So, I thought that I would use my next blog post to have a bit of a rant. In all honesty, I feel it's always good to have a rant, whether it's verbally to a friend or family member, or via a written piece, such as blog posts. Anyway, the thing that is most annoying is...ticket touts.
Ticket touts, for those who may not have heard the term, are those people who buy tickets and then sell them on at ridiculous prices, often nearing the £1,000 barrier. How is that fair to true fans who actually want tickets?
I have to admit, as a disabled music fan, I am lucky when it comes to buying tickets, as all I have to do is phone a dedicated ticket line and someone usually picks up between 45 minutes- 1 hour later. However, what about those who are not disabled? The problem starts here.
I'll give you an example. I was trying to get Muse tickets for my Mum and Dad (my Dad is a big fan) and I went to this ticket site to get tickets. Despite me getting on the website exactly on 9am when the tickets went on sale, and refreshing the page multiple times, I kept getting a message come up saying no tickets available and yet tickets were appearing on secondary ticketing sites within seconds of being released, selling at some ridiculous prices. Finally, after 3 hours and multiple dates being added, and me phoning up the O2 arena directly, I got some tickets but I was still annoyed that tickets that could have been given to real fans.
Thankfully, artists and their management are putting things in place to (try and) stop ticket touting. Recently, acts such as Ed Sheeran and Arctic Monkeys have ensured that the ticketing process is fair by putting strict instructions on what to do on their websites:
- the lead booker's surname will be printed on the ticket.
- the lead booker must arrive at the venue and present a photo ID.
Ed and his management also stated on his website to bring confirmation of the booking and teamed up with a website, Twickets, along with other artists such as, Little Mix, Adele, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds and Lana Del Rey, where purchasers of tickets can sell them appropriately, so people can buy these tickets from this website at face value.
Despite this, and countless features on TV regarding problems with people ending up with dodgy tickets, ticket touting is still happening, meaning we are still a long way off from tackling the touts. However, with these special measures in place, hopefully we will less ticket touting in the future.
If you need/would like to sell your tickets, or buy some sold tickets at face value, visit https://www.twickets.live/
Em x
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