AIF Launch Charter To Combat Ticket Profiteering
- Signatories include Radiohead, Bestival, Orbital, and Secret Garden Party- Calls for secondary ticket sellers to ‘cease and desist selling tickets’ for supporter’s events5th October 2012:- In a move to keep festival tickets at a price accessible and affordable to fans, Association of Independent Festivals (AIF) have made a stand against touts and the secondary ticketing market in a charter that calls them ‘bad for fans and bad for live entertainment’.The charter (found below), which sets out a position against secondary ticketing and demands withdrawal from signatory’s events, can claim support from over 55 industry veterans, artists, promoters and festivals. AIF is calling on the industry to rise up and lend their support to the charter alongside the likes of Radiohead, Secret Garden Party, Bestival, Orbital, Gotye, Portishead, Coda Agency, Hospital Records, Ninja Tune, WeGotTickets, Field Day Festival, Nozstock Festival, In The Woods and WOMAD.The Charter is part of a wider strategy to address secondary ticketing, a growing problem of for both the live industry and for gig goers across the UK. Eloquently exposed to the public in the recent Channel 4 Dispatches programme, the secondary ticketing market has been attempting to cloak and legitimise touting, whilst undermining much of the live sector’s attempts to offer quality entertainment at reasonable prices.This subject is being taken very seriously by all parts of the live music industry. The Fan Fair Alliance, is soon to go public with strong views on the subject, and is fully supported by AIF.Said Rob da Bank, Bestival and AIF Co-founder "The whole secondary ticketing situation does make me really angry, mostly because I just don't feel many of the people paying vastly inflated prices actually understand the mechanics behind it, and secondly because the people profiting are doing so driven by pure greed.“ For me music has never been about money and there's a sharp divide between those in the music business purely for profit and those who are in it for the love of music. The festivals who say they've sold out while blatantly putting hundreds or thousands of tickets on a secondary seller are just plain dishonest." Dan Silver, (Value Added Talent , representing Orbital & Alabama 3) states “As representatives of the Artists and acting as their officially appointed ambassadors to their fans, VAT will continue to resist strongly the efforts by unconnected 3rd parties to profit from ticket sales as middlemen, and will always seek to sell to fans at the lowest possible transaction charges – which we would like to stress are not shared in any way with the creators of value, the Artists themselves.”To sign up to the industry charter email Emmy at emmy@aiforg.com or call +44(0)208 994 5599.For fans looking to exchange tickets ethically for events such as Bestival, Eden Sessions or Secret Garden Party, AIF and Sandbag’s Ticket Trust offers a forum in which to buy and sell tickets - this adheres to the same 10% cap campaigned for by Sharon Hodgson’s Sale of Tickets (Sporting and Cultural Events) Bill. Radiohead has also added its support for Ticket Trust advising fans to exchange tickets on the site for their UK tour.
The Fair Ticketing Charter
We the undersigned believe that the growth of ticket-touting online - so-called 'secondary ticketing’ - is bad for fans and bad for live entertainment.Ticket touting means real fans are deprived of the opportunity to attend events and see artists they love while speculators cash in.We believe there are strong arguments for legislation to curb the activities of unofficial ticket-sellers.Until such legislation is enacted we believe the entire Live Entertainment Industry should further increase its efforts to protect fans.We affirm that we will be transparent with the pricing and distribution of tickets for events that we control.We restate our commitment to adopting ticketing processes and technologies which ensure tickets reach the hands of real fans rather than touts.We call on secondary ticket sellers to cease and desist selling tickets for events we control.We call on consumers to boycott ticket touts.Signatories:13 ArtistsAssociation of Independent FestivalsAssociation of Festival OrganisersChambers Management (promoter of comedy talent and mgr. of Jimmy Carr, Frankie Boyle and Jack Whitehall)Coda AgencyDawson Breed MusicGotyeGraphite MediaHospital RecordsJohn FairsJCF ManagementNinja TunePortisheadRadioheadSandbagValue Added TalentWildlife Entertainment (rep. Arctic Monkeys, Miles Kane)We Got TicketsXRay TouringBearded TheoryBeat-Herder FestivalBelladrum Tartan HeartBestivalBingley Music LiveCornbury FestivalCamp BestivalDeer Shed FestivalEden SessionsEnd of the Road FestivalEvolution FestivalField DayFolk on the WaterGladeGlasgowburyGlastonbudgetGreenbelt FestivalGreen ManIn the Woods FestivalKendal CallingLeefestLondon Summer JamThe Magic LoungeaboutMeltdown FestivalNozstock: The Hidden Valley FestivalNo Direction HomeOutside:InsideSecret Garden PartyShambala FestivalSummer Sundae WeekenderStockton WeekenderSWN FestivalThe London Green FairThe ApplecartTramlinesTruckUnderageWOMADY-Not FestivalThe charter can also be viewed at www.aiforg.com
The Association of Independent Festivals is a not for profit body set up in 2008 to represent independent music festivals in the UK and Ireland.Conceived by Bestival promoter Rob da Bank and Graphite’s Ben Turner, the association’s founder members included Bestival, Cornbury Festival, Evolution Festival, Field Day/Underage, Secret Garden Party, Summer Sundae Weekender and WOMAD.With 40 members ranging from Bromley’s Leefest to the 55,000 capacity Bestival in the Isle of Wight, AIF enables the promoters of some of the UK & Ireland’s most innovative and successful festivals to speak with one voice when addressing the wider music business and government.AIF aims to establish best practice for festivals in a variety of areas such as security, the environment and beyond, providing a knowledge base for festival promoters, as well as creating collective purchasing and marketing opportunities for its members.AIF operates as an autonomous division of the Association of Independent Music.www.aiforg.com