The live music industry in Britain is booming and several
businesses have been set up specifically to serve the after market
in tickets. Artists are now claiming that they should share in
revenue from those sales as well as the original sale.
Managers for artists including Radiohead, Robbie Williams and
Arctic Monkeys have backed the creation of the Release Rights
Society (RRS), which would regulate secondary sales, label sites as
complying with their standards and take a percentage of their
earnings.
"It is unacceptable that not a penny of the estimated £200
million in transactions generated by the resale of concert tickets
in the UK is returned to the investors in the live music industry,"
said Marc Marot, chairman-elect of the proposed society. "Where
this trade is fair to consumers, we propose to authorise it by
agreeing a levy on all transactions.”
The idea is the brainchild of the Music Managers' Forum and the
society aims to come into being before the end of January 2008,
with finalised plans for agreements with sales agencies in place by
March.
The growth in ticket sales has led to a number of companies
being set up to match buyers and sellers of tickets. They have
vehemently opposed the idea of taxing the sale of tickets in the
secondary market.
"This is just a bunch of pigs at the trough," Joe Cohen told The
Guardian newspaper. Cohen is the chief executive of ticket sales
company Seatwave. "They see some money and they want it. Our focus
is to bring prices down in the secondary market and all this does
is raise prices for consumers while adding no value at all."
"If I sell my Ford car, and have already paid for it, I don't
have to pay Ford again when I sell it," chief executive of Viagogo
Eric Baker told the same paper. "We don't understand the concept of
taxing fans to buy tickets that have already been paid for."
The resale of tickets is not illegal, though e-commerce expert
Struan Robertson of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind
OUT-LAW.COM, said that companies can attempt to ban it.
"Event organisers often sell tickets with conditions that forbid
resale. That prohibition is a contract term, but it's really
difficult to enforce," he said. "It takes personalised tickets and
proof of identity to stem the flow of second-hand tickets through
your doors – and that's expensive as well as a hassle."
Robertson said that promoters face a problem even if they do put
notices on tickets banning their sale. "The problem for organisers
is that generally it's not illegal to resell a ticket, so under the
current law you can't stop sites like eBay from hosting auctions
for your tickets, because eBay isn't a party to your contract," he
said.
The Government has investigated the issue and a report from
Parliament's Culture, Media and Sport select committee is expected
shortly. It has asked for submissions on whether touting as a whole
should be outlawed.
The touting of football tickets is against the law for security
reasons. The Criminal Justice and Public Order Act banned the
practice to preserve the integrity of fan segregation because of
violence at football games. Parliament's consultation asked for
view on whether that legislation should extend to music events.
