You know what’s the worst? When you want to buy tickets, but the show sold out and the only way to get in is by buying from someone that bought them and is jacking up the prices just to make some money. While that continues to happen here, it’s also prevalent in the UK, where an organization, PutFansFirst, has been started to provide a forum, and ultimately spur the government to address it and reform the industry. So far, the campaign has gotten some notable UK metal acts on board, with Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi remarking. Iron Maiden have even written about it on their website today:
The ever increasing plague of ‘Secondary Ticketing’ excesses are a blight on live music and sports events and much to the detriment of fans, both in terms of fair cost and equal opportunity to buying tickets when they go on sale. There is an urgent need for greater transparency on ticket sales . Many major bands and managers, agents and promoters along with national sporting bodies like the RFU and ECB have long been calling for Government intervention and legislation as there is far too much excessive profiteering going on at the expense of genuine fans . But to date…nothing.
However there is finally an opportunity with the Bill from the All Party Parliamentary Group on Ticket Abuse, co-chaired by Mike Weatherly MP (Conservative) and Sharon Hodgson MP (Labour) to inject much needed transparency .
Your support is critical to demonstrate to this Government that the Public are fully behind us in this opposition to the current abuses. We would urge all UK Maiden and Metal Fans to consider supporting this Bill and assist ideally by emailing your local MP or simply going on Facebook or Twitter. Contacting your MP is the most helpful and carries the most weight, but it would be terrific if you not only do all three but invite your friends to do so too. This may well be the best and only opportunity fans have to get some protection from the touts and more equality in getting tickets to major concerts and events.
Using this template, or in your own words, we would encourage you to email your MP asking them to support this amendment when it comes back to the House of Commons.
Iommi wrote about it on his Facebook Page late last week, stating:
A number of MP’s are trying to restrict secondary ticketing sites where they use computer technology to buy large numbers of concert tickets and then re-sell them at inflated prices. There was a debate earlier this week and the proposals were turned down, however, there’s another discussion coming up so the more support they can get the better. If you agree that fans should be able to sell tickets that they can’t use but not allow this to be exploited for commercial gain, here is the link – www.putfansfirst.co.uk
While this campaign may not have an immediate impact, at least it’s got two of metal’s biggest names aligned with it. Because if you’re going to pay a ton of money to see a band, you might as well do it knowing that the band is going to see some of that money.
