Christopher BarrettMore than 1,750 tickets were listed for resale for Radiohead’s upcoming EU tour before the general sale began, according to the Face-value European Alliance for Ticketing (FEAT).
Many of the tickets were advertised at €1,500 or more, with some reaching nearly €4,000. FEAT, which campaigns against ticket fraud and for better ticket resale practices across Europe, said it was yet another example of large-scale speculative ticket listing by nefarious operators.
The practice of speculative ticketing happens when resellers fraudulently advertise event tickets they do not own yet, effectively betting they will be able to source them once the general sale opens. FEAT said that the practice often leaves ticket buyers exposed, receiving tickets at massively inflated prices, which are often in a worse seat than expected and do not guarantee entry. In some cases, their ticket isn’t sent to them, and they can’t get into the concert, having already paid for their travel and accommodation.
FEAT found that the majority of the tickets were listed by traders linked to WorldTix, a company based in Engelberg, Switzerland, that offers tickets for hundreds of concerts via Ticombo. It said the speculative listing of the tickets almost certainly violates the EU’s Unfair Commercial Practices Directive.
Among the re-sale tickets listed were 485, priced between €540 and €2,049, for the band’s four shows at London’s The O2 Arena in November. Among the highest priced tickets listed were for the band’s forthcoming shows at Madrid’s Movistar Arena, which were listed for up to €3,749.
FEAT said Viagogo and Gigsberg are also facilitating the resale of potentially illegal tickets for Radiohead’s upcoming concerts, by running advertisements on Google directing consumers to illegal content.
Radiohead has implemented a range of anti-scalping and legal measures to prevent tickets appearing on unauthorised resale websites, including using a presale registration period and limiting the number of tickets purchasable. Official ticket resale opens on 13 October through approved websites only, with tickets sold through non-official channels subject to cancellation.
FEAT co-founders Doctor Music CEO Neo Sala and MCT-Agentur CEO Scumeck Sabottka, who are the promoters for Radiohead’s Madrid and Berlin dates, issued a statement in which they said, “Radiohead have taken strong measures to protect their fans, but once again we see no-good ticket scalping websites taking advantage of demand. Doctor Music and MCT, together with FEAT, will reinforce this effort by reporting as many of these illegal tickets as possible. We have been fighting speculative ticket resale for many years, and we remain determined to continue this battle until stronger and more enforceable laws are introduced to protect consumers against ticket resale fraud.”