secondary ticketing Archives

Europe’s live performance sector signs open letter for tougher EU rules on online marketplaces

Posted on 11 March, 202227 June, 2022

Over 140 representatives from across Europe’s live performance sector have signed an open letter calling for the European Union to introduce tougher laws on online marketplaces. The signatories, who represent the worlds of pop, ballet, opera, theatre, comedy and more, are fed up with Europe’s exploitative ticket resale market, which drains hundreds of millions of euros from the live sector annually.

The letter focuses on the EU’s upcoming Digital Services Act, a regulation designed to make the internet safer. It comes ahead of a crunch meeting due to take place on Tuesday 15th March. Signatories include managers, agents and promoters for Ed Sheeran, Rammstein, Christine and the Queens, Robbie Williams, Jean-Michel Jarre, Alejandro Sanz, Hélène Grimaud, Parov Stelar, Måneskin, Die Ärzte, Yann Tiersen and Sigur Rós; plus many festivals, venues, industry groups and performers.

The letter reads as follows:

We are a wide-ranging group of European stakeholders from the culture industries, including artists and performers, managers, booking agents, event promoters, venues and representative organisations. We represent the core of the live performance sector, supporting culture and innovation, as well as contributing to economic growth, competitiveness and social development.

Ticket resale marketplaces are a hotbed for illegal activity. They enable professional ticket scalpers to resell tickets for a significant profit – often fraudulently – contrary to consumer protection and competition laws in many Member States. They use manipulative sales tactics and supply ticket resellers with tools that make it easier for them to commit fraud. Not only that, by concealing the identities of sellers, the ticket market supports widespread tax evasion, and tax authorities in Member States miss out on considerable tax revenues as a result.

These practices exploit fans and seriously undermine cultural businesses by leaching away hundreds of millions of euros each year. This threatens the post-pandemic recovery of Europe’s live events sector and has a knock-on effect on artists and business owners.

The Digital Services Act offers an opportunity to compel online marketplaces to act responsibly, and the next phase of negotiations is crucial in setting a high standard for consumer and business protection online.

With this aim in mind, we request that the new rules outline clear and robust responsibilities for marketplaces to ensure sellers are identifiable (“Know Your Business Customer”). This means obtaining and making best efforts to ensure the name, address and bank details of the seller, and the products offered, are legitimate. The identity of the seller must also be clearly visible alongside the products offered, as fans need to know who they are buying from. As well as checks on sellers, marketplaces should also carry out periodic spot-checks on listed products to ensure that they comply with the law.

Importantly, these basic obligations within the Act must apply to all businesses. We particularly reject the idea of a waiver for medium-sized businesses, which would leave the rules vulnerable to exploitation and encourage bad actors to move to smaller platforms.

Should a marketplace fail to comply, we ask that they be held accountable for any resulting illegal activity and harm done to fans.

Please find our supported compromise amendments here.

Live performance professionals who wish to sign can do so here.

SIGNED BY:

