Olivia Dean hit out at both Live Nation and AEG on Friday for allowing tickets to her US shows to be resold at hiked-up prices on their primary ticketing platforms, Ticketmaster and AXS respectively.
The spat highlights how the two live giants have so far approached ticket touting differently in the US and the UK, although there’s an increasing call within the American music community for the US live industry, and US law-makers, to follow the UK’s lead on all this.
An initial Instagram post from Dean complained that tickets for her newly announced US dates had ended up on unnamed ticket resale sites. She apologised to fans that “there seems to be an issue with ticket re-selling and pricing”, before reassuring them that her team were looking into it.
This whole matter was “extremely frustrating”, she added, because “the last thing I want is for anyone to be scammed or overcharged for our show”. She then told fans to “be wary of buying tickets in the comment sections as it is most likely a scam”.
An hour later she clarified that tickets were being touted at marked-up prices not just on the standalone resale sites like StubHub, but within the Ticketmaster and AXS platforms. Her later Instagram post addressed Live Nation and AEG directly, declaring “you are providing a disgusting service”.
“The prices at which you’re allowing tickets to be re-sold is vile and completely against our wishes”, she went on. “Live music should be affordable and accessible, and we need to find a new way of making that possible. BE BETTER”.
Although when we talk about ticket touting - or ticket scalping as they call it in the US - we usually discuss the sale of tickets on secondary ticketing sites like StubHub, Viagogo, Gigsberg and Vivid Seats, primary ticketing services like Ticketmaster and AXS also allow the resale of tickets within their platforms.
In the UK, people can only resell tickets at face value within the Ticketmaster platform, while AXS currently allows the seller to mark the price up by no more than 10%.
Live Nation did once operate separate for-profit resale sites in the UK, while AEG UK had a formal partnership with StubHub. However, that ended in 2018 when both live giants cut their involvement in for-profit resale in the UK as the music community’s campaign against touting started to gain momentum.
But in the US, both live giants remained involved in for-profit touting, ultimately by offering uncapped resale tools within their primary ticketing services.
However, artists and promoters can request that resale for their shows is capped or not allowed on both Ticketmaster and AXS within the US. Live Nation and AEG argue that - because this gives artists and promoters more control over what happens to their tickets - it is the best approach.
But currently artists and promoters have to request the caps and restrictions, otherwise unrestricted resale is allowed by default. Some campaigners argue it should be the other way round. Seemingly with Dean’s shows, restrictions were not requested by whoever was handling ticket sales.
Ticketmaster was quick to respond to Dean’s angry social media posts, stating in its own post, “we support artists' ability to set the terms of how their tickets are sold and resold”. Given the opinion strongly expressed by Dean on Instagram, it added, “we're capping resale prices for Olivia Dean’s tour on our site at face value and hope other resale sites will follow”.
AEG also put out a statement, saying “as soon as we noticed the price irregularities in the secondary market, we immediately shut down resale for the one Olivia Dean show that was promoted by AEG Presents and ticketed by AXS. We have been vocal in our support of legislation that protects artists and fans alike”.
Last week the UK government announced that it will introduce new laws next year that will outright ban for-profit ticket touting, meaning resellers will only be able to sell tickets for the price they bought them at on primary sites. The commission charged by secondary ticketing platforms on the resale will also be capped.
Ticket touting was generally less controversial within the US until relatively recently, with Live Nation in particular staying much more involved in secondary ticketing within the US market, despite shutting down its resale sites in the UK and the rest of Europe in 2018.
However, the campaign against touting has gained momentum in the US too, with Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino even coming out in favour of new law that would cap resale prices at something like 20% above what the tout originally paid.
The UK government’s proposals go further than that, of course, prohibiting any uplift in price. And American campaigners have applauded that decision while calling on law-makers in the US to follow the UK’s lead.
The National Independent Talent Organization said last week, “we hope policymakers stateside are paying attention and that reining in predatory resellers is a global movement", adding that NITO agrees that “capping resale prices is the boldest and best way to protect fans and the artists they support”.
Meanwhile the National Independent Venue Association also said it was “calling on state lawmakers throughout the United States to follow the UK's proposed ticket resale price cap”.