Memorandum submitted by Ian Davies
If "the Market" is a good thing with
respect to essential services such as the NHS, public transport,
and so on, then surely it must be a "good thing" when
applied to luxury commodities such as tickets to entertainment
events.
If anything needs investigating in ticket sales,
it's the cartel of official sales agents. For instance, if you
attempt to purchase a ticket for a gig at a Mean Fiddler venue,
with a face value of £12.50 via their website, there is a
20% booking fee (£2.60) and a £2 postage charge (postage
at that level can't be any more than first class post costing,
what?, 30p plus a 5p envelope). There is no alternative to this
way of purchasing tickets, thus making the booking fee a compulsory
tax, and a distortion of prices. This is across the board of ticket
agents. Ticketmaster now offer downloadable tickets for some events,
yet charge a convenience fee on top of the booking fee. What's
that all about?
I note from your website that there was a ticket
touting summit, the attendance of which reads like a who's who
of this cartel. Where was the representation of the consumer in
this? Nowhere, nor was there any representative of the entirely
legal ticket touting industry, although I appreciate you might
find it hard to get them. If you want a representative of the
former group, I would be happy to help—I shall make my credentials
as a gig-goer available if you need them.
Further, the rampant inflation in concert ticket
prices is again operating against the consumer. When I first started
going 15 years ago, £5-6 was the norm. Have you seen the
price of tickets to Madonna or Barbara Streisand? 15 years ago,
£60 would buy me a weekend ticket to the Reading Festival.
Now it will buy me a single day. In 1990, I saw a concert at Milton
Keynes Bowl. It cost me £15. Bon Jovi charged £50 last
summer.
While there may be security concerns in separating
attendees at football matches, this doesn't apply to concerts.
What if I am unable to buy tickets for something
I wish to attend, and they sell out before I can? How does it
benefit me to be prohibited from purchasing a ticket?
What happens if I can't attend, due to a change
in my circumstances? Despite the extortionate booking fees, a
"no refunds" policy is almost universal in the ticket
agencies. Why should I be prohibited from selling, or for that
matter, giving away, something which I can no longer use?
Ticketmaster also offer some tickets for some
concerts in an auction process. It seems that ticket agents objections
to this method of sale is only held if they're not doing it.
There is no harm to promoters or performers
in the sale of tickets—if anything, there is a benefit.
If the touts buy all the tickets quickly, then the promoter and
performer gets their projected income, and the risk of sale is
transferred to touts, who have no opportunity to return the tickets
for refunds.
In conclusion, then, I am completely against
the prohibition of free market trade in tickets or other goods,
and I believe that the concern shown over this by the cartel of
ticket agents is entirely based on self-interest.
May 2007
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