Government bans ticket touting to protect fans from rip-offs
New rules to make it illegal to resell tickets for live events above original cost
Music and sport fans will no longer be ripped off on the ticket resale market thanks to new measures which will destroy the operating model of ticket touts.
The Government has today (19th November) announced plans to make it illegal for tickets to concerts, theatre, comedy, sport and other live events to be resold for more than their original cost.
Ticket touting has become increasingly sophisticated in recent years. Touts buy large volumes of tickets online, often using automated bots, before relisting them on resale platforms at hugely inflated prices. This has caused misery for millions of fans and damaged the live events industry.
The proposals will stamp out this practice, improving access for genuine fans when tickets originally go on sale and ending rip-off pricing on the resale market. This is all part of the government’s plan for national renewal by creating fairer systems and giving hard-working people the respect they deserve. This is all part of the government’s plan for national renewal by creating fairer systems and giving hard-working people the respect they deserve.
The new rules announced today make clear that:
- Ticket resale above face value will be illegal – this will be defined in legislation as the original ticket price plus unavoidable fees, including service charges
- Service fees charged by resale platforms will be capped to prevent the price limit being undermined
- Resale platforms will have a legal duty to monitor and enforce compliance with the price cap
- Individuals will be banned from reselling more tickets than they were entitled to buy in the initial ticket sale
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said:
For too long, ticket touts have ripped off fans, using bots to snap up batches of tickets and resell them at sky-high prices. They’ve become a shadow industry on resale sites, acting without consequence.
This government is putting fans first. Our new proposals will shut down the touts’ racket and make world-class music, comedy, theatre and sport affordable for everyone.
Business Secretary Peter Kyle said:
The UK is home to a brilliant range of music, entertainers and sporting stars – but when fans are shut out - it only benefits the touts. That’s why we’re taking these bold measures to smash their model to pieces and make sure more fans can enjoy their favourite stars at a fair price.
Dan Smith, lead singer of Bastille, said:
It’s such great news that the government has stepped up and introduced a price cap on resale tickets – something I’ve been campaigning for alongside O2 and the FanFair Alliance for a long time. It’s a good step towards protecting music fans from being ripped off and will allow more genuine fans to see their favourite artists perform at face value prices. I am welcoming a world where there are no more resellers snapping up all of the tickets and massively inflating their prices.
The new rules will apply to any platform reselling tickets to UK fans, including secondary ticketing platforms and social media websites. Businesses who break the regulations could be subject to financial penalties of up to 10% of global turnover from the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), under new powers introduced the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers (DMCC) Act 2024.
According to analysis by the CMA, typical mark-ups on secondary market tickets exceed 50%, whilst investigations by Trading Standards has uncovered evidence of tickets being resold for up to six times their original cost.
Government analysis suggests that these measures could save fans around £112 million annually, with 900,000 more tickets bought directly from primary sellers each year. Inclusive of all fees paid, the average ticket price paid by fans on the resale market could be reduced by £37.
Today’s announcement comes ahead of the Autumn Budget, which will focus on cutting NHS waiting lists, cutting the national debt and cutting the cost of living, and driving more productive and efficient use of taxpayers’ money by rooting out waste in public services.
The use of pricing strategies like dynamic pricing has been another major source of frustration for concert goers, and the government undertook a call for evidence to explore the issue earlier this year. Today the Government welcomes the commitment from the Society of Ticket Agents and Retailers (STAR) who are convening the sector to establish best practice, including on price transparency.
This will build on the recent announcement by the CMA, who in September secured commitments from Ticketmaster to improve pricing information, following the Oasis ticket sale. This includes giving fans 24 hours’ notice of tiered pricing, providing clearer price information during online queues, and ending misleading ticket labels – addressing the key issues that aggrieved fans during the Oasis sale.
The CMA’s enforcement action in this case, and the measures agreed with Ticketmaster, send a clear message to all ticketing websites that fans must have access to clear and timely pricing information with accurate ticket descriptions, especially where there are different pricing models and queues in play. In future, the CMA will be able to respond even more swiftly and robustly (including imposing fines of up to 10% of global turnover) to breaches of consumer law, following the introduction of its new enforcement powers under Part 3 of the DMCC Act.
