06/04/18: UK Music has welcomed new provisions which come into force today (April 6) requiring ticket resellers to provide any unique ticket numbers (UTN) to the buyer to identify a ticket’s seat, standing area or location.
Jorja Smith performing at Lovebox 2016. Picture credit: Olivia Williams
At present, secondary ticketing sites frequently market tickets at vastly inflated prices – even when the tickets are still available on official sites at face value.
Claire Turnham set up the “Victims of Viagogo group” on Facebook after being charged £1,150 for an Ed Sheeran ticket from a secondary site.
Commenting, UK Music CEO Michael Dugher said:
“I’m glad the Government has listened to calls from UK Music and industry campaigners including the FanFair Alliance for action.
“These new measures are a positive step from the Government to ensuring transparency in the resale market.
“They now need to be actively monitored and enforced to ensure compliance with the law to protect music fans from being screwed over by sites offering tickets at vastly inflated prices.”
“Google has a role to play here too. It is deeply worrying that the much hyped changes to their advertising policies are still allowing Viagogo to appear at the top of search results despite the site not disclosing the face value of tickets up for resale. Google needs to up its game and kick secondary sites that flout the law into touch.”
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