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A FEAT panel at Primavera Pro has publicly called for search engines to question their role in helping to facilitate unauthorised ticket resale –  a major cause in leading fans to overpriced, misleading and often invalid tickets. 

The panel – titled Possible solutions to speculative scalping and the web search engines that facilitate it – took place in-person and via livestream, and consisted of Neo Sala (Doctor Music), Nicole Jacobsen (previously tickets.de), Sam Shemtob (FEAT) and Scumeck Sabottka (MCT-Agentur).

Search engines host advertisements from unauthorised ticket resale platforms like viagogo, where professional ticket scalpers often resell tickets at way beyond their face value. This means that, when searching for their favourite artist’s shows, fans are regularly met with search results offering illegitimately-listed overpriced tickets on resale marketplaces. These paid advertisements appear at the top of the search page, above organic listings for official ticket sellers.

The panel discussed how the advertising policies of Google and other search engines, doesn’t permit advertising that deceives users, either by excluding relevant information or providing misleading information. But the panel suggested Google did not appear to be adequately enforcing this policy. The panel pointed out that, during Google’s brief ban on advertising from viagogo in 2019, global traffic to the site fell by two thirds, illustrating the extent of the search engine’s role in attracting fans to unauthorised resale platforms.

Addressing the need for greater consumer understanding of ticket resale, the panel also touched on the development of “Make Tickets Fair!”, a new Europe-wide campaign educating fans about safe ticket buying. Developed by a cross-industry working group, “Make Tickets Fair!” is already promoting best practice and sharing resources for fans and event organisers through its website. 

Neo Sala, FEAT Director and Founder & CEO of Doctor Music, said, “We see a close parallel between the situation now with the live events industry, to that in the noughties with the record business. I think we all remember when you’d Google a song name and ‘mp3’ and you’d be met with piracy links as the first, second, third results. Today, try Googling ‘Harry Styles tickets’ and you’ll see a link to unauthorised, overpriced tickets right at the top. The live industry needs to ask Google to take the same sensible steps as they did with the record industry and start guiding fans to trusted, official sources.”

Sam Shemtob, FEAT director, added, “Across Europe, countries including Belgium, France, Ireland and others have outlawed unauthorised ticket resale. The European Court of Justice meanwhile has ruled that event tickets are a contract for services, subject to terms and conditions of the event promoter; and the incoming Digital Services Act promises to tighten consumer protections in e-commerce further. In this environment of strengthening legislation, search engines ought to start asking what kind of companies they are. Do they want to enable the activities of ticket scalpers, and support the anti-consumer and anti-artist practices of unauthorised resale platforms? Or, do they want to stand up for their users and guide them toward legitimate tickets for the events they want to attend? We hope companies like Google will choose the latter option.”

A court in Paris has reaffirmed its decision to order Google to prohibit the sale of advertisements to unauthorised ticket resale platforms.

French authorities initially made the order back in 2020, on the basis that Google were allowing advertising from websites including Viagogo.fr, stubhub.fr, and rocket-ticket.com, which offered a platform to resell tickets without authorisation from the rightsholder. In France, it is illegal to market tickets without such authorisation.

As part of this initial ruling, the French court acknowledged Google’s liability for the development of a market ‘harmful to producers and organisers’ of events. It also ruled that Google was liable for reputational damage to events professionals, as consumers would be given ‘the false idea that producers and organisers of shows benefit from the artificial increase of prices.’ Consequently, the Court prohibited Google from authorising the purchase of advertising keywords relating to the sale of tickets for shows, unless the purchaser can prove that he has written authorisation from the producers of said shows.

Unhappy with this decision, Google appealed. But that appeal has now failed, with the court reasserting its order, and fining Google €300,000.

Google are a major player when it comes to ticket touting, with the ads that platforms like viagogo take out often appearing above official ticket listings and steering consumers towards touts. When Google imposed a brief ban on advertising from viagogo in 2019, visits to the global site went down by nearly two thirds. This is therefore a significant ruling, since Google’s role is rarely emphasised in official forums.

Italy’s Communications Regulatory Authority AGCOM has fined viagogo over €12M for breaking the country’s laws prohibiting commercial resale above face value, in what is the latest in a number of substantial fines the company has faced in Italy in recent years. According to AGCOM, the platform hosted resale tickets for commercial sale for over 68 events in Italy in 2022, often for prices over ten times the ticket’s face value. 

An amendment to Italian legislation was introduced to Italy’s 2017 budget law to criminalise ticket touting.  Subsumed into Italy’s Secondary Ticketing Act in March 2018, the law prevents tickets from being sold for commercial purposes above face value. Tickets can only be sold through platforms that are certified by the Italian copyright collecting agency (SIAE) and Italy’s governmental tax agency (Agenzia delle Entrate).