Representative Organisations

ACOD Cultuur: Inge Hermans (ACOD Cultuur President Comité Muziek)
APM (Asociación de Promotores Musicales) (Music Promoters Association of Spain): Albert Salmerón (President)
BDKV: Johannes Ulbricht (Legal Director)
Bundestheater-Holding GmbH (Austrian Federal Theatres’ Organisation): Magdalena Menheere (Group coordination ticketing)
CSC Transcom Culture: Didier Gilquin (Culture General Manager)
The Danish Musicians’ Union: Søs Nyengaard (Chairman of the Board)
Deutsche Orchestervereinigung (German Orchestra Association): Jean-Marc Vogt (Musician/President)
European Arenas Association: Victoria Matthews (Executive Officer)
European Music Managers Alliance (EMMA): Per Kviman, Chair
FAIR-MediaSind, The Romanian Federation for Culture and Mass-Media: Leonard Octavian Paduret (President)
Face-value European Alliance for Ticketing: Sam Shemtob (Director and Co-Founder)
FanFair Alliance: Adam Webb (Campaign Manager)
Finnish Musicians’ Union: Ahti Vänttinen (President)
FNV (Federation of Dutch Trade Unions): Martin Kothman (Director of Media & Culture, Netherlands), Heather Kurzbauer (Professor)
Gadget abc Entertainment Group AG: Christof Huber (Festivals Director)
German Orchestra Union: Gerald Mertens (CEO)
Hungarian Musicians’ and Dancers’ Union: László Gyimesi (Vice President)
International Federation of Musicians: Benoît Machuel (General Secretary)
The Ivors Academy: Graham Davies (CEO), Crispin Hunt (Director)
Live DMA: Audrey Guerre (Co-Ordinator)
LKDAF (Latvian Cultural Workers Union): Aldis Misēvičs (Chairman)
The Musicians’ Company: Richard Lyttelton (Charity Trustee)
Music Managers Forum: Annabella Coldrick (Chief Executive)
Musicians’ Union of Ireland: Seamus Doyle (Musician)
Musicians’ Union UK: Horace Trubridge (General Secretary)
Norwegian Live Music Association: Tone Oesterdal (CEO)
Pearle* – Live Performance Europe: Silke Lalvani (Head of Public Affairs)
SLC CGIL (Communication Workers’ Union): Loris Grossi (Representative)
SMV-USDAM Switzerland (Swiss Musicians’ Union): Beat Santschi (General Secretary)
Sindicato Profesional de Músicos (Spanish Professional Union of Musicians): Pablo Múzquiz (President)
Swiss Music Promoters Association (SMPA): Stefan Breitenmoser (General Manager)
Symf (Swedish Union of Professional Musicians): Gunnar Jönsson (President), Jonas Nyberg (Editor)
Theater-Transfer: Michael Hilleckenbach (Managing Director)
Vereinte Dienstleistungsgewerkschaft (ver.di), music section: Gabor Scheinpflug (Chairman)
Victim of Viagogo: Claire Turnham MBE (Founder and Campaigner), Jane Robinson (Moderator)
Younion: Thomas Dürrer (Sekretär ÖGB – Section Secretary)
YOUROPE – The European Festival Organisation: Katharina Weber (Project Manager)

Agents

All Artists Agency: Michael Sand (Booking Agent)
Creative Artists Agency: Emma Banks (Co-Head International Touring), Andy Cook (Agent), Jamie Shaughnessy (Agent)
One Fiinix Live: Jon Ollier (CEO/Agent)
Paradigm Talent Agency
Primary Talent International: Ben Winchester (Director)
Progressive Artists: Rob Gibbs (Booking Agent)
Pure: Angus Baskerville (Director), Jodie Harkins (General Manager)
United Talent Agency: Jules de Lattre (Agent), Beth Morton (Agent), Jamie Waldman (Agent)

Artists

Bernd Stelter: (Comedian)
Danceperados of Ireland: Petr Pandula (Artistic Director)
Michelle Shocked: (Singer Songwriter)

Festivals

AiaSound Festival: Frederik Kjærgaard (Founder & CCO)
Baloise SessionL Beatrice Stirnimann (CEO)
Caribana Festival: Samuel Galley (Booking & Production)
Europavox
Festival Cruïlla: Jordi Herreruela Salas (Director)
HOME Festival: Emanuela Virago (General Manager)
Paléo Festival Nyon: David Franklin (Ticketing Manager)
Provinssi Festival: Sami Rumpunen (Festival Director)
Rock en Seine Festival: Matthieu Ducos (General manager)
Stichting Explosion Festival: Hayo Braakman (Digital Event Manager)
We Love Green: Marie Sabot (Director)
Winterthurer Musikfestwochen – David Egg (Co-Head of Festival)
Verein Openair Etziken: Yves Ammann (Festivalleitung – Festival Director)

Managers

Crockford Management: Paul Crockford (Manager)
Grumpy Old Management Ltd: Stuart Camp (Manager of Ed Sheeran)
Klassenfahrt: Florian Böde (Artist Manager)
Ignition: Alec McKinlay (Partner)
RLM: Yann Barbot (Marketing & Booking Director)
Wildlife Entertainment Limited: Ian McAndrew (Artist Manager)

