Ticketmaster has given fans of Olivia Dean partial refunds after the British singer condemned ticketing companies for allowing touts to relist tickets for her North American tour at more than 14 times their face value.
After the tour sold out in minutes on 21 November and tickets appeared on resale sites at prices in excess of $1,000, Dean addressed the major ticketing companies on Instagram: “@Ticketmaster @Livenation @AEGPresents you are providing a disgusting service,” she wrote. “The prices at which you’re allowing tickets to be re-sold is vile and completely against our wishes. Live music should be affordable and accessible and we need to find a new way of making that possible. BE BETTER.”
In a statement, Michael Rapino, CEO of Ticketmaster’s parent company Live Nation Entertainment, said: “We share Olivia’s desire to keep live music accessible and ensure fans have the best access to affordable tickets. While we can’t require other marketplaces to honour artists’ resale preferences, we echo Olivia’s call to ‘do better’ and have taken steps to lead by example.”
People that buy from scalpers are too blame. It’s not the end of the world if you don’t go to their shows. These artist don’t care about you. Sure they appreciate you as a fan. But as an individual they do not care about you. Stop buying from scalpers.
I’m not sure what kind of statement this is. Sandwiched between “don’t buy from scalpers”, a fine message, is something about the artist not caring about you. Let me ask you, do you care about the artist more than their art?
I think live touring is often how artists get more than just selling their music, which seems to be going to many business people. This artist in this article seems to care enough to do something about it, granted that is rare.