Ticketmaster condemn Arcade Fire touting

“I knew with Arcade Fire being so popular that the chances of buying tickets online from Ticketmaster was slim, but having tried and failed at 9am to get a pair it was really annoying to see them for sale on eBay at 9.10am for five times the face value,” complains Hotpress reader Gemma Malone from Dundalk.
While most of the eBay vendors appear to be private individuals, a company called needaticket.net operating out of offices in Dublin’s Westland Row are offering €45.20 Arcade Fire standing tickets for €180. They’re also selling €24.50 tickets for Cansei Der Ser Sexy’s upcoming Ambassador Theatre show for €60 even though it’s not sold-out.
“These are nothing more than on-line touts,” Ticketmaster Ireland spokesman Tony O’Brien tells Hot Press. “If you look at the site you’ll see they invite people to sell them tickets which they in turn will re-sell at exorbitant prices. The people who buy tickets and then sell them to touts like these are not real fans. They’re doing the ordinary fan out of a chance of buying tickets.”
While informed sources within the industry claim that it was possible to buy up to 50 Arcade Fire tickets in one transaction, this suggestion has been strenuously rejected by Tony O’Brien.
“There was a limit of 10 tickets per person,” he insists. “Only four people purchased 10 tickets. The average purchase was between four and six tickets.
“We crosscheck addresses where we’re suspicious of purchases and anything that goes on to the secondary markets, we’ll try to block those tickets,” he continues. “We always advise people to only buy from legitimate outlets. For instance, if you look up eBay, there are tickets on sale there for shows that don’t even exist.”
Ticketmaster’s disdain for needaticket.net and rival “brokers” like ticketlandireland.com who give an address on the Navan Road is shared by the promoters of Arcade Fire’s Dublin shows, MCD. In a statement issued to Hot Press, they urge the Government to “close these type of sites down and call on other promoters, Ticketmaster and music fans alike to fully support our call for action and put an end to all forms of ticket touting now!”
Those are also the feelings of Aiken Promotions’ Peter Aiken who says: “I don’t think there’s any fan, band, promoter or other person involved in the legitimate music industry who doesn’t want to see the touts put out of business. Realistically, you’re never going to stop individuals buying a couple of extra tickets and selling them on for a profit, but with the right legislation these professional American-style ‘brokers’ could be shut down overnight. The same goes for the guys you see selling tickets outside venues, ours included.”
Observes another prominent promoter who declined to be identified: “Touted tickets have been an issue in this country since the first All-Ireland was staged, yet despite numerous Government promises, nothing’s been done about it. Perhaps with an election looming they’ll pull their fingers out and tackle the highly organised touting we now have in Ireland.”
He goes on to reject claims that promoters themselves have done little to address the problem.
“To say, as some newspapers have, that we don’t care is outrageous. What other business restricts itself by putting a limit on the amount of product – i.e. tickets – that it’s prepared to sell its customers? It makes far more commercial sense for us to say, ‘Go on, have as many as you want’, but of course we don’t. Promoters are doing their bit, now it’s Bertie or his successor’s turn.”
Aiken Promotions, Ticketmaster Ireland and John Reynolds’ POD Concerts have all voiced their support for Fine Gael’s proposed ‘New Prohibition of Ticket Touts Bill’, which allows for the confiscation of tickets, fines of up to €3,000 and/or six months in jail. It’d also make it illegal for magazines like Buy & Sell to carry adverts for tickets selling above face value.
“We weren’t consulted about Fine Gael’s proposals – we never are – but they’re definitely a step in the right direction,” agrees Peter Aiken.
Disappointed that so many tickets for their Irish and UK dates have fallen into the wrong hands, Arcade Fire have issued the following statement: “Please don’t encourage the touts. Wherever we have email addresses and ticket numbers for sellers we will cancel the tickets and put them back up for sale on show day. Please don’t buy from them and risk your tickets being cancelled.”