JIM CARROLLon music
Radiohead's ticket exhange service takes on the touts
ONE OF THE least surprising elements in the fallout from Channel 4's recent documentary The Great Ticket Scandalhas been the silence of the acts.
Many of us long had a suspicion that some acts were complicit in allowing secondary ticketing services (or “touts” as we call them around here) to get tickets for sold-out shows. After watching the Channel 4 programme, no-one was in any doubt about how everyone from acts to promoters is caught up in this blatant, greedy, unsavoury business.
It says it all when the biggest ticket seller in the business, Ticketmaster, can also own and operate a secondary ticket selling business, Get Me In.
While some acts, from Nine Inch Nails to Bruce Springsteen, have tried anti-touting measures in the past, there has been a noticeable silence from the artistic quarter over the contents and implications of the Channel 4 programme.
Step up, then, Radiohead. This writer may have little truck with much of the band’s music, but hats off to the musicians and their management on this occasion.
Aside from criticising the parasitical practice of industry-endorsed touting, they have also partnered with fan-to-fan ticket exchange service the Ticket Trust for their forthcoming tour.
This will allow fans to resell tickets for shows they can’t attend to fellow fans who will get to buy them at face value.
While some tickets for shows will inevitably make their way to tout sites, Radiohead’s efforts will help to lessen that number. We hope the band will also make efforts to ensure that their show promoters don’t hold back tickets for those secondary markets. It may be time-consuming, but it’s what Radiohead’s fans want and it shows a real respect for those who buy the tickets, merchandise and albums.
Let’s hope others take note.
* For more see irishtimes.com/blogs/ ontherecord
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