Complete Music Update (04/01/19) Cooke, Chris

Eventim-owned primary ticketing company TicketOne is urging Italy’s communications regulator to start enforcing the country's Secondary Ticketing Act, noting some operators are still unofficially reselling tickets. The Secondary Ticketing Act authorized Italian communications regulator AGCOM to intercede where tickets are being commercially sold at above face value. According to TicketOne, it petitioned AGCOM to sanction scalpers still reselling tickets in Italy and the websites that facilitate resale. "Over the years, we have intensified all preventive measures against online touting available to us—but we must go further, because this phenomenon cannot be controlled solely through the primary market," argued TicketOne's Stefano Lionetti. He said the company has identified three sites that continue to speculate on ticket resales. TicketOne's push for swift enforcement is prompted by a new rule requiring promoters and primary ticketing agents to ensure all tickets are personalized, with the buyer's name printed on them, for shows exceeding capacity of 5,000. This rule comes into force on July 1, and the live events industry generally views this mandate as significantly inconvenient. "This is why we request policymakers and institutions to reopen the discussion [on what is necessary to combat touting]," Leonetti stated. "We hope this will lead to a reflection on the actual need to introduce personalized tickets this coming July."

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