Google is planning to clamp down on ticket resale websites that sell tickets at inflated prices when face-value tickets are still available.
Secondary ticket companies are to be barred from claiming to be official ticket providers and forced to disclose if their prices are higher than face value. They would also need to be certified before they can pay to appear at the top of rankings. This move echoes last year’s investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority into how some resale sites overprice, provide counterfeit tickets and profit from charity events.
At first, this seems to be just a more organised form of the ancient trade of ticket touting – a website version of young guys mumbling outside venues, with their pockets stuffed with tickets. However, with big events, and even smaller ones, these price hikes have an insidious effect, not least on who can afford to attend. All this leads to an even greater stifling of cultural diversity. As has become increasingly apparent in recent times, the less money someone has, the less likely it is that they can afford to meaningfully participate in the cultural conversation – say, properly train as actors or dancers, support themselves as writers or, indeed, attempt to forge a career in music.
However, this pricing out of culture can also happen at the audience end, creating a situation where only wealthier people could afford to attend events, especially as big gigs are expensive to start with. So, what you could end up with is a culture where one elite is observed by… another elite. While inflated resale tickets aren’t the whole story, they contribute to this dangerous ring-fencing of the arts from both ends. It’s accepted that culture is healthiest when it’s at its most diverse, but this should also include audiences.