While €12M is a substantial sum for any individual person, for viagogo – an international corporation which purchased its rival Stubhub for $4B in 2020 – this will be a relatively small setback; similarly international action will be required to fix the problem of uncapped resale that viagogo represents. 

With over 40 major ticket resale cases taking place across the EU since 2016, we hope that the EU’s own Consumer Protection Cooperation Network will soon take a serious look at ticket resale.

AGCOM’s ruling is available here.

We’re delighted to announce that FEAT will have a strong presence at ESNS (Eurosonic Noorderslag) this year. Being held digitally on 13th – 16th January, FEAT will be hosting both a Keynote and workshop to support the launch of our brand new guide “Stop Touting: A Guide to Named Tickets in Europe”.

FEAT founding partner Scumeck Sabottka will be interviewed by award winning agent Emma Banks of CAA in an exciting Keynote which will discuss the fight against ticket touting, why it’s more important than ever and how agents, promoters and venues can come together to promote face-value ticket resale.

We will also be hosting a supporting workshop to explore the practical steps and key processes that agents, promoters and venues can take to ensure the tickets they sell do not end up in the hands of touts. We’ll be walking through how to use the guide effectively, making best practice clear and underlining the importance of named tickets especially as we see live music return with increased demand and limited capacity.

Find out more on the ESNS (Eurosonic Noorderslag) site.

A court in Paris has prohibited Google from selling keywords to advertisers selling or reselling event tickets without the promoter’s permission. In France, it is illegal to market tickets without authorisation from the event organiser.

Google will have one month to execute the ruling, which will apply to all live shows taking place in France, and affect operators outside of the country selling tickets to French shows. 

The action was brought by live events union PRODISS against Google France and Google Ireland after noting that on several occasions, advertisements had appeared for unauthorised offers for tickets, often at the top of Google’s search results. These adverts were for tickets on sites including viagogo.fr, stubhub.fr and rocket-ticket.com. 

In the recent judgment, the court acknowledged Google’s liability for the harm that the illegal sale of tickets does to the live events industry. It prohibited Google Ireland, which operates the Google Ads service, from allowing the purchase of advertising keywords relating to the sale of tickets for shows in France, unless the purchaser can prove that they have written authorisation from the rightsholder. 

Furthermore, the court found Google liable for reputational damage to live events professionals, as consumers may have been given the false impression that rightsholders benefit from the artificial increase in prices generated by these illegal activities. The court noted that Google had ‘undeniably participated with full knowledge of the facts’, affirming the active role taken by advertising platforms.

It is significant as it is an acknowledgment of the role that advertising platforms play in illegal sales: far from being viewed as passive, they must accept responsibility for their role in facilitating illegal activity. 

This is particularly welcome news during such a difficult time for the live events industry, which has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. Thanks to this decision, fans in France will no longer be encouraged by Google Ads to buy unauthorised tickets, and as soon as live events resume, they will be able to attend in complete confidence.

• Demands include clear liability for secondary ticketing marketplaces, ticket and seller verification obligations, increased transparency, efficient reporting of tickets listed illegally
• Call for rigorous enforcement by a dedicated EU agency, giving performance ratings to keep advertising networks in the know
• In response to the Digital Services Act, upgrading liability and safety rules for digital platforms

Download FEAT’s position paper here: https://bit.ly/3obUD11

FEAT has published its recommendations for the future of online ticket resale, calling for new rules that shield fans against harmful secondary ticketing practices and reduce illegal ticket resale across the EU.

The proposals are backed by the International Federation of Musicians (FIM), Pearle* — Live Performance Europe, the European Music Managers Alliance (EMMA), Spain’s Association of Music Promoters (APM), German event promoters’ association BDKV, campaigning group Victim of Viagogo and the global Association for Electronic Music.  They are also broadly supported by Professor Michael Waterson, economics professor at Warwick University, who led a watershed independent review into secondary ticketing on behalf of the UK government in 2016.

The Digital Services Act was announced by the European Commission in February to offer greater protection and create a level playing field for consumers buying online, with the European Parliament approving initial proposals late on Tuesday. 

FEAT’s recommendations include:

• Clear liability rules for ticket resale marketplaces, making sure they are held responsible for allowing or encouraging illegal activity
• Verification processes that require marketplaces to vet sellers and their tickets to prevent illegal or speculative sales
• Transparency measures that ensure marketplaces clearly provide fans with all the essential information: including details of the ticket (such as its face value), the seller’s identity, and relevant details about the site’s own business practices
• Efficient reporting and takedown for tickets that are not permitted to be resold. If site users spot listings that are illegal, speculative or invalid then they should have a simple system of reporting, which sites should act on in a timely and effective manner
• Rules must apply to all marketplaces selling to EU customers or tickets to EU events, even if the business is based in a non-EU country, to prevent sites evading the law
• Establishment of a new EU watchdog to enforce the rules, and keep consumers and advertising platforms aware of marketplaces’ behaviour, via a public performance rating