However ask Viagogo CEO Cris Miller what his hero Bob Marley would have considered live performance tickets being bought for tons of of {dollars} greater than their preliminary worth, and he’s optimistic the reggae legend and political activist would see his aspect of the argument.
The historically press-shy Viagogo boss has been occurring the offensive in latest months because the group faces the existential menace of a worth cap on ticket resales, which might crush its enterprise mannequin.
Viagogo’s reselling platform has turn into a bugbear for pissed off music and sports activities followers who’ve turned to the platform once they can’t get tickets on preliminary resale, typically compelled to pay markups value tons of and even 1000’s of kilos.
Miller was requested by the Guardian whether or not the One Love singer Marley would approve of that system, which has turn into some extent of rivalry amongst followers and musicians alike.
“I think after some education, yeah, he would,” Miller stated.
Ticket resale mannequin in jeopardy
The U.Okay.-founded ticket vendor has been criticized for overseeing a system that returns enormous income to ticket touts, in different phrases, individuals who purchase tickets from supply and promote them secondhand at a steep markup.
Miller instructed The Guardian that he most popular the time period “professional resellers,” whereas additionally distancing himself from them by claiming they wouldn’t be thought of “business partners.”
Ticket reselling has turn into a prime matter within the final couple of years, as high-profile excursions by Harry Kinds, Beyonce, and Taylor Swift have proved fertile floor for ticket touts to extract most worth from superfans.
Viagogo’s U.S. companion StubHub, which it merged with in a $4 billion deal in 2021, was criticized for permitting resellers to cost as much as $35,000 for tickets to Swift’s Eras Tour final yr.
Miller is a staunch free marketeer who believes that the exorbitant resale costs merely replicate how a lot customers are keen to pay for them and never a failing in his platform.
“Buyers make their own decisions,” Miller told Fortune in an interview final yr. “If they see a ticket up there that’s out of their price range or their comfort zone, don’t buy it.”
That stance is unsurprising, given Viagogo generates income by taking a lower of the ultimate sale worth of tickets on its platform.
Nevertheless, that avenue for income, and accordingly the group’s IPO prospects, is now in jeopardy.
Labour chief Keir Starmer, who is anticipated to turn into Prime Minister following a Normal Election this Autumn, has vowed to herald laws that may cap the value resellers can cost for tickets.
Disagreeing with Miller’s view that the ticket reselling mannequin is honest, Starmer argued that ticket touts lower off entry to tradition to these on decrease revenue.
Nevertheless, Miller doesn’t consider this method would work, arguing it could simply encourage a black marketplace for reselling, which may improve the incidence of scams.
“What happens with price caps is that the highest-demand part of the market, where you might see prices go above the original price, will just get driven underground,” Miller stated.
No matter Miller’s rationale, it appears followers have been left unimpressed with the resale system that Viagogo has inspired.
Based mostly on almost 38,000 Trustpilot user reviews, Viagogo has a mean rating of 1.7 stars out of 5.
The platform additionally doesn’t have many followers amongst artists.
After a pair was convicted of fraud for creating false identities to purchase up numerous tickets earlier than reselling them on Viagogo, musician Ed Sheeran’s supervisor stated he and his singer had moved towards the present resale mannequin.
“Ed Sheeran’s 2018 summer stadium tour was when we really took a stand against online ticket touts,” Sheeran’s supervisor Stuart Camp told the BBC.
“The low point for me had been one of his earlier Teenage Cancer Trust concerts, where tickets were listed on Viagogo for thousands of pounds, but with none of the money going to charity.”
