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UK government’s secondary ticketing review: Everyone comments
By Chris Cooke | Published on Friday 27 May 2016
A large consortium of managers and agents led the industry response to the Waterson Report on secondary ticketing yesterday. Management firms like ATC, Everybody’s, New Community, Courtyard, Red Light, Ignition and First Access joined agencies such as 13 Artists, CAA, Coda, X-Ray and UTA in signing a lengthy statement on the report. They said…
“Professor Waterson exposes a dysfunctional and under-regulated ticketing market. His review calls on government to enforce the law, and for secondary ticketing sites to apply the law and show responsibility. Fans must have clarity and fairness.
Live music is one of the UK’s cultural ‘crown jewels’. According to government data, last year one in three British adults attended a gig, festival or live performance. Fans are the lifeblood of our business. As revealed by today’s long awaited report from Professor Michael Waterson, UK audiences are confused by the ticket-buying process.
In the worst instances, they are being ripped off and sold short by industrial-scale online ticket touting. More than 40,000 fans have already signed a petition demanding that Parliament enforce the Consumer Rights Act amendment brought in last year, providing tougher sanctions for resale websites that break the law. They also demand that ticket resellers are forced to reveal their identities.
Professor Waterson has clearly recognised these long-term failings, and makes nine pragmatic recommendations that, if implemented, will help reform the market. We believe that fans should be given every opportunity to buy and exchange tickets at the price they were intended – not see them used as collateral to boost the profits of scalpers.
The music business has a significant role to play in driving change, and we are committed to work with partners to promote pro-consumer practices and technologies. However, we also reiterate Professor Waterson’s call for government to act and for secondary ticketing services to follow the law.
Above all, we need a Consumer Rights Act that is fit for purpose, and to have the law on ticket resales enforced by Trading Standards. UK audiences deserve clarity and fairness, not a dysfunctional and under-regulated secondary ticketing market that causes untold harm to our world-beating creative and cultural sector”.
Elsewhere, Sharon Hodgson MP, who has long campaigned on this issue, and played a key part in getting secondary ticketing into last year’s Consumer Rights Act, commented: “It is welcome that we have seen some solid recommendations come out of the Waterson review today, which clearly is calling for fans to be put first within the market, and not be an afterthought. This is a step in the right direction in our cross-party campaign”.
“For too long, fans have lacked consumer protections which would reduce the underhand actions of profiteering and fraudulence in the secondary market which sees fans ripped off, that is why it is welcome that Professor Waterson has called for the enforcement of the Consumer Rights Act – which we know has been continuously flouted since it was enacted last year – and for the onus to be on the secondary sites to ensure sellers comply with the transparency measures, instead of washing their hands of this responsibility”.
“Now that Professor Waterson has presented his findings to the government and Parliament, it is time for the Business Secretary and Culture Secretary to ensure these actions are taken forward, and our group of cross-party Parliamentarians will be pushing the government to make good on these recommendations in the coming months and years”.
Some of the ticketing sector also responded…
Jonathan Brown, Chief Executive of STAR, which represents primary ticketing agents in the UK, said: “The UK has a live entertainment sector which is the envy of the world. STAR welcomes and supports these efforts to safeguard the future of this hugely important industry”.
Dave Newton, CEO of WeGotTickets said quite a bit more, remarking: “This report highlights the blatant disregard that prominent touting websites have had for legislation in this country, and while I welcome the report’s assertion and a number of its recommendations. [Though] secondary ticketing is not the only practice ripping of consumers and a call for transparency in both the primary and secondary markets is a welcome measure”.
“There have been too many under-the-counter deals going on in the primary market for years with promoters ripping off customers by inflating the ticket companies’ booking fees to procure themselves a kickback. This practice has remained hidden from the customer and has been actively encouraged by a number of primary ticketing companies happy to take the reputation hit for the ‘rip off booking fees’ – a customer should know what they’re paying for; it’s as simple as that”.
Richard Davies, founder of Twickets, which facilitates the reselling of tickets without the massive mark-ups, and who led on the recent parliamentary petition on this issue, said: “We’re delighted to see that Professor Waterson’s report addresses our recent parliamentary petition – already signed by nearly 42,000 people – calling for greater protection against touts in the UK. It is now vital that the government responds to ensure compliance with the Consumer Rights Act and that all relevant legislation is enforced. It must also be prepared to step in once more if self-governance measures fail”.
“Ideally, we would like to have seen the report go further to protect fans. It acknowledges that profiteering prevents consumers securing a ticket, yet calls for evidence of manipulation before recommending a price-cap. The report further blames event organisers for creating the conditions for the secondary one, but doesn’t consider that they are seeking to make music, arts and sports events affordable. In our view the only way fans can be properly protected is through a blanket ban on resale for profit – as has been implemented in other markets around the world, and was successfully achieved for London 2012”.
Meanwhile, over in the live sector itself, the boss of promoter Kilimanjaro expressed disappointment that no new legislation is being proposed, in the short term at least. Stuart Galbraith told IQ of Waterson’s work: “I’m very pleased to see that he’s highlighted that the CRA is being blatantly flouted, and that secondary ticketers are breaking the law with impunity, but the overall conclusion of the report is that the industry needs to self-regulate, which is what we’ve been told for over a decade, and for over a decade we’ve seen customers being ripped off”.
And as for the secondary ticketing sector, StubHub was first to the quoting table, saying: “We welcome Professor Waterson’s recognition of the benefits for consumers from the secondary market and his decision to reject further legislation at this stage, including price caps and any general resale bans or bans for ‘crown jewel’ events. We also welcome the suggested action on bots and the other measures which are directed towards the primary market”.
“But we are concerned that there are still insufficient legal safeguards to stop event organisers using row and seat number details to cancel without compensation tickets offered for resale. Transparency should not come at the expense of people’s right to resell their tickets”.
