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The UK Parliamentary committee on ticket abuse met today to discuss the secondary ticket market and the potential abuse of ticket sales with particular reference to music tickets. It is 3 hours long and I'm not sure if it is accessible from outside the UK but it makes for fascinating viewing.

Lots of bullshit from the likes of Ticketmaster, Stubhub and Ebay but the most fascinating comments are from Reg Walker during the last 20 minutes or so, one of the UK's leading experts on ticket touts and ticketing irregularities.

http://www.parliamentlive.tv/E...content=parliamenttv

 
Last edited by Mando
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Thanks for pointing to that. Very interesting and frustrating - will anything productive come out of it? I'm sure whatever system, if any, is put in place there will be a way round it. I remember in the old pre-internet days standing outside Hammersmith Odeon trying to get rid of a spare ticket for a gig at face value and being physically threatened by a tout to desist. Nasty people...

E Street Band - the new American resistance

pk56 posted:

Thanks for pointing to that. Very interesting and frustrating - will anything productive come out of it? I'm sure whatever system, if any, is put in place there will be a way round it. I remember in the old pre-internet days standing outside Hammersmith Odeon trying to get rid of a spare ticket for a gig at face value and being physically threatened by a tout to desist. Nasty people...

The RAH had an excellent system in place for the recent David Gilmour concerts where they checked ID on the way in. There were hardly any tickets on the secondary market sites and it was still possible to buy tickets at face value from the RAH a week before the show.  I wrote to the RAH commending them on the way they managed tickets sales for the event. They responded that they were only able to do this with the help of the artist and promoter.  Interestingly, the RAH claimed that it was not difficult to check tickets/IDs and there was no extra cost involved as they were able to do it with existing staff. 

The moral of the story is that if can persuade the venue, promoter and artist to work together, legally or otherwise,  in managing tickets sales for the good of the customer then we can prevent or at least minimise the ripping off of customers by the likes of Stubhub, Ebay, GETMEIN, Ticketbastard etc. If this happens then Reg Walker should get a knighthood for all the good work he has done in this area.  

 
Last edited by Mando

Part of the reason for  the Gilmour availability  might be that many of the seats at the RAH are owned by Debenture holders - they automatically get a ticket, but can sell them back to the Hall at anytime before the show. I have got superb last minute tickets from the box office  on a number of occasions - Sting, Bennett & Gaga, Costello ( no Prog Rock though!)

Interestingly the Festival Hall will give a credit voucher for returns too. No need for the secondary market to dispose of them. Why can't other venues /agencies do this  - ( for an admin fee)

A good mate of mine remarked yesterday - If you think of all the Promoters and Agencies as C--ts you are about right.

In better news,  the  Geordie Boy*  Fan club pre-sale worked well yesterday. ( Shame the album is a bit dull) Spreading the £36 membership between three of us wasn't too grim ( ooh... and we can fight over the free Tote Bag) U2 use a similar system - can't be beyond JLM to do something similar.

* Cross ref - Richard Thompson

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Blessed Day

Last edited by essexboy

You're right, if the artist and venue have got the motivation and interest to make it work. For my sins I'm a Spurs supporter and they used to have their own system for season ticket holders and others to resell tickets at face value. They have now sold out to Stubhub which potentially means for those who use it (I refuse to) rip-off prices for games and also encourages season ticket holders to hang on to their seats even if they hardly go to any games. It will be interesting to see what sort of prices will be asked for the last games at WHL at the end of the season.

E Street Band - the new American resistance

pk56 posted:

You're right, if the artist and venue have got the motivation and interest to make it work. For my sins I'm a Spurs supporter and they used to have their own system for season ticket holders and others to resell tickets at face value. They have now sold out to Stubhub which potentially means for those who use it (I refuse to) rip-off prices for games and also encourages season ticket holders to hang on to their seats even if they hardly go to any games. It will be interesting to see what sort of prices will be asked for the last games at WHL at the end of the season.

No such problems down at La Bella Vista Matchroom Stadium !

Apart from the occasional horse head in the manager's bed  

Farce doesn't begin to describe it 

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Blessed Day

Last edited by essexboy

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