to rip-off fans.”

He said the government should be promoting ways of working with the industry to address touting and cybercrime.

“Funny that it set up task forces to manage touting for the Olympics when the eyes of the world were watching and it was a big political game – but doesn’t seem to want to play when their reputation is not at risk,” he said.