Some internet auction sites say people should be able to do what they want with tickets - but they would say that wouldn't they? After all, they're making £££s from it. Similarly, anyone who's regularly made a few quid from selling on tickets won't be too keen on it being stopped.
For the last year or so, the Department of Culture Media and Sport has been holding regular meetings with promoters and ticket agents, to try and agree a way to combat touting. The DCMS's own consumer study found that ticket buyers in the main, although frustrated with touting, didn't want legislation, believing that such a law would just be cover for the government to be 'on the make' in some way.
The most recent DCMS press release on these meetings had minister Tessa Jowell saying "I welcome the significant progress of the industry in pursuit of protecting the fans". But what progress?
At the first DCMS meeting with promoters and agents, the promoters and agents were given a list of simple measures they could cheaply and easily implement to help cut down on the ability of people to acquire tickets to sell on at an inflated price. Over a year later - and despite Jowell's claims of "significant progress" - many of these simple things have yet to happen. Meanwhile, promoters continue to moan about touting while doing little or nothing to act against it.
Glastonbury Festival's Michael Eavis has shown that systems can be put in place to combat touting if a promoter is determined to act against it. While these measures are somewhat over the top for what is, essentially, going to see a few bands, they show that someone that really cares about their customers can address the problem - and promoters moaning year on year about the problem while doing nothing is simply a lot of self-interested hot air.
eFestivals is 100% against touting. We believe that anyone with a surplus ticket shouldn't profit from it, and should sell it on at face value through a fair-exchange website such as Scarlet Mist, which was set up as a reaction against shameless touting. Even better, ticket agents should implement the DCMS's suggestion that they offer refunds.
We also believe that people shouldn't feed the greedy touts. It's no good moaning about it happening while encouraging it to happen more by putting your cash into a tout's hand. We've recently heard from a Mr Angry, mad at having paid £500 for a Reading Festival ticket from a tout just hours before a number of legitimate tickets became newly available for this 'sold out' event. But who should he be mad at? Did anyone force him to pay that price? All he has succeeded in doing is ensuring that the cycle continues. We all know the saying "don't bite the hand that feeds you", so why do people feed the hand that bites them?
These are simple and surefire ways through which touting can be defeated, but of course they don't address the here and now problem. It seems that the outcry is growing, and that anti-tout legislation of some kind will eventually happen.
eFestivals has big concerns as to what exactly might be contained in any legislation, but not because we're worried about the government somehow getting a cut of ticket money. Our concern is that any legislation might have the effect of, in essence, guaranteeing the businesses of promoters and ticket agents from competition, particularly as the government has to-date been listening to their thoughts about touting and believing the somewhat hollow claim of significant progress having already been made.
Some ticket agents already have one or more promoters as shareholders, it's sometimes the case that tickets are supplied exclusively by the promoter to the agent they have an interest in, and it's common practice in the ticketing market for agents to give a kick-back of a percentage of the booking fee to the promoter. Listening too closely to the wants of promoters and agents in formulating any anti-touting law is likely to close the market to anyone except the established large players, at the expense of competition and the customer.