LONDON (CelebrityAccess) — Sir Keir Starmer, leader of the Labour Party in the UK, announced plans for new legislation that would implement a cap on ticket resale prices if his party wins the next general election.
Keir shared the outline of his plan during a speech at the Labour Creatives Conference at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in central London on March 14th, telling the audience that the plan would target touts who gouge fans seeking to attend live music and sporting events.
According to Keir, the planned measure would:
- Strengthen consumer rights legislation to restrict the resale of tickets at more than a small, set percentage over the price the original purchaser paid for it (including fees).
- Limit the number of tickets individual resellers can list to the number of tickets that individuals can legitimately buy via the original platform.
- Make platforms accountable for the accuracy of information about tickets they list for sale and ensure that the Competition and Markets Authority has the powers that it needs to take action against platforms and resellers.
“We can’t let access to culture be at the mercy of ticket touts who drive up the prices. So a Labour government will cap resale prices so fans can see the acts that they love at a fair price,” he told the audience. ”
Keir’s proposed measure drew strong support from the United Kingdom’s creative industry, including the FainFair Alliance, an advocacy group seeking reforms for the secondary ticketing market.
Other industry figures who offered support for the measure include:
Stuart Camp, Grumpy Old Management (Ed Sheeran):
“This is fantastic news. We have spent years fighting the scourge of online ticket touting and keeping prices fair for fans. The impact of these policies should be monumentally positive, and help to reset the UK’s live music market for the benefit of artists and their audiences.
Ian McAndrew, CEO Wildlife Entertainment (Arctic Monkeys, Fontaines D.C., Royal Blood):
“I fully welcome and applaud the commitment from Labour to introduce legislation to reform the broken resale marketplace which has blighted our industry for years. As a founder member of the FanFair Alliance, we have campaigned for over a decade to encourage change while introducing measures to try and protect fans. The introduction of new legislation will better protect fans from the unscrupulous practices of online touts.”
Brian Message, ATC Management (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, PJ Harvey, The Smile, Johnny Marr):
“ATC has always strived to prevent our artists’ audiences from being exploited by online ticket touts. This is often a challenging, time-consuming and difficult process, which is why we helped set up FanFair Alliance and why fresh legislation in this area is now so important. I’m hopeful today marks a real turning point.”
Adam Tudhope, Everybody’s Management (Keane, Baby Queen):
“The ticket market hasn’t been fair and free, it has been rigged to the detriment of the fan and in favour of touts. A group of us in the music business, and increasingly other businesses like sport, have been highlighting this issue for a number of years now, and I’m delighted that someone is finally listening. There are times when Governments need to intervene with legislation and this is one of them. So I welcome today’s announcement from Labour and I hope they follow through with this pledge if they get elected.”
Paul Craig, Nostromo Management (Biffy Clyro):
“As a music manager, I am delighted with Labour’s initiative to dismantle the secondary ticket market’s grip on live events. This decisive action against online ticket touting should herald a new era where fans can access tickets fairly, and the essence of live music will thrive without the shadow of exploitation.”
Annabella Coldrick, Chief Executive, Music Managers Forum:
“Back in 2016 the MMF was a key part of the creation of the FanFair Alliance to tackle the scourge of ticket touting. In the intervening years, and after providing stacks of evidence on the damage done to artists and fans, the whole music industry has come behind the campaign including UK Music and LIVE. We welcome greatly that the Labour Party has announced this policy and look forward to seeing it come into legislation.”
Stuart Galbraith, CEO, Kilimanjaro Live and co-founder of LIVE, said:
“Alongside other FanFair supporters, Kilimanjaro has called for these kinds of consumer-friendly policies for years. As a company, we work incredibly hard to stop our events being hijacked by online ticket touts, but the enforcement of new legislation is the only way to fully clamp down on these rogue traders and the platforms they sell across.”
Gareth Griffiths, Director of Partnerships and Sponsorship, Virgin Media O2:
“O2 has been part of the FanFair Alliance since 2017 with the aim of protecting our customers from online touts during our exclusive Priority Tickets presales. We’ve seen the secondary market swamped with over-inflated, sky-high ticket resale prices for years, with no benefit for artists or their fans. Legislation would be a crucial step forward and through our continued work with FanFair Alliance we’re pleased to see this issue getting the attention and action it deserves.”
