However ask Viagogo CEO Cris Miller what his hero Bob Marley would have thought of live performance tickets being bought for a whole bunch of {dollars} greater than their preliminary worth, and he’s optimistic the reggae legend and political activist would see his facet of the argument.
The historically press-shy Viagogo boss has been happening the offensive in latest months because the group faces the existential risk of a value cap on ticket resales, which might crush its enterprise mannequin.
Viagogo’s reselling platform has change into a bugbear for annoyed music and sports activities followers who’ve turned to the platform once they can’t get tickets on preliminary resale, usually pressured to pay markups price a whole bunch and even hundreds of kilos.
Miller was requested by the Guardian whether or not the One Love singer Marley would approve of that system, which has change into a degree of rivalry amongst followers and musicians alike.
“I believe after some schooling, yeah, he would,” Miller mentioned.
Ticket resale mannequin in jeopardy
The U.Ok.-founded ticket vendor has been criticized for overseeing a system that returns big earnings to ticket touts, in different phrases, individuals who purchase tickets from supply and promote them secondhand at a steep markup.
Miller informed The Guardian that he most popular the time period “skilled resellers,” whereas additionally distancing himself from them by claiming they wouldn’t be thought-about “enterprise companions.”
Ticket reselling has change into a high matter within the final couple of years, as high-profile excursions by Harry Kinds, Beyonce, and Taylor Swift have proved fertile floor for ticket touts to extract most worth from superfans.
Viagogo’s U.S. accomplice StubHub, which it merged with in a $4 billion deal in 2021, was criticized for permitting resellers to cost as much as $35,000 for tickets to Swift’s Eras Tour final yr.
Miller is a staunch free marketeer who believes that the exorbitant resale costs merely mirror how a lot shoppers are prepared to pay for them and never a failing in his platform.
“Consumers make their very own choices,” Miller informed Fortune in an interview final yr. “In the event that they see a ticket up there that’s out of their value vary or their consolation zone, don’t purchase it.”
That stance is unsurprising, given Viagogo generates income by taking a minimize of the ultimate sale value of tickets on its platform.
Nonetheless, that avenue for income, and accordingly the group’s IPO prospects, is now in jeopardy.
Labour chief Keir Starmer, who is anticipated to change into Prime Minister following a Normal Election this Autumn, has vowed to herald laws that might cap the value resellers can cost for tickets.
Disagreeing with Miller’s view that the ticket reselling mannequin is honest, Starmer argued that ticket touts minimize off entry to tradition to these on decrease earnings.
Nonetheless, Miller doesn’t imagine this strategy would work, arguing it will simply encourage a black marketplace for reselling, which might enhance the incidence of scams.
“What occurs with value caps is that the highest-demand a part of the market, the place you would possibly see costs go above the unique value, will simply get pushed underground,” Miller mentioned.
No matter Miller’s rationale, it appears followers have been left unimpressed with the resale system that Viagogo has inspired.
Based mostly on almost 38,000 Trustpilot consumer opinions, Viagogo has a mean rating of 1.7 stars out of 5.
The platform additionally doesn’t have many followers amongst artists.
After a pair was convicted of fraud for creating false identities to purchase up numerous tickets earlier than reselling them on Viagogo, musician Ed Sheeran’s supervisor mentioned he and his singer had moved in opposition to the present resale mannequin.
“Ed Sheeran’s 2018 summer time stadium tour was once we actually took a stand in opposition to on-line ticket touts,” Sheeran’s supervisor Stuart Camp informed the BBC.
“The low level for me had been one among his earlier Teenage Most cancers Belief live shows, the place tickets had been listed on Viagogo for hundreds of kilos, however with not one of the cash going to charity.”