Promoters

AllBlues Konzert AG: Johannes Vogel (Director)
All Things Live Group: Kim Worsøe (CEO)
Applaus Kulturproduktionen GmbH: Paul Kunze (CEO)
art.emis Entertainment GmbH: Ulrich Lautenschläger (Manager)
Artist Promotion Management Ltd: Harvey Goldsmith (CEO)
a.s.s. concerts & promotion GmbH: Dieter Schubert (CEO), Florian Böhlendorf (Agent), Mick Köppe (Booking Agent), Sara Lemke (Tour Production), Jessica Zühr (Ticketing), Fabian Rau (Event Management Trainee), Susanne Strathausen (Marketing Manager)
Barley Arts: Claudio Trotta (Promoter)
Barracuda Music GmbH, Austria: Franz Erhardt (CEO)
Barracuda Holding GmbH, Austria — Austria: Ewald Tatar (CEO)
Cávea Producciones: Ramón García-Barros (Owner)
concert team nrw: Berni Lewkowicz (General Manager)
Concerts East: Siyabend Suvari (CEO)
d2mberlin GmbH/Die Wühlmäuse GmbH: Daniel Domdey (CEO)
DEAG Deutsche Entertainment AG: Britta Herrström (Senior Corporate Lawyer)
Doctor Music Concerts: Neo Sala (Founder and CEO)
domino Event SARL: Stefan Breitenmoser (CEO)
DreamHaus GmbH: TimEichin (Senior Coordinator Finance/Legal)
E.L.Hartz Promotion GmbH: Ernst-Ludwig Hartz (CEO)
FKP Scorpio: Folkert Koopmans (CEO)
Greenhouse Talent: Pascal Van De Velde (Founder and CEO)
Goodlive Artists: Justus Mang (Managing Director)
In&Out Producciones: Ana Zamarbide (CEO)
JCPL (Jerkin Crocus Promotions Ltd): Mick Brown (Agent)
I-Motion GmbH Events & Communication: Oliver Vordemvenne (CEO)
Just Because: Samuel Galley (Director, also of Ishtar Music), Kay Galley (Chief Marketing & Communication)
Just Life Music: Daniel Molina Morales (Head Promoter)
Karsten Jahnke Konzertdirektion GmbH: Ben Mitha (Managing Director)
Kontrapunkt-Konzerte (Counterpoint Concerts): Martin Blankenburg (CEO)
Konzertbuero Schoneberg GmbH (Germany): Andreas Moller (Head Promoter)
Kulturgipfel GmbH: Hilmar Koerzinger (CEO)
Landstreicher Booking & Landstreicher Konzerte: Christopher Moeller (CEO)
Live Music Production: Michael Drieberg (Managing Director)
MAAG Music & Arts AG: Fabian Duss (CEO)
MCT Agentur GmbH: Scumeck Sabottka (CEO)
MITUNSKANNMAN.REDEN. GmbH & Co. KG: Oliver Harms (Project Management and Ticketing), Max Paul (Event Manager), Thomas Schulz (Promoter)
Mundo Management s.a: Sanchez-Rando Leon (Contratacion)
Revolution Event GmbH: Michael Struber (Project Manager)
The Music Republic: Juan Carlos Gutiérrez (Director of Events)
Power Concerts GmbH: Arthur Theisinger (Managing Director)
Opus One SA: Vincent Sager (CEO)
The Project Music Company: Tito Ramoneda (Founder and CEO), Sandra Galindo (Management)
Universal Sounds: Daniel Hunziker (Managing Director)
Undercover GmbH: Michael Schacke (CEO)
VADDI Concerts GmbH: Marc Oßwald (Managing Director)
Zeitklang Event: Michael Richter (CEO)

Venues

Brighton Centre: Lindsey Scott (Ticketing & Customer Services Manager)
Capitol Betriebs GmbH: Thorsten Riehle (Managing Director)
Haus der Springmaus: Berit Baumhoff (Manager)
The O2: Veronica Kakuba (Head of Event Ticketing Operations)
SNG Opera in balet Ljubljana (The Ljubljana Opera House): Andrej Sraka (Musician)

Others

Michael Waterson: (author of the Waterson Review, an independent review of consumer protection measures concerning online secondary ticketing facilities, presented to UK Parliament May 2016)
RBR Abogados SL: Juan Luis Rodriguez (lawyer)
Raquel Andrade: (Executive officer at the Civil Service)
Turku Institute for Advanced Studies: Martin Cloonan (Director)
VWC: Vicky Kafetzi (Communications Professional)

French Consumer Protection Agency DGCCRF Hands Down €150,000 in Fines for Misleading Ticket Resale Practices

Posted on 8 February, 20228 February, 2022

French consumer protection agency DGCCRF has fined Global Service Concierge and its parent company WSI Live SA, €150,000 for misleading resale practices.

