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And Finally Artist News Gigs & Festivals Live Business
Ed Sheeran speaks out against secondary ticketing
By Andy Malt | Published on Monday 6 February 2017
Tickets for Ed Sheeran’s UK arena tour went on sale last week and, you’ll never guess what, loads of them immediately appeared on secondary ticketing sites for massively inflated prices. That’s Sajid Javid MP’s “classic entrepreneur” mates hard at work once again, making nothing but an honest buck.
This is nothing new, of course, but by the end of last year the resale market for tickets had come in for increasingly negative attention, including in the UK parliament, and around the world. And with fans increasingly speaking out against the practice, artists are under more pressure to denounce it too. Which is difficult for those artists who are complicit in it.
Not-at-all-complicit Ed Sheeran reckons touting is well shit, though. A rep for the musician told the Press Association last week: “We are vehemently opposed to the unethical practices that occur in the secondary market. We have written to each of our partners, be they promoters, venues or ticketing companies, detailing the way in which we expect tickets to be sold: direct to fans”.
It might be a bit late for that, but whatever. The spokesperson added that Team Sheeran are working with Twickets to help fans who missed out to buy resold tickets at face value. Though with so many tickets bought up by the industrial touts, who aren’t likely to place tickets on sale at face value, the problem remains.
Still, Sheeran fans are being warned not to use sites where higher prices are being charged. The rep went on: “We are aware and deeply concerned about the websites in question and have urged all fans not to engage with them in order to avoid being ripped off with higher prices or, potentially, counterfeit tickets. Once again, we urge all fans to only purchase tickets through official vendors”.
Of course, when some of the secondary ticketing platforms are owned and operated by ‘official vendors’, it’s not quite as clear cut as that.