ENDS
Stakeholder quotes:
Ben Lovett, Marcus Mumford, Ted Dwane (Mumford & Sons)
“For years, many of us as artists have been pleading for changes to be made around secondary ticketing. We still feel so passionately about it. Touts and scalpers have run amok and taken advantage of the good will and passion of music fans for many years. This hurts both the fan and the artist, whatever the scale of the shows. This regulation will curb the predatory behavior of these bad actors, often through pseudo-legitimate secondary ticketing systems, whilst preserving the ability for fans to resell if plans change. It’s going to have a major positive impact, especially on the affordability of getting to see your favourite gigs.”
Indie-rock band Alt-J said:
“Last week, our band joined dozens of artists and music organisations urging the Prime Minister to clamp down on ticket touting through the introduction of a cap on ticket resale prices. Although we’re pleased the Government has listened to this collective call, it is now imperative that they put these measures into place as quickly as possible.”
Stuart Camp, Ed Sheeran’s manager and founder of Grumpy Old Management, said:
“For anyone who cares about music fans and ticket prices, today’s announcement is long overdue. We’ve seen first-hand the positive impact of price caps elsewhere in the world, and these proposals have the potential to transform the UK’s live music sector and protect audiences from exploitation. I trust they will be implemented without delay.”
Tom Kiehl, Chief Executive, UK Music, said:
“We are delighted to see the Government take action to clamp down on unscrupulous touts and introduce caps in the secondary ticketing market. For too long, touts have been ripping off music fans with extortionate prices that hit both music lovers and our world-leading sector.”
Annabella Coldrick, Chief Executive, Music Managers Forum said:
“Alongside a number of prominent manager members we established the FanFair Alliance campaign against industrial-scale ticket touting in 2016 providing extensive evidence to Parliament and Government of the damage to artists and fans from industrial-scale ticket touting.
“Change has been a long time coming, but it is hugely satisfying to see artists, music companies, consumer groups, regulators and policy makers come together in agreement on the urgent need for a price cap. This should be a game changing moment. We now look forward to the swift introduction of legislation and real improvements for UK music lovers.”
David Martin, CEO, Featured Artists Coalition said:
“Online ticket touting needlessly costs UK music fans hundreds of millions of pounds each year. For far too long, this money has literally been extracted from the UK’s live music sector, and deposited into the pockets of law-breaking touts and the offshore resale platforms they operate from.
“It’s why today’s announcement is so significant, and why it is so strongly supported by the Featured Artists Coalition. We believe that a price cap is the only way to curb the excesses and exploitation of the secondary ticketing market. It must be introduced without delay.”
Adam Webb, Campaign Manager, FanFair Alliance said:
“This is fantastic news for music fans. It’s taken years of FanFair campaigning to get to this point, but having listened to the concerns of artists, campaigners and the wider music sector, the Government now has a clear and pragmatic plan in place to tackle the scourge of exploitative online ticket touting.
“However, there is an urgency to deliver. Every day that passes before new legislation comes into effect, will see more fans ripped off by touts. For that reason alone, it is vital a cap on ticket resale prices is introduced and enforced at the earliest possible opportunity.”
Gareth Griffiths, Director, Partnerships and Sponsorship, Virgin Media O2:
“Today’s news is a victory for live music fans everywhere, and O2 is celebrating alongside them. After eight years campaigning for a fairer ticketing market alongside FanFair Alliance, we know this bold action promised by government will finally give concertgoers – and artists – the protection they deserve from exploitative ticket touts. We now urge the government to make no delay and act quickly on its word - it’s time to restore fairness for all in live music.”
The band, Keane:
“Music fans are sick of being ripped off by unethical online touts. As a band, we have always tried to implement measures that keep tickets in the hands of genuine fans, while supporting capped, consumer-friendly resale. We have no problem with people reselling tickets at cost price and we hope that the Government’s actions will allow those kinds of services to flourish.”
Phil Harvey, Manager, Coldplay:
“As long as this legislation is brought in quickly, it should be a game-changer that will transform fans’ experience of buying concert tickets.”
Notes to editors:
-
These new rules follow extensive consultation with ticketing platforms, the live events sector and fans, and are set out in two government responses published today.
-
The government will introduce primary legislation to implement the new measures on ticket resale, including deciding the specific level of the cap on service fees, when Parliamentary time allows.