Features
No Secondary Ticketing, But A Lot Of Passion
Italian promoter Claudio Trotta, founder of
– Claudio Trotta As you would expect from the Italians, it was a heated and passionate debate. Live entertainment professionals in Italy first became aware of ticket resales above face value on third party sites about 10 years ago. At the end of last year, TV program “Le Iene” caused a sensation after
“It’s not just a matter of fans being ripped off. It’s about fighting for our future, and the future of artist, light and sound designers, future music fans, our children and grandchildren. If we keep on allowing this dirty speculation, we are all accomplices and responsible for damaging the economy,” Trotta said in his opening speech. During the rest of the day different stakeholders in the live circuit gave speeches.
Claudio Maioli of Riserva Rossa Management pointed out that the majority of the industry didn’t participate in the secondary market. But the few that did “speculate in the market of emotions. There are millions of dollars to be made, but feelings are more important than money, because we are human. Secondary ticketing is a cancer for the whole industry.” Stefano Lionetti of Ticketone, an
He also showed how fake sales at very high prices are used to entice users to buy the lower-priced real tickets. Italy’s antitrust authority is investigating Ticketone, after huge amounts of Bruce Springsteen and Coldplay tickets ended up on secondary sites almost instantly last year. Lionetti found this baffling. “We are one of the most scrutinized companies in the world, by anti-trust and consumer protections organizations and what have you.
Where are they now,” he asked, referring to the real scammers in his eyes, such as
Ticketone – Stefano Lionetti
He also emphasized that only a tiny minority of events, less than 1 percent, sold out in less than five days. Alex Bruford of UK agency
“Industrial ticket touting is theft. A huge 90 percent of activity on secondary sites is from touts to fan, with only 10 percent being from fan to fan,” Bruford said. “The sums involved are huge. We’re here to make sure this money remains in the live industry so it can be reinvested in new talent.”
Bruford also pointed out that “if someone spends $300 on a $50 ticket on the secondaries, that means that there are $250 that are not spent on other shows. That person could have bought five more tickets for $50. This is a huge and massive drain on our industry.” Adam Webb introduced delegates to Fan Fair Alliance, which is combating industrial-scale resale to protect fans in the UK.
“Businesses like StubHub and Viagogo in particular like to describe themselves as part of a sharing economy. But these businesses are actually very unique, for the likes of Uber or Airbnb or even, ironically, eBay rely on a form of recognition system. Secondary ticketing is built on anonymity. You can only imagine what would happen if Uber hid the identity of its drivers or eBay allowed a business to sell mobile phones without disclosing a name and address.”
As none of these practices applied to secondary ticketing sites, “they become a magnet for bad practice at best, and for law breaking at worst. And they also encourage fans to rip off other fans and to become touts themselves.” Italian musician Elio said that artists were facing “enough problems and obstacles as it is, without secondary ticketing on top.” He suggested to stop calling it secondary ticketing. “I think we need to call them scalpers, touts, parasites, that’s what they are, Elio said.
“When I found out about this, at first I was angry. But in the end the main feeling was sorrow. Sorrow for human beings that spend their whole life screwing people over. And I pity them, because they are not thinking about making wonderful things. Shame on you.”
Ivo Tarantino of Italy’s main consumer protection agency Altroconsumo pointed out that the Italian government’s budget law included fines of up to euro 180,000 for those who bulk buy and resell tickets on secondary platforms.
But “we are still waiting for this legislation to be enforced.”
To apply more pressure on the authorities, Altromusico has gathered more than 500 stories of fans that were left disappointed after finding out the gig tickets they had purchased were void. Speakers agreed on two ways of fighting the secondary market – raising the public’s awareness as well as introducing new and enforcing existing legislation – but they were split on the issue of personalized tickets.
Lionetti said that isn’t feasible for large-scale events. Bruford had a different experience: “I recently had the Lumineers play two nights at the
– Photo – ElioItalian Singer
“We had no complaints from fans, no issues at the door and, most importantly, the 10,000 tickets sold faster than they had done at the band’s prior London show.” In his closing speech, Trotta said, “We don’t need to sell out in one day. We don’t have a Guinness world record to beat. I believe in a multi-layered solution: information, technological innovation and named tickets – with all the laws and controls that will regulate this practice.”
“I am passionate,” Trotta told Pollstar after the event. “Maybe a bit too passionate. But I’ve been in this business for 40 years. It’s my life. I fear for the young, up-and-coming artists, because the business is currently being cannibalized.”