Are Ticketmaster's paperless tickets really a bad idea?

By Tara Evans for the Daily Mail

Published: 17:24 GMT, 28 September 2012 | Updated: 17:24 GMT, 28 September 2012

A new paperless ticket system from Ticketmaster which prevents customers from reselling them is punishing fans when they can't make the event.

Today in the Guardian Lisa Bachelor wrote an article about Radiohead fans who are annoyed by the new system from Ticketmaster which means people cannot access the event without the card or card holder present and are unable to sell them on.

It’s very annoying for those genuine fans who can no longer make the event and want to sell the tickets on at face value. But in the long term could this help fan get lower ticket prices?

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OK computer: Thom Yorke from Radiohead who have put paperless tickets in place for it's UK gigs.

Ticketmaster told me last month, when I covered the same issue, that it was developing a face value ticket exchange where customers will be able to resell tickets.

The website has introduced the system after pressure from fans, event organisers and artists to stop tickets from being resold at much higher values.

Admittedly the process needs the quirks ironing out and Ticketmaster need to make it easier for customers to get refunds or information changes while it develops its new website.

Overall, I think the idea of paperless tickets and reasons behind developing a platform for artists and fans are good.

It should mean, in theory, that fans can buy tickets safe in the knowledge that they can resell them if they can’t attend, but that they won’t have to pay a higher price just because someone wants to make a quick buck.

In my opinion artists, management and venues are of course out there to make money -  but they’re also setting tickets at a price to give fans access to the performance at that particular price.

Aside from the moral argument, they should want to cut out the re-selling of tickets because it doesn’t make the artist or management any money.

However, the Guardian story sparked a response from Joe Cohen, boss of re-selling website Seatwave, in the form of a blog about why paperless tickets are a bad idea.

He argues that beauty of the entertainment industry is that you can buy a ticket for a good or service and not have to choose who uses It and that paperless tickets place an ‘undue burden’ on customers.

Interestingly he also says what the industry should be focusing on is who benefits financially from ticket resale and ‘why the supply of tickets is often constrained before they ever go on sale to the public.’

Paradise: Coldplay performing in Poland earlier this year.

This is in response to the Channel 4 Dispatches programme which revealed that reselling website Viagogo has received tickets directly from promotors to resell on the website.

For example, 9,000 tickets for Coldplay’s 2012 tour which were never offered to fans to buy, but directly ‘re-sold’ via the website. (The programme was made after a This is Money investigation into the issue.)

However, scarily Joe claimed that: ‘If consumers and regulators permit this type of anti-competitive activity all fans will suffer through higher prices and limited access to great events.’

So, if we all switch to a re-selling at face value method we will end up paying more?

What about those people who are already paying inflated prices because someone buys a shed load of tickets to make a bit of money with absolutely no intention of even attending the gig. (In my opinion these people are the worst.) 

In the past I've missed out on seeing a band or a gig because all the tickets have been snapped up, only to appear on a re-selling website within minutes of them going on sale at double the price. I just can't afford to splash out double or sometimes treble the price for a ticket.

Sigh no more: Mumford and Sons performs in Australia in 2010 - tickets to their UK and Irish tour went on sale today.

Take Mumford and Sons - tickets went on-sale today for its UK and Irish tour, with some venues selling out within minutes.

Tickets to the London date at the O2 cost £32.50 for standing and £29.50 for a seated ticket. The London date is now sold out via the Mumford and Son website.

However, there are already over 100 tickets for sale on Seatwave at an average of £78.88 and the cheapest standing ticket is currently £115.

That’s a hell of a load of people who bought tickets and then realised they couldn’t go in such a small amount of time.

Enlarge   Reality: A screengrab of the Seatwave website showing tickets on sale for the London date of the Mumford and Sons tour.

Of course, Seatwave doesn’t pretend to be a genuine fan ticket exchange. In a blog, it says: ‘We believe that fans should have the right to do what they want with tickets they have bought, including selling them at the going market rate if they choose to.’

I’m not saying they’re doing anything wrong, just that I don’t like it.

In his blog Joe argues: ‘The resale of tickets for concerts is a legal activity in Britain today, some may disagree with it but it is the law of the land.’

But if Ticketmaster get their face value reselling website right it could mean a fairer deal for fans.

It also needs to help support those customers who have to buy paperless tickets in the meantime.

And I for one am looking forward to seeing how it changes the ticket buying industry in the UK and I think that fans who hate paying escalated prices for tickets should support the move.

And if fans and artists want reselling at face value, then websites like Seatwave, who don’t want to change, will just have to miss out.

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