Australian Government Investigates METALLICA Scalping "Outrage"
June 8, 2010, 14 years ago
According to Lars Brandle from Billboard.biz, the Australian government is scoping the effects of ticket scalping on the general public.
The Commonwealth Consumer Affairs Advisory Council has launched a review, which will examine the secondary ticketing market and asks whether changes are needed to the system of distributing tickets Down Under.
"Ticket on-selling can have positive and negative impact on the market, consumers and suppliers," notes the review document, which is titled "Ticket scalping: Ticket on-selling and consumers."The challenge, it continues, "is to balance fair access to tickets for consumers, with the desire of organizers to control pricing while capturing potential revenue. Accordingly, measures to control the practice of ticket on-selling may have consequences for the market, consumers and suppliers."
The review goes on to explain that some Australian fans were "outraged" when tickets to the Australian leg of Metallica's World Magnetic 2010 tour were purchased in a pre-sale through Ticketek for $150 Australian ($127) and were then on-sold for greatly hiked prices. Bids on eBay for two "Gold" reserved seats reportedly reached $699 ($591).
"Some fans were angry at how on-sellers could buy up tickets, causing fans to be unable to secure good seats or to miss out on tickets altogether," the study continues.
Read more here.
