Ministers in the UK Government are set to announce a plan today to tackle resale websites who offer music, theatre, comedy and sports tickets at a price higher than face value. This was one of the Labour’s government election pledges due to fans complaining about massively inflated prices for resold tickets.
The decision to announce this comes after multiple music artists including Sam Fender, Dua Lipa, and Coldplay have urged Sir Keir Starmer to protect fans from exploitation. The government has decided to set the limit at the original cost, or face value of the ticket, whilst also promising to take measures to cap any extra fees to keep the price as close to face value as possible.
The Department for Culture, Media, and Sport (DCMS) will announce its plans to end ticket touting, making resale tickets cheaper on average by £37, allowing fans to save a collective of £112m per year.
Resale platforms will also have a legal duty to monitor and enforce the new regulations.
The move comes after a letter written by some of the biggest names in music such as Dua Lipa, Coldplay, Sam Fender, Radiohead, and The Cure. In the letter, more than 40 musicians urged the prime minister to “stop touts from fleecing fans” and cap the price tickets can be charged when tickets are resold.
According to the Competition and Markets Authority, tickets are currently sold on resale websites for more than 50% of the face value price.
Dan Smith from indie-pop group Bastille said, “it seems crazy” that fans aren’t protected from price hikes, when countries like Ireland and Australia have introduced caps on ticket resales. He said, “It’s not surprising that the idea of a price cap has such widespread support from bands and artists.”
Ahead of the announcement, Ticketmaster’s parent company Live Nation Entertainment have said they already limit resale in the UK to face value prices and described the plan as “another major step forward for fans.” Resale sites such as Viagogo and Stubhub, however, have claimed that a price cap could push customers towards sites that are unregulated which might increase the risk of fraud. The chief executive of UK music, Tom Kiehl, has said a cap on resale prices is needed to protect both the industry and fans from “exorbitant’ prices.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that, “The music industry itself is worth £8bn to the economy, and relies on that strong relationship between music fans and and the artist. And what you have at the moment is the resale market, which isn’t working.”