The investigations, carried out by its National Investigation Department, revealed that the two companies, which operate ticket resale platforms live-booker.fr and next-concert.com, were tricking consumers into believing that they were offering resale tickets with the authorisation of the promoters, whereas no authorisation was obtained. In France, it is illegal for tickets to be resold without the authorisation of the promoter under Article 313-6-2 of the French Criminal Code.

The news continues a pattern of Global Services Concierge’s malpractice in secondary ticketing, after the company was ordered to compensate PRODISS €100,000 for infringing French anti-scalping legislation in November 2020. The judgment expressly prohibited the company from offering resale services that sell tickets without promoter authorisation.

The sanctions against Global Services Concierge are an important moment in the fight against ticket scalpers and demonstrate the impact appropriate legal regulation can have on the uncapped secondary market.

FEAT Calls For Digital Services Act To Hold Marketplaces Accountable for Illegal Ticket Sales Online

Posted on 7 December, 20213 February, 2022

FEAT has co-signed a letter calling for the European Parliament to strengthen proposed rules on online platforms to better protect consumers as part of the upcoming Digital Services Act. Signatories include 22 other consumer and business associations.

The letter argues that the DSA in its current format is inadequate in protecting consumers and legitimate businesses from the trade of illegal goods and services, including counterfeit and fraudulent tickets, and fails to understand the reality of online commerce. It urges the body to “avoid adopting a framework that presents significant risks for both consumer protection and businesses’ viability and reputation”.

As it stands, the Digital Services Act looks set to offer an exemption for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) from certain due diligence obligations. In practice, this would merely encourage illegal traders to evade detection by moving to smaller platforms. While a waiver should still exist for micro-enterprises, the vast majority of Europe’s SMEs are still offline businesses, which have long been expected to meet their own set of diligence requirements.

In addition, the proposals ignore the vast and complex reality of online commerce by failing to hold all platforms that facilitate sales between traders and consumers to account. Limiting the scope of obligations such as the Know Your Business Customer obligation to marketplaces means that there will be limited accountability for selling on alternative platforms such as social media. This must be corrected by widening the scope of the forthcoming rules and increasing clarity about platform obligations and consequences.

The DSA as it currently stands is unsatisfactory. By making further adjustments, the Act can help consumers and small businesses trade online in a safe market no longer saturated with illegal trade.

You can read the full statement here.

FEAT Launches Guide To Prevent Ticket Touting Across Europe

Posted on 17 January, 202125 January, 2021

The Face-value European Alliance for Ticketing (FEAT) has published a guide for agents and promoters to stop scalping.

Launched by Eurosonic keynoter, MCT-Agentur’s Scumeck Sabottka, “Stop Touting: A Guide to Personalised Tickets in Europe” includes a step-by-step on how to implement a tout-proof personalised tickets system. It shows how ticket personalisation can be done successfully and straightforwardly, without risking long entry queues or putting your reputation as an agent or promoter on the line.

The guide also surveys the landscape across Europe, including:
– The size of the issue in various European countries
– Specific rules and regulations to be aware of in each territory
– Suggested ticketing platforms that can be used to curb touting.

Download the guide for free

As live shows resume, it is important that the industry sets the foundations for a full recovery, and solving the touting problem is intrinsic to this.

Worth an estimated €2.7bn in 2019, the secondary ticketing market was valued at €1.66bn in 2020 for Europe in spite of the pandemic, and is predicted to grow to €2.29bn by 2023 (Intellectual Research Partners). These billions, taken from fans, prevent them attending other concerts or buying merchandise or refreshments.

While the EU reviews its digital policy and the lack of fairness in the market, we cannot rely on regulators alone to solve the problem. The industry must come together to find workable solutions to tackle touting and establish a stronger, healthier live business. This guide aims to become a part of this.

Said Scumeck Sabottka, CEO, MCT-Agentur and FEAT Director: “This guide uses our experience of ticket personalisation, gleaned from multiple tours and arena shows, to show it can be done straightforwardly and successfully.

“My hope is that the live business will use this pandemic-induced standstill to improve the way we sell tickets, and protect artists, fans and our own businesses from these ticket touting vampires”.

Added Nicole Jacobsen, Managing Director and Co-Owner of tickets.de “Personalised ticketing is all about protecting fans from scalpers. I really hope this guide can begin to give the live sector the confidence it needs to make personalised ticketing part of its practice.”

