Touting A Shady Business

The opponents of the secondary ticketing market are flexing their muscles again and hoping to persuade the government to take another look at regulation.

Labour MP Sharon Hodgson told the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Music that the practice is “shady” and “profiteering”.

“[It’s] bad for fans, bad for the music business and lacking in transparency,” she said June 26.

Apart from Hodgson and fellow Labour MP John Robertson, the All-Party Parliamentary Group includes other secondary market critics such as WeGotTickets co-founder Dave Newton, Kilimanjaro Live chief Stuart Galbraith, Tory MP Mike Weatherley, and Liberal peer Lord Clement Jones.

The next problem is to pressure select committees to test whether the government has the will to reexamine secondary ticketing legislation.

Weatherley suggests one route would be to approach a handful of select committees that might be interested in investigating the taxation implications of allowing the secondary market and the business models employed by secondary ticketing operators.

Hodgson, who has become something of a rallying point for those opposed to touts says another route could be to draft measures into the forthcoming Consumer Rights Bill, which is framed to protect consumers from “unfair practices.”