Features
Shamed Out Of Scalping?
A Singapore concert promoter has decided it has had enough with online ticket scalpers.
Promoter Running Into The Sun is presenting a five-hour K-pop concert Nov. 23 at Marina Bay featuring such big-name acts as Super Junior, Girls’ Generation, BoA and SHINee, and already 90 percent of the tickets have been sold.
Photo: AP Photo
Korean Pop Culture and Art Awards, Seoul, South Korea
As expected, several parties have gone online offering tickets to the show at prices of up to S$130 ($106) above face value.
On Sept. 29, the day tickets went on sale to priority customers, RITS posted a message on its Facebook page saying that “black market tickets” would be tracked by the ticketing agency, Sistic.
Moreover, Chinese newspapers were reporting that RITS would be openly naming scalpers on Facebook and warn that any tickets scalped online would be “blacklisted and invalidated.”
Thus anyone holding a blacklisted ticket would not be allowed to enter the venue on the day of the performance. As of Oct. 11, according to AsiaOne News, the blacklist extended to “at least four individuals and 34 tickets.”
A reporter for AsiaOne, pretending to be a buyer, called one of the online sellers, who told her he was aware of the RITS blacklist but did not think it would have any effect. “I believe there’s enough reason to let go of my tickets,” he said. “I can’t make it to the concert because it is during my exam period.” He was selling two S$218 tickets for S$300 each.
A representative for RITS told AsiaOne, “We won’t be able to stop them entirely, but we are putting in additional resources and effort to curb this practice to ensure fans do not get exploited and to maintain fair pricing.”
A representative for the ticket agency, Sistic, told the reporter that its own efforts have seen results with “some sellers writing in to apologize, as well as taking down their online posts.”