FEAT Director Sam Shemtob commented: “Navigating the various markets across Europe, with different ticket laws in different states, can be difficult. With this guide, we hope to make things a little easier for artists, managers, agents and promoters who want to do the right thing.”

FEAT would like to thank all who contributed to this project, including Pearle* — Live Performance Europe and Managing Director and Co-Owner of tickets.de Nicole Jacobsen.

FEAT HOSTS SECONDARY TICKETING PANEL AT REEPERBAHN

Posted on 4 October, 20193 February, 2022

On 20th September, we hosted a panel at Reeperbahn Festival on the topic of ‘Unpacking the EU’s First Secondary Ticketing Legislation.’ It explored the ticketing bot ban included in the New Deal for Consumers and discussed how effective it will be, as well as exploring methods of consumer education (for background info on the new legislation, read the full story here).

Our Campaign Lead, Katie O’Leary, spoke on the panel on behalf of FEAT, with Sebastian Ott, Lawyer / Partner at Lichte Rechtsanwälte, Reinher Karl, Lawyer at Beiler Karl Platzbecker & Partner, alongside Dr. Johannes Ulbricht, Lawyer / Legal Adviser to BDKV.

Katie began by explaining that an event ticket is a license rather than a product, and as such it’s governed by the terms and conditions of the original sale, just like purchasing an airline ticket. She also advised on how event organisers can protect themselves from touting, including clear communications with fans regarding terms and conditions and encouraging primary ticket sellers to check their sales data.

She also discussed commercial solutions to the issues of the secondary market. These included the rise of fan-to-fan and face-value resale platforms, as well as other options for primary ticket sellers, such as dynamic pricing.

Overall, the panel was broadly positive on the potential impact of the new EU legislation, but emphasised that bots — the focus of these new laws — are far from the only method of ticket touting, and there is still a long way to go both legislatively and commercially in creating a fair market for both fans and industry.

You can read Katie’s comments in more detail here.

Germany’s BDKV secures judgement against Ticketbande

Posted on 6 February, 20196 February, 2019

The regional court of Hanover has ordered German secondary ticketing site Ticketbande to restrict the resale of tickets on its site.

Under these restrictions, there are two scenarios in which Ticketbande may not list tickets. Firstly, if a seller marks up a ticket to 25% above face value when the terms of the original ticket contain a specific clause agreed with the courts that forbid this.

Secondly, when tickets have a box for the buyer’s name. This means that they are named tickets and non-transferable (providing there is a way for that named person to get a refund if they cannot attend a show).

The court order against Ticketbande was sought by the German promoter’s association BDKV. Dr Johannes Ulbricht of law firm Michow & Ulbricht, who represents BDKV, said:

“This verdict finally eliminates a crucial grey area in ticket sales [and brings event organisers] a great step further in the fight against the commercial secondary market ticketing trade”.

FEAT’s director, Sam Shemtob, commented:

“This illustrates the traction that a variety of national movements, such as BDKV’s [anti-touting campaign] are getting across Europe, and shows that local judiciaries are not falling for spurious arguments in support of industrial level touting”.

For further information, see the CMU report.

FEAT Responds To StubHub’s Comment On FEAT Launch

Posted on 24 January, 201917 July, 2019

StubHub, an online ticket exchange company owned by eBay, argue in a recent Complete Music Update article that our “aims to restrict the resale of tickets by touts for profit online could be harmful to consumers“, among other things.

In response, one of our Directors Scumeck Sabottka has issued the following statement:

While we agree on the importance of a secure environment for fans to resell tickets when they can no longer attend a gig, we disagree on the need for this to involve price-hiking to the value of €8bn annually.
FEAT advocates for transparency in ticketing as our website attests. However, on that subject, we question why it took a CMA investigation for Stubhub to commit to telling UK ticket buyers what they are buying, whether they are buying from a business and whether their ticket might not actually get them into the event.
Both artists and fans want face value resale. We note the closure of Seatwave and GetMeIn! in the UK, the success of face value resale platforms like Twickets in the UK and Spain, and the fact that countries like Ireland are moving towards a face value resale only policy. We hope StubHub will catch this wave and work with organisations like ours towards a resale ecosystem that is truly fan first.

Read StubHub’s full statement on CMU.