Pollstar (03/18/19) Gottfried, Gideon

The U.K. Parliament's Digital, Culture, Media, and Sports Committee (DCMC) detailed the state of Britain's live music industry in a new report, citing problems in the ticketing market and challenges for music venues as key roadblocks. The study cited "progress" by enforcement agencies such as the Competition and Markets Authority and the Advertising Standards Agency in making secondary resale platforms compliant with consumer law. However, committee members suggested "Viagogo has yet to prove itself a trustworthy operator, given its history of resisting compliance, court orders, and parliamentary scrutiny, and flouting consumer law." Of particular concern is consumers' continued vulnerability to the platform's misleading sales practices. The FanFair Alliance has hailed the new report, emphasizing the need for action. Viagogo took issue with the DCMC's comments, arguing that "hundreds of thousands of British citizens use our service to buy and sell tickets to their favorite live events every day and never experience any problems." The report also criticized a lack of government action to prevent the closure of grassroots music venues, with recommendations that it "should immediately review the impact of recent business rates changes on the live music sector and introduce new or extend existing relief schemes such as those for pubs or small retail properties to lessen the burden of business rates on music venues."

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