My name is Simon and I am currently working on my dissertation looking at the secondary ticketing market. I would be grateful if you could spare a short amount of time to inform me of your opinions on all/any of these questions. Thankyou.

1) What are your views of people selling concert tickets on auction sites such as eBay?

2) Should the Government legislate against concert ticket touting?

3) Through auctions tickets sell to the highest bidder. Is it fair that only the richest are able to attend the events?

4) One way for the industry to compete would be to get in the game and sell some of the best tickets through auctioning instead. This could mean higher costs for the better seats as is the case through brokers such as Ticketmaster or auctions such as eBay. How would you feel about paying more money into the industry/artist than to the third party? eg. There is a feeling that the artist would be money grabbing whereas the third party is providing a service that is worth more.

5) How would you feel if reselling was made illegal meaning that, in theory, you could not sell you ticket on to a friend if you, for example, broke your leg and could not attend? Is this the same as finding a friend through communities on the internet, such as eBay, that allow you a better chance of finding someone to purchase your ticket from you?

6) Any final thoughts?

some artists like say M put a higher value on the tickets to prevent 3rd parties from making money off of her.

Go on, then. I'll help you out...

1) What are your views of people selling concert tickets on auction sites such as eBay?

Scum. They're feeding off people's passion for music and exploiting it to make a quick buck. They price real fans out of attending events.


2) Should the Government legislate against concert ticket touting?

Yes, provided that there's a sufficiently robust definition of what that is. You don't want to stop people going to concerts in groups with their friends. And you need to make it enforceable otherwise it's not worth doing. Ebay's shown little interest in proactively intervening in auctions that breach copyright law, for example, so you might need an all-out sales ban to make it enforceable.


3) Through auctions tickets sell to the highest bidder. Is it fair that only the richest are able to attend the events?

Perhaps it's fair but it's not morally right. Technically speaking, I guess the artist and venue can sell at whatever price they want to whoever they want. But it really kills the gig to auction tickets. You end up with a bunch of people on corporate jollies in the front rows, with little passion for the music. To make a truly exceptional gig, you need real fans packing the place out. Also, fans end up resenting the artist and venue for making them pay so much to just see a gig. People on here are understandably annoyed at the VIP ticket sales (you'd do well to read about that in other threads) because they were charged hundreds for seats with terrible sound (albeit great views) and those seats were later sold for £35. That's milking the fan base and people don't like it.


4) One way for the industry to compete would be to get in the game and sell some of the best tickets through auctioning instead. This could mean higher costs for the better seats as is the case through brokers such as Ticketmaster or auctions such as eBay. How would you feel about paying more money into the industry/artist than to the third party? eg. There is a feeling that the artist would be money grabbing whereas the third party is providing a service that is worth more.

See above. But I'm much more likely to skipping concerts than I am to suddenly start paying ten times the amount to attend. Much as I love Prince and other artists, I can't justify spending the cost of a short holiday on one gig. The third party isn't providing a service that's worth more - they're just beating real fans to the genuine ticket sales and then ripping them off.


5) How would you feel if reselling was made illegal meaning that, in theory, you could not sell you ticket on to a friend if you, for example, broke your leg and could not attend? Is this the same as finding a friend through communities on the internet, such as eBay, that allow you a better chance of finding someone to purchase your ticket from you?

No, it's not the same. There's a difference between passing tickets to people you know and opening touting for buyers. The law would be unenforceable in the case of friends in any case, and that would be fine for everyone. Nobody wants to see empty seats - we just don't want to see people getting ripped off. Ebay isn't really a community - it's just a market mechanism. There's a stronger argument for selling tickets at face value through fans forums like this.


6) Any final thoughts?

Yes. Booking fees and postage fees are shocking. The concert industry does itself no favours with its stealth pricing tactics.

Some acts are getting a bit smarter by making tickets available to pre-registered fans, but it won't be long before touts are registering with big acts just to get tickets. David Gilmour made tickets available by pre-registered lottery, which theoretically gave people a fairer chance than racing to the phones and redialling when tickets went on sale. Again, you can't stop touts registering, but you at least more fairly distribute the tickets than through a telephone lottery which many people can't play because they're at work on Friday mornings when tickets go on sale.

One problem is that venues refuse to accept returns, which forces people to sell their tickets on if they can't go. If venues would allow refunds on tickets, people could return them for resale at face value to other fans. David Gilmour arrnaged this on his recent tour to stop people being forced to sell on their tickets on the black market. Clearly, touts will still sell. But it greatly reduces the problem of genuine fans selling to the highest bidder just to get rid of a ticket they no longer need.

Good luck with your research. Please publish a link to it when it's finished.

The only thing I have to say is that last night I arranged to meet someone who was selling a ticket....swapped numbers, arranged to meet up and so I turned up to the O2 and this guy didn't show....he texted me claiming he wanted to go inside because he didnt want to miss the show.... it was 7.30pm...

I figure he obviously decided to sell it to a higher bidder.

So anyway I bought a ticket from the ticket office at the last minute.... it was a better ticket, it was in Block 111, and only cost me 31.21.

Dumbass.... all them scalper/ticket-sellers are dumbasses.... unless they end up being nice.... make sense?

Hahha haha ha

I guess that little epipsode had nothing to do with your original post though huh?