Speaking at a ticket touting summit, the Culture Secretary asked all those present including Mean Fiddler, Live Nation, Live 8, Concert Promoters Association, DF Concerts, Harvey Goldsmith, See Tickets, Ticketmaster AND eBay - to sign up to a set of principles in an attempt to stamp out touting.
She asked ticket agencies to:
Secondary ticket agencies, such as internet auction sites, have also been asked to provide better information such as the original price of the ticket, relevant terms and conditions, and the seat block or location. If a fan decides to pay above face-value for a ticket they will at least be making an informed choice.
She also called on fans to boycott sellers or sites that deliberately set out to either defraud fans or charge them exorbitant prices - after all, if no one buys from the rip-off merchants they can't rip anyone off (and this touting problem would end entirely)!
Ms Jowell said: This summers pop concerts, sporting events and music festivals risk becoming the preserve of people with bulging wallets. I want to see ticket agencies squeezing ticket touts out of business to protect genuine fans from being frozen out of the market. This is the first phase in the battle to stamp out ticket touting. If we can stop bulk loads of tickets getting into the hands of touts, genuine fans will stand a better chance of getting tickets to see their favourite band or sports team.
The principles will be tested by primary and secondary ticket agents over the next three months. The summit will reconvene in July where a final code of conduct will be drawn up.
The government has no current plans to make touting illegal - after all, it's only capitalism in action! - but is looking to identify practical mechanisms that will make it unattractive for ticket touts to operate.
There's certainly an awful lot promoters can do to simply deal with the problem, as Glastonbury organiser Michael Eavis has shown. But as this would be an expense with no obvious return for promoters, they seem keener to see the government take action, absolving themselves of any responsibility for the distribution of their 'product' (in this case, tickets) or having to provide customer care.