UK prepares law against profiteering from ticket resale — The Guardian
The UK government has stepped up preparations for legislation aimed at combating profiteering from ticket resale. As The Guardian reports, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has formed a team of civil servants that is developing the policy and will guide it through parliament.
The Labour Party pledged to ban for-profit ticket resale through platforms such as Viagogo and StubHub in its 2024 election manifesto. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said last year that the government must stop fans from being overcharged. Officials are also considering ways to prevent the new rules from being circumvented if touts and platforms are based abroad.
Pressure from the music industry
Representatives of the music industry and performers, including rapper Tinie Tempah and The Smiths drummer Mike Joyce, urged the government to speed up work on the legislation. They cited research by FanFair Alliance, which covered 300 events at 13 concert venues in Greater Manchester where tickets were offered on Viagogo.
According to the study, tickets for all analysed events were advertised at prices significantly higher than their face value. Some listings did not contain information about the seller, which may constitute a breach of competition rules. Some offers may also have been speculative: sellers did not have the tickets when they placed the listings and hoped to obtain them after a sale was agreed.
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Prices and Viagogo's response
The highest price was £5,899 for a ticket to a Mika Millar concert at New Century, representing a markup of 19,728%. Tickets for an event marking the 40th anniversary of The Smiths' album The Queen Is Dead, featuring Joyce and producer Stephen Street, were offered at £549.
FanFair Alliance said that more than 75% of listings were posted by three touts based in Latvia, North America and Germany. Viagogo disputed this assessment, saying the share of these sellers was substantially lower. The company also said that actual sale prices were lower than those stated in the expensive listings and that its rules prohibit speculative ticket listings.
Unauthorised resale of football tickets is currently banned across the UK, while resale of tickets for concerts or theatre performances without permission is generally allowed. A DCMS spokesperson said the department intends to introduce draft legislation during the current parliamentary session.
