A Gutful Of Ticketing

Apparently, it’s because most delegates have already had an absolute gutful of it. Former IQ editor Greg Parmley, who still creates panels and even chairs a few sessions, says, “Secondary ticketing wasn’t a topic that we had much feedback about during the planning process.”

Meanwhile, the UK’s All Party Parliamentary Group – basically a bunch of MPs (from across the political spectrum) who sit a long way behind the front benches – is rolling with its dialogue with key industry figures.

On Feb. 5 they met with UK promoter Stuart Galbraith, head of Kilimanjaro Live, and Paul Reed, general manager of the Association of Independent Festivals.

There were also a couple of key players from sports organizations, including legal people from the Rugby Football Union. National Theatre chief operating officer Lisa Burger was also in on it.

The next meeting was Feb. 26 and those invited included Martin Cloake, a Spurs fan and a member of the “Stop StubHub” campaign, Jason Freeman from the Office of Fair Trading, Mark McClaren from Which? magazine, and Reg Walker from Iridium Consultancy, a man who makes his living by out-thinking touts and fraudsters.

So far, a direct dialogue with the secondary market hasn’t proved possible.

The APPG did invite the companies for a chat on Jan. 9 – but nothing came of it.

There’s also a suspicion that the majority of the MPs on the APPG are very much in favour of regulating the secondary market and that Sharon Hodgson, the Labour MP for Washington and Sunderland West, appears hell bent on it.

The day before the Feb. 5 meeting, where Galbraith said nothing’s changed since the revelations of the “Dispatches” TV documentary screened a couple of years ago, Ticketmaster International managing director of resale Christoph Homann called for the UK government to ensure there’s a balanced debate on the subject.

There’s a suspicion that most of the other 600 or so MPs in the Commons are hoping that someone can find some long grass to kick it into.

It may be that ILMC delegates aren’t the only ones who’ve had a gutful of talking about secondary ticketing.

Last year, International Talent Booking chief Barry Dickins and renowned global promoter Marcel Avram got at odds over it. Avram said he approved of the secondary market, claiming that it doesn’t always make money, but Dickins wasn’t having any of it.

Perhaps this year we’ll hear that the ticketing debate has moved on to the morality of cashless payment systems.

If a fan doesn’t exhaust all the credits on his or her wristband, legal opinion suggests European law allows at least 20 years to reclaim the money left behind.

At Exit Festival in Serbia, where credits left on wristbands can be carried over to other events run by the same organization, festival director Ivan Milivojev says: “We cannot assume it’s been left for us as a tip.” Elsewhere, ILMC has recruited an impressive list of speakers and the presence of Live Nation’s president of European concerts John Reid, LN’s UK production chief John Probyn, Michal Kašcák from Slovakia’s no joke Festival, and expert event consultant Carl A H Martin ensures that at least a few of them could turn out to be quite amusing.

What looks to have become ILMC’s annual mentoring (or brain-picking) sessions have undergone a re-jig for their second year.

Last year’s sessions, which included Harvey Goldsmith, among others, were so packed it became like putting on the Stones in a telephone box.

This year, those wanting to attend will first need to sign up in advance at the help desk in the lobby of the conference venue, London’s Royal Garden Hotel.

This year the mentors packing them in will include Avram, who now heads European Concert Agency, Rob Hallett from AEG Live and The Agency Group chief Neil Warnock.

ILMC is at London’s Royal Garden Hotel March 7-9.