Bastille frontman Dan Smith has said ticket touting is frustrating “on many, many levels” and “really galling” for artists who want to keep prices fair for their fans.
Singer Smith, 38, is encouraging music lovers to share their views for a Government consultation that is considering a range of options to make ticket-buying fairer after concert sales for artists including Taylor Swift and Oasis were marred by professional touts reselling at heavily inflated prices.
“I’ve been in online queues trying to just get a ticket to see an artist that I love, and knowing that a huge chunk of the people in that queue are only there to buy the tickets and resell them at a massively inflated price is fundamentally unfair and really frustrating,” Smith told the PA news agency.
Smith has teamed up with O2 to launch Stamp It Tout – a new information hub designed to help music fans buy gig tickets without being ripped off and to encourage them to take part in the new consultation.
“I think resale stuff will always exist. But I think the idea of putting a (price) cap on it means that it can’t inflate to something ridiculous”, he said.
O2 is calling for a 10% price cap on resale concert tickets and says its research suggests that ticket touts cost music fans an extra £145 million a year.
Smith said: “I can only really speak to our experience. As a band, we’ve always wanted to keep our ticket prices as low as possible, but obviously you’re juggling the sort of realities of a tour, and what it costs to travel to put on that show to employ a whole load of people who are sort of juggling that – plus wanting to keep prices fair.
“So it is really galling to see someone come in and resell that ticket for, like double, triple the price, knowing that that money is not going back to the people who work really hard to put the tour together, work in the venues and all the sort of many, many, many other jobs that are involved.
“I guess, from our experience, we see online people and their frustrations around trying to get tickets in an honest way.
“The touting industry is frustrating on many, many levels.”
He added: “We’ve always kept our prices low because we want our gigs to be accessible, and it’s such a shame that you have to do codes and pre-sales and add sort of hoops to jump through for fans who are genuine, honest fans, knowing that there’s this whole other kind of side industry that unfortunately exists.”
Alongside the consultation, ministers have launched a call for evidence into pricing practices in the live events sector, including dynamic pricing, where prices fluctuate to reflect market demand.
Andrew Parsons, Ticketmaster’s UK managing director, denied it uses so-called dynamic pricing when he was quizzed by MPs in February.
Smith also reflected on Bastille’s upcoming tour, which is supporting grassroots youth music spaces, and said “music shouldn’t be a privileged thing”.
The From All Sides tour will feature music from the first 15 years of the band’s career with a donation going towards Youth Music’s Rescue The Roots campaign – helping to protect the future of the grassroots youth music sector.
“It’s devastating to see the lack of opportunities that are open to everyone and obviously I think that there should be way more provision for music education”, Smith told PA.The band, known for hits including Pompeii and Good Grief, will travel to cities including Cardiff, London, Newcastle and Manchester in November for the tour.
As well as the new information hub, O2 is deploying a Consultation Station at The O2 in London from April 1 to 3 where fans can submit their own views on ticket touting and how the government should take action.
The views gathered across the three days will then form part of O2’s own response to the consultation to ensure music fans’ voices are being heard and represented.
The government consultation is open until April 4.
