Concert promoters AEG have announced a new scheme that, it says, will save fans from the pain of having to hand over extortionate amounts of money to ticket touts for tickets that should have cost a fraction of the price being charged. That said, they'll have to hand over an extortionate amount of money for tickets that should have cost a fraction of the price to the promoter instead - so I'm not sure the music fan will be all that better off, (unless, of course, the knowledge that the artist and their promoter, rather than an anonymous tout, will be getting the extra cash helps them sleep better at night - though given that the most highly priced tickets are often for millionaire artists promoted by billion dollar corporations I'm not sure it will).
Anyway, AEG hope to achieve all this via a new auction service on their ticketing website where fans the will be able to bid for the most premium seats at venues hosting flagship events. The service aims to compete with all those unofficial auctions of sought after tickets which take place on websites like eBay, ensuring that if and when fans are willing to pay higher prices for those tickets, the premium revenues secured go to the promoter of the event rather than a third party agent or ticket tout.
In a statement outlining the new service, the live music company says: "By introducing an auction system, AEG Live aim to price touts out of the market as there will be no room for additional mark-up - ticket prices will have already reached their maximum value as decided by the fans. This will make the process much more transparent with fans able to purchase the best seats without having to fund criminal activity and any extra revenues will be ploughed back into making the show better and helping pay artist costs".
AEG Live Senior VP, Rob Hallett, told CMU: "It's a win-win situation. By introducing this scheme we are able to take the whole trade out of the hands of unscrupulous touts and put it on a legitimate business footing that benefits both the public and the artists. Fans are assured that their transactions are 100% safe".
The new service will launch on AEG's existing UK website this week, I think, which you'll find at http://www.aeglive.co.uk