Putting fans first: why we need to shake up the ticket resale market, and our response to the UK Government’s consultation

By Gareth Griffiths, Director, Partnerships and Sponsorship, Virgin Media O2 

On April 4, the UK Government closed its consultation on the resale of live events tickets, following a 12-week period of asking fans and the music industry for their opinions on how it should take action against industrial-scale ticket touts. 

At O2, we have been a part of the fight for fairer ticketing ever since we joined the FanFair Alliance back in 2017. We sell over 1.5 million tickets per year via Priority Tickets and whilst we do everything we can to keep those tickets in the hands of music fans, it’s not enough – we need legislation to help us protect our tickets and our gigs. 

O2 is calling for change in the interest of our customers trying to buy tickets to their favourite shows. With that in mind, we are sharing our response to the government’s consultation in full. We have left no stone unturned in our campaign so far – from working closely with the FanFair Alliance, to collaborating with artists such as Bastille’s Dan Smith to rally fans to contribute and visiting The O2 arena to ask fans for their opinions. 

We – alongside millions of music fans in the UK – will be eagerly awaiting the government’s decision on how to combat greedy touts and win back our gigs for good. 

In the meantime, here are just three of the key points O2 made in its response to the consultation: 

1. Ticket resales should be subject to a price cap of 10% or less 

This is the most important change we need to see in the UK – we must prohibit the practice of reselling tickets at prices far beyond their face value. 

For too long, professional touts have flourished online and forced fans to choose between missing out on their favourite artists’ shows or paying extortionate resale prices. Whilst consumers should have the option to sell a ticket on when they can no longer attend a show – let’s face it, life happens – the introduction of a 10% cap will protect fans from being financially exploited whilst also ensuring no ticketholder has to lose out. 

At the same time, a 10% cap will effectively discourage professional ticket touting and stop resellers from ripping music fans off by millions. 

10% is, we believe, the sweet spot that will both protect fans and encourage a safe and reliable market to operate in their best interests. 

1. A ticket price cap should apply to all live events taking place in the UK 

Confusion in the resale market has been a massive issue for music fans – almost half of them admit they are ‘not confident’ in identifying a resale platform. We must combat this with simple changes that are easy to understand and don’t give touts the chance to exploit loopholes and make money from consumer uncertainty. 

The answer here is to introduce a blanket cap which applies to all live events, leaving no room for confusion. 

1. Resale platforms should be prohibited from allowing sellers to list more tickets for an event than one individual is permitted to buy on the primary market 

This is key to combatting the industrial scale ticket touting that has led to music fans being ripped off by an extra £145 million, according to our research with YouGov. 

Professional touts will use all tools at their disposal to hoover up tickets and then resell them at inflated prices. Over a six-week period last year, O2 blocked more than 50,000 suspected bots from entering our Priority Tickets platform. 

Touts are using technology to operate at a grand scale, despite fans only being permitted to buy a small number of tickets per transaction online. These rules are in place to keep the market fair and give as many fans as possible the chance to see their favourite artists live – so it’s imperative that this rule applies to the resale market too. 

The UK Government’s review on the ticket resale market is a chance to create meaningful changes to the law and change how we go to gigs for the better and for good.  

O2 will keep pushing for a fairer, more transparent resale market—because fans deserve better. With the right legal and regulatory framework, we can Stamp It Tout once and for all.  

Take a look at our campaign video, or visit www.stampittout.co.uk for more on the fight for fairer ticketing.