Aussie music industry veteran and Founder of Mushroom Group, Michael Gudinski, has rejected claims that promoters need to be more transparent in order to combat ticket scalping.
Gudinski, who is currently touring Ed Sheeran around the country for 18 huge shows, has shutdown suggestions that promoters should display the amount of tickets they intend to sell to punters so they don’t prematurely go to secondary markets.
On yesterday’s edition of triple j‘s Hack program, the President of the Ticket Brokers Association, Jay Felix, said concert promoters need to be more upfront about how many tickets will be made available for a show.
“They think there’s only going to be one show and people instinctively refer to the secondary market,” he said.
It’s a move the Victorian opposition and Greens appear to agree with, as they’ve announced an amendment to legislation that is currently being debated in Victorian parliament which would stop people from selling tickets for more than 10 per cent above their original price.
Tickets for Sheeran’s tour were being flogged for more than $1,000 shortly after tickets went on sale on official sites, and he later announced more shows.
Gudinski believes stating the amount of tickets available upfront is impossible to do.
“How the hell do you know how many shows you’re going to get? Who’s taking the risk here?” he said.
“We guaranteed 10 shows to Ed [Sheeran], I had no idea we would get 18 shows. What are we supposed to be, prophets?”
Gudinski believes that in order to properly fix the problem, it needs to be dealt with at a federal level.
“The Victorian Greens and Liberals are going right off the track and it’s gonna be another year before anything gets done. The source is where it needs to be stopped at,” he said.
“The local parliamentarians can all have their say, but they’re wrong. It needs to be federal and one law, one place. Because people can buy tickets in Brisbane and sell it in Perth for God’s sake.”
“It needs to be dealt with nationally once and for all,” he added.
“I had hundreds of people [who] didn’t get into the Ed Sheeran show in Perth because of it and I feel terrible about it. But it’s not my problem. It needs to be administrated.”
Despite scalping, over one million tickets have been legitimately purchased to Ed Sheeran’s current Australian and New Zealand tour, breaking a record set by Dire Straits.
