Per The Guardian, ministers had been considering allowing the resale of tickets for up to a 30% markup on platforms like StubHub and Viagogo. But they have apparently changed their minds, which both outlets attribute in part to last week’s open letter, wherein artists including PJ Harvey, Radiohead, and Mark Knopfler called for the government to “commit to include legislation on a price cap in the next King’s Speech.” While the plan would prohibit anyone from reselling a ticket for more than face value, ticketing platforms are still allowed to charge fees on top of the resale.
The issue of ticket prices has been present on both sides of the Atlantic in recent years. After getting tickets for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour was such a public disaster that the FTC had to get involved, various artists have tried their own methods to prevent scalping. Last week, Hayley Williams unveiled an admitted pretty convoluted plan to try to prevent scalpers from scooping up tickets and reselling them at a markup. Back in September, the FTC had a real broken-clock moment when it alleged that Live Nation and Ticketmaster had “deceived artists and consumers by engaging in bait-and-switch pricing through advertising lower prices for tickets than what consumers must pay to purchase tickets” and “sold millions of tickets, often at much higher cost to consumers, on its resale platform that those brokers obtained in excess of artists’ ticket limits.” Perhaps this update across the pond could do something to finally fix our own broken ticketing systems.
