If you love live music you probably know the following scenario well. You log on to one of the various ticketing platforms to secure tickets for an upcoming event the minute they go on sale. To your dismay, they are already somehow sold out and already popping up on resale websites for three or maybe even five times the original cost. This is becoming the norm, and it has to stop!

The current ticket sales climate that allows tickets to be bought and resold by entities to make massive profits is not only bad for customers but essentially steals from touring artists as well. If there is a market for people to buy tickets at the much higher prices that appear on these resale sites, the band and promotion companies deserve to benefit from it. In an industry ravaged by streaming and illegal downloading, touring now accounts for a majority of income for most bands. So, to ensure the survival of the music industry steps must be taken to curb or eliminate online ticket scalping.  

To make matters worse, last September, ticket sales giant Ticketmaster was accused of colluding with ticket scalpers to set aside large amounts of tickets to be resold on the company’s ticket resale website for large markups. Ticketmaster has made several small efforts to deal with the public relations nightmare, including shutting down several small ticket resale websites. Frankly, it isn’t even close to enough. Leading companies in entertainment and ticketing like Live Nation (who owns Ticketmaster) and AXS have the power and responsibility to take control of and end immoral ticket resales. This has gone far beyond the original intent for regular people to be able to sell tickets they no longer need.

We, music lovers and artists, urge Live Nation and AXS to set an example and take significant steps to end online ticket scalping on both official and unofficial platforms. Don’t let live music die!