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Radiohead, Dua Lipa and Coldplay are among dozens of world-renowned artists who have urged Keir Starmer to honour his pledge to tackle “extortionate and pernicious” websites used by ticket touts to exploit music fans.
A group of British artists, who have collectively sold more than half a billion albums, took aim at “secondary ticketing” platforms such as Viagogo and StubHub.
In an open statement, they called on the prime minister to use the next king’s speech to fulfil Labour’s general election manifesto pledge to cap ticket resale prices, which can soar to thousands of pounds for the hottest gigs.
The government is consulting on a cap of between zero and a 30% increase on the face value of a ticket, with the results of the review expected within weeks.
Secondary ticketing companies have lobbied fiercely against the proposals, which they claim would lead to more fraud, while some of the UK’s biggest touts planned their own political influence campaign at a secret meeting revealed in undercover footage filmed by the Guardian.
The artists said a hard cap would “help fix elements of the extortionate and pernicious secondary ticketing market that serve the interests of touts, whose exploitative practices are preventing genuine fans from accessing the music, theatre and sports they love.”
The Guardian has regularly exposed the practices and identities of some of the UK’s biggest touts, who are able to hoover up tickets at the expense of genuine fans and flip them for huge profits on websites such as Viagogo and StubHub. In some cases, touts have used bots and specialist browser software to maximise the number of tickets they can obtain, leading to prosecutions and prison sentences.
The consumer group Which? published further details on Thursday of exorbitant prices charged by touts on such platforms in locations such as Dubai, Singapore and the US.
Oasis tickets for Wembley Stadium shows were listed for £3,498.85 on StubHub and £4,442 on Viagogo, while a Coldplay ticket, also for Wembley, was £814.52 on StubHub. The most extreme example Which? found was a ticket for All Points East festival in London’s Victoria Park, headlined by Raye, listed for £114,666 on Viagogo.
The consumer group also found evidence of alleged “speculative selling”, building on evidence of the same practice previously uncovered by the Guardian.
“Spec” selling, as it is known among touts, is a fraudulent practice in which a tout advertises a ticket they do not actually have, pockets fans’ money and then attempts to source a real ticket cheaply, banking the profit.
Which? found that tickets for a Busted vs McFly show in Glasgow had not yet been sold on Ticketmaster – the original seller – but were already listed on Stubhub and Viagogo at double the price.
Viagogo and StubHub both said they did not permit this practice on their websites.
In total, 38 artists signed the letter to Starmer, including Iron Maiden, Johnny Marr, Robert Smith of The Cure, Sam Fender, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, PJ Harvey, the Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason, Mogwai and New Order.
“For too long certain resale platforms have allowed touts to bulk buy and then resell tickets at inflated prices, forcing fans to either pay above the odds or miss out entirely,” they said.
“This erodes trust in the live events sector and undermines the efforts of artists and organisers to make shows accessible and affordable.”
Viagogo and StubHub have both said that capping resale prices would lead to an increase in outright fraud, as fans turn to unregulated sales on social media and offshore sites. Some banks, which would incur the cost of processing chargebacks on any such fraud, have raised similar concerns.
But the artists – backed by organisations including UK Music, FanFair Alliance and the Football Supporters’ Association – disputed this, saying the removal of for-profit resale would make it “easier for fans to spot illegal behaviour”.
Viagogo and StubHub both told Which? they were fully compliant with UK regulations and did not permit or condone the use of bots.
A spokesperson for the government said it was “fully committed to clamping down on touts” and would reveal its plans shortly.
