Harvey Goldsmith has again been speaking out against eBay and the fact they allow touts to auction off tickets for live music events to the highest bidder.
He was being interviewed about secondary ticket sales online in the run up to the high profile tribute concert he is staging in memory of the late Atlantic Records chief Ahmet Ertegun, which will feature the much hyped Led Zeppelin reunion, of course, and tickets for which are in high demand. Goldsmith has announced a number of measures to stop the resale of tickets to the event.
Speaking to Kerrang! Radio about the sale of tickets to the Ertegun concert on eBay, Goldsmith said: "I wish eBay would drop dead and die... I have begged them to take [the tickets] off and they have basically told us to fuck off. So I will do everything I possibly can to ruin their lives".
Although, as previously reported, many in the live sector have issues with the growth of online ticket touting, some Led Zeppelin fans have criticised Goldsmith over the rules he has introduced in a bid to prevent anyone who buys tickets via eBay from getting into the event, with some threatening to sue the promoter if they are refused access to the concert (mainly American fans, needless to say).
Others say that it is unfair to penalize those who buy tickets via eBay by not letting them in when it is the sellers who are, in their opinion, at fault, though Goldsmith doesn't agree. In another interview about online ticket auctions, he said: "I have no interest in supporting parasite businesses who prevent fans from supporting their artists by the increased price of the tickets and who ultimately put nothing whatsoever back into our business to support it".