U.K. Government to Ban For-Profit Ticket Resale: Report

Europe’s largest music market will soon be announcing a ban on ticket resale for profit, elating music fans while roiling investors in secondary ticketing companies like StubHub and Vivid Seats. 

Multiple outlets in the United Kingdom are reporting that the Labour Party government of Prime Minister Keir Starmer will announce a plan to crack down on ticket scalping this week. Outlets like The Guardian are reporting that Starmer’s government had considered capping resale at 30% above a ticket’s original face value, but ultimately opted to ban the resale of tickets above face value following significant pressure from artists and industry groups. 

According to The Guardian, ticket holders for popular concerts like Coldplay and Dua Lipa will be able to resell tickets on sites like StubHub and Viagogo, but not charge more than they paid for the tickets. Resale sites would be allowed to charge fees on top of that price, but the fees would be limited and set by regulators. The resale ban would also cover social media sites, which some resale site operators have claimed would serve as fraud-heavy alternatives if markets like StubHub were shut down. 

Shortly after the news broke, Viagogo issued the following statement to Billboard.

“We acknowledge the government’s announcement today which is part of a long, multi-year process, not a final outcome. Evidence shows price caps have repeatedly failed fans, in countries like Ireland and Australia fraud rates are nearly four times higher than in the UK as price caps push consumers towards unregulated sites. The solution is open distribution: connecting primary and resale platforms to verify tickets. This allows the sharing of critical information to identify illegal bot activity and eliminate fraud. Opening the market to greater competition also helps drive prices down, benefiting fans.”

The new regulations will also include purchasing limits on tickets and mandates from the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) that resale sites like StubHub will be responsible for policing their own platforms.  

The news sent the share price for StubHub’s U.S. company, StubHub Holdings, tumbling on Monday (Nov. 17); the stock ultimately closed down 13.8 percent. StubHub has endured a brutal November, with shares down a combined 33% after the company failed to provide a financial forecast for the current quarter. 

The publicly traded StubHub Holdings — which owns Viagogo — is a different company from the U.K. StubHub brand. The Competition and Markets Authority forced the firms to split into two companies following the merger of Viagogo and StubHub in 2020. 

Representatives for Live Nation applauded the deal, telling Billboard in a statement that “Live Nation fully supports the UK government’s plan to ban ticket resale above face value. Ticketmaster already limits all resale in the UK to face value prices, and this is another major step forward for fans — cracking down on exploitative touting to help keep live events accessible. We encourage others around the world to adopt similar fan-first policies.” 

Earlier this month, more than 40 British artists, including Sam Fender, Radiohead and The Cure, sent a public letter to Starmer urging the U.K. prime minister to “stop touts [scalpers] from fleecing fans” and cap the price of resale tickets at face value. The pressure campaign followed a recent CMA study that found U.K. tickets sold on resale sites were typically marked up 50 percent.  

Following the announcement, the North America Ticket Broker association, which represents independent ticket resellers, released their own statement on the legislation. It reads, in part:

“NATB joins the 300 financial institutions belonging to UK Finance, economists,
consumer organizations, and others in opposing the UK government’s plan to cap resale ticket
prices. Price caps may sound fan-friendly but they are ill advised for several reasons. First, it is
not realistic to think that price caps can somehow make markets more efficient and fairer.
Consumers are best served when they have viable professional resale options to purchase tickets.
In the primary market, where consumers often have only a single monopolistic option as to
where to buy tickets, there is no restraint on pricing or fees imposed. The secondary market has
allowed millions of fans to benefit from a competitive space to buy and sell tickets. Not
surprisingly, multiple surveys have shown that consumers overwhelming believe that they should
be free to buy and sell tickets freely without restrictions. Importantly, the imposition of price caps leads to an increase in fraud and does not effectively end resale. Rather, it simply drives it into black markets that provide no protections and leave consumers with no recourse when issues arise.”