Following a kick up the backside from Culture Minister Tessa Jowell, the ticketing industry may finally stop whingeing about touts (also known as scalpers) and actually do something about them.
Touts are bad for the industry’s image. Unlike official sellers, they do not mention the original ‘face’ value of the ticket, they have been known to lie about the position of seats and in some cases sell tickets they don’t even have. People who buy tickets from touts have no right to a refund on the event of cancellation.
Are We Being Served?
It seems major agencies will introduce some kind of returns system in September and concert promoters will create a joint website for exchanges. Astonishingly, for a customer service industry, too many producers, promoters and even venues have shown no concern up to now for the individual or group booker who is unable to attend a show. So how can they complain if those tickets end up in the hands of touts?
To their credit, some producers, agencies and especially venues do want a better relationship with their customers. The trouble is, they are fighting against a whole industry mindset that thinks each show has its own discrete market. A customer relationship beyond the current show may not matter for presenters of the big name artist tour or the blockbuster musical but agencies and venues rely on repeat business.
What The Industry Can Do
The industry can do more to eliminate touting. Controlling the tickets allocated to promoters, artists and sponsors would help. Insisting, in the style of airlines, that only the person named on the ticket gets entry would be another.
The fact that touts can sell at inflated prices shows that those prices are too low. Promoters and producers could sell their best seats at much higher prices, counterbalanced by lower prices for the inferior seats.
The government could also help. They could adopt the nanny-style approach of saying no ticket can be re-sold at all. Or they could accept the reality that ticket prices like any other commodity are subject to supply and demand and try to control the situation by making it a legal requirement that all secondary agents (which touts are) register and conform to a code of conduct.
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