Pollstar (09/13/23) Gottfried, Gideon
The U.K.'s FanFair Alliance has relaunched its anti-ticket-touting campaign following the British government rejecting the Competition & Markets Authority's recommendations to tighten secondary ticketing laws. Those recommendations included a ban on speculative sales, and holding platforms liable for incorrect information about tickets listed for sale. The Department of Business & Trade decided instead to prioritize what it described as competition in the market to give consumers choice and flexibility. The FanFair Alliance warned that this continues to expose ticket buyers to “unlawful activities,” adding that “it remains a source of immense frustration that Google and YouTube continue to permit ticket touting websites to buy themselves to the top of search results — signposting fans away from official sources of tickets.” FanFair will now pursue new legislation to criminalize ticket resale for profit; call on Google/YouTube and other online platforms to stop promoting resale websites and instead help fans find official ticket sources; and push the live music business to increasingly back consumer-friendly resale services.
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