Calling all artists and managers! If you don't want ticket touts exploiting your audience, then please check our new guide. See also the good work by
@STARticketing
on resale T&Cs.
The ticket touting website viagogo is listing tickets for all
@oasis
shows - except for Croke Park.
Resale of tickets for profit was outlawed in Ireland in 2021.
UK audiences deserve similar protections.
Great to see
@oasis
add these important T&Cs to their upcoming live shows - protecting fans from online touts who operate through websites like viagogo and StubHub. Good luck to everyone logging on to buy tickets this Saturday!
If you want to understand viagogo's "business model".
This was within 20m of tonight's
@oasis
pre-sale.
A single tout.
Listing 80 tickets (which may not exist).
Looking to make £200,000.
Viagogo has zero checks and balances.
They cannot guarantee any tickets.
Thanks to
@KeeleyMP
@SharonHodgsonMP
@RhonddaBryant
and all other MPs who spoke out on behalf of fans. These amendments were simple and pragmatic. Unfortunately, this Government prioritises ticket touts and parasitical resale platforms over the interests of British audiences.
I just spoke in a debate and voted on an amendment which would tackle ticket touts and safeguard fans from the abuse rife in the secondary ticketing market
@SharonHodgsonMP
@FanFairAlliance
The only
@liamgallagher
+ John Squire gig *not* listed on viagogo is the
@3olympiatheatre
show in Dublin. Because ticket touting is outlawed in Ireland. Unfortunately for UK fans, they have to compete with viagogo's Dubai-based sellers who have been busy hoovering up tickets...
Big news for Monday morning:
@TicketmasterUK
is shutting down Seatwave and Get Me In! and promising a better deal for fans in the secondary ticketing market
We're stoked that
@samfendermusic
+
@od_management
will receive the FanFair Alliance Award at this year's
@AM_Awards
. The actions of artists, managers and promoters are fundamental to stopping rip-off secondary ticketing. Putting principles into practice.
2018 saw major changes in "secondary ticketing". With more to come. Thanks to all who supported
@FanFairAlliance
- far too many to name, through some are mentioned here:
@musicbizworld
Viagogo keep claiming the UK's ticket resale market is "highly regulated". If that was the case, viagogo wouldn't be fraudulently advertising
@PaulMcCartney
tickets today - that aren't even onsale until tomorrow.
Delighted
@FanFairAlliance
could contribute evidence to today's
@CommonsCMS
report on Live Music. Since 2016, there's been huge progress to overhaul "secondary ticketing" and we fully support the Committee's recommendations. Statement here:
Almost everyone who has contacted
@FanFairAlliance
, to tell us they’ve been ripped off via a secondary site, was led astray via Google search. That’s why yesterday’s announcement is so important. Look forward to updating our consumer guidance in 2018.
This is an important announcement from
@CMAgovUK
. Viagogo have missed deadline after deadline. The changes made to their website have not been enough. They must go to court.
We’re going to take further legal action against viagogo.
This follows our repeated warnings that the site has failed to fully comply with a court order we secured.
Read more:
A great end to the year. This is an important step - with more needed (and hopefully to come) in 2018. Read the
@FanFairAlliance
ticket buying tips here:
NEWS: The next step in the fight back against rogue ticket touts is here. Today we've banned the use of bots by ticket touts. We're stamping out these rip-off tactics so in 2018 consumers can enjoy more of the live acts they love
Lots of people to thank for yesterday’s developments with Google & Viagogo - but didn’t want to forget
@PeteWishart
who held a Westminster Hall debate last year, and understands the damage caused by online ticket touts. Thanks Pete for your support.
After a short hiatus, yesterday we relaunched the FanFair campaign - with 3 clear goals to help eradicate exploitative ticket touting, and make life easier for UK music fans. Details here:
Yesterday,
@Google
activated its certification system for ticket resellers. It's already making some positive impacts, but requires one important tweak...
Still don't think I've seen a single
@viagogo
listing that complies with UK consumer law. Or the ASA ruling. Or Google's ticket resale guidelines. Or Google's AdWords policies.
I am over the moon that the CMA have launched legal action against Viagogo. This has been a long time coming as fans have been ripped off for too long. What a great achievement for campaigners
@FanFairAlliance
@clairelouisetur
#VoV
Yet more "content" from the unsavoury
@NME
and
@viagogo
partnership. Today, an exclusive survey claiming more UK music fans are travelling to overseas events because of cheaper tickets - which presumably they *didn't* buy from a rip-off touting site...
Right here is the issue with ticket touts.
@JamieWebster94
plays the biggest show of his life at Sefton Park for 40,000 fans. Google directs them to viagogo. Where touts based in Abu Dhabi list *99* tickets at twice face value. We need politicians to step in and stop this rip off
The
@CMAgovUK
said they wanted further evidence of Viagogo breaking the law before they’d act. Looks like
@ByRobDavies
@guardian
has just provided that evidence. Surely court proceedings will follow this latest transgression
#toutsout
Revealed: Viagogo site offers toolkit that helps touts use techniques deemed fraudulent in a landmark case.
