UK: DHP Promotions, FanFair Alliance Study

UK promoter and venue operator DHP Family has promoted Kelly Bennaton, Anwyn Williams and Sophie Power.

– DHP Family
Sophie Power, Kelly Bennaton and Anwyn Williams

Bennaton takes on the role of head of marketing at the Nottingham-based company. Before joining DHP three years ago, she worked as event coordinator for the Association of Independent Music in London. She started her career as a 17-year old independent promoter in Nottingham.

Williams became involved with the local music scene while studying media and popular culture at Nottingham Trent University. She joined DHP in 2014 and was appointed marketing manager of the £25m turnover business.

Power has been with DHP for eight years. She started after completing a degree in brand promotion and has worked her way up from marketing and design assistant to her new role as head of creative.

DHP Family managing director George Akins said: “I’m delighted that we have been able to turn to the talent we have working within the company to fill these three roles. As a forward thinking employer, we focus on providing opportunities for our people to progress throughout the business. I’m confident Kelly, Sophie and Anwyn will continue to do an excellent job driving forward our marketing and creative output.”

Fans that pay above face value for tickets have less money to spend on other things, including more events. What sounds obvious was confirmed in the latest study on secondary ticketing.

The study, dubbed “Ticked Off,” was commissioned by the UK’s FanFair Alliance and conducted by AudienceNet and Music Ally. It takes its findings from a sample of 1,158 respondents from the UK, evenly distributed across the gender and age demographics.

Some key results: 80 percent of respondents think secondary ticketing is a “rip off.” Also, some 67 percent of people who paid more than face value for a ticket on sites like Viagogo, StubHub, Get Me In! and Seatwave said they would attend fewer concerts in the future.

In the study 60 percent of respondents said they would attend fewer festivals, 58 percent would spend less on food and drink at venues, and 47 percent said they would spend less on recorded music. 

For 43 percent of respondents Google was the first port of call to search for tickets, and 52 percent said they had difficulties distinguishing between authorized primary ticket sellers and unauthorized secondary sites. This is problematic, given that secondary sites pay to rank higher on Google.

A whopping 82 percent of respondents said secondary platforms should be more transparent about the resellers’ identity and 58 percent said they supported face value resale. A clear majority of 87 percent supported the provision of authorized resale sites such as See Tickets, The Ticket Factory or Twickets, 80 percent supported limiting ticket purchases, and 75 percent were in favor of personalized tickets with ID checks at the gates.

FanFair Alliance campaign manager Adam Webb said, “the message from this research appears to be pretty clear: UK audiences are fed up. The model of secondary ticketing promoted by Viagogo, StubHub, Get Me In! and Seatwave is causing them very real concern – albeit, they are not against the concept of ticket resale.

“The majority would like the option to resell a ticket for the price they paid for it, and they’re in favor of measures to curb mass-scale online ticket touting. On that front, FanFair urges legislators and regulators to accelerate their endeavors to tackle the most egregious practices of the secondary market.”  

The full report can be downloaded on FanFair Alliance’s website.