New info in here on how touts beat you to tickets.
Adding to this thread: capped fan-to-fan ticket resale has long been standard practice outside North America. Pioneered by the likes of Twickets and Resident Advisor. In the UK, Ticketmaster closed their "uncapped" resale business in 2018.
🧵Billie Eilish is using fan to fan face value resale on her new tour, following after Pearl Jam and The Cure, among others. Anyone can resell their ticket if they can't go, but only at face value. Brokers and resale sites hate this idea. Here's a thread to clear up some myths:
NEWS! Great to see today's
@CMAgovUK
announcement on the ill-fated Viagogo/StubHub merger. The BIG questions going forward? Who wants to buy a distressed ticket resale business? How many ticket touts do they know? Do they realise how much they'll have to spend on Google ads?
Today our legislation to
#BanTheBots
comes into force, with those breaking it facing unlimited fines. As I've said before, there is more to do, but this is a huge step. Thank you to everyone who has worked with us to make sure real fans see great shows at a fair price!
Just another day for viagogo. Yesterday, their beleaguered MD, Cris Miller, was a guest on
@BBCr4today
- arguing the case for ticket touts and a black market. Meanwhile, in a German court room,
@FCBayern
were starting legal proceedings....
FC Bayern München verklagt Händler Viagogo wegen teurer Tickets: Fans könne der Eintritt verwehrt werden, warnt der Club. Was er dem Karten-Portal vorwirft – und wie dieses sich wehrt.
The outright refusal of
@CMAgovUK
to acknowledge mass-scale fraud on viagogo is...disappointing! Probably the last thing I'll ever write on this subject. Thanks to some brilliant journalists
@ByRobDavies
@markhmcgivern
@sharivahl
for giving it attention.
Thankyou
@SharonHodgsonMP
for raising this important question. Google is such a trusted site, it’s just crazy they enable Viagogo to mislead ticket buyers.
During DCMS questions this morning I raised the issue of Viagogo appearing at the top of Google searches on 80/100 occasions according to research by
@FanFairAlliance
. Victims of Viagogo tell me that they bought from Viagogo after a Google search!
@clairelouisetur
The biggest ticket resale sites must today comply with an
@ASA_UK
ruling on misleading pricing practices. "if they won’t co-operate, we won’t hesitate to take action"
@thetimes
The tired old "secondary ticketing" platforms are being disrupted. Resale needs to become easier (for artists + audiences), and we still want further change (Google, *please* stop allowing Viagogo's misleading PPC ads), but progress is being made...
Yesterday, viagogo took the unusual step of proclaiming their own compliance with a court order to overhaul their business. Today, we have evidence that leopards don't change their spots. Tomorrow? We need action from
@CMAgovUK
#toutsout
Promising announcement today from
@CMAgovUK
on Viagogo's $4.05bn acquisition of StubHub. AKA "the worst deal ever" (Forbes). Hopefully this paves the way to a full Phase 2 investigation.
The B.C. government is introducing legislation to ban software and bots that scoop up huge numbers of tickets to live events before fans get a chance to buy them at face value.
It's been a big 24 hours in the fight against ticket touting: trials in Leeds, developments in the House of Lords, and now a very welcome policy commitment from
@UKLabour
. Read the reactions of
@FanFairAlliance
supporters here:
Very happy to make a contribution to
@JonathanDean_
's
@thetimes
piece on
@taylorswift13
and ticket touts. The advice (as always): please avoid rip-off sites like viagogo and StubHub.
Did a piece on the purgatory of buying tickets for Taylor Swift, which wonders out loud if all the tickets on secondary sites are simply from honest fans who just cannot make it anymore
Can we stop fans being exploited by online ticket touts? Yes, we can. Here's 4 things for event organisers, the Government,
@CMAgovUK
+
@Google
to consider - as detailed in the new issue of
@Access_AA
Viagogo has written to us saying they will not attend a scheduled appearance as part of our inquiry into live music this afternoon. Read Chair
@DamianCollins
' full statement in response here >>
@FanFairAlliance
Please join me & support our
#VofV
response to yesterday’s
@CMAgovUK
announcement: …
“In the interests of consumer safety, rights & welfare we are calling on any claims by
@viagogopress
that
@viagogo
is compliant to be urgently removed.”
Big developments today in secondary ticketing - with online touts BZZ receiving jail sentences for fraud. We now need renewed pressure on platforms (ie Viagogo + StubHub) that enable such rip-off merchants to thrive.
@FanFairAlliance
reaction here:
Today we stand with our friends & colleagues throughout the music industry to once again call on the government to take action and support the huge number of skilled people whose careers & businesses are currently at risk
#WeMakeEvents
#LetTheMusicPlay