More than 130 senior live entertainment industry professionals have signed an open letter calling on the EU’s upcoming Digital Services Act to introduce laws for stricter regulation of online marketplaces in order to tackle ticket scalping.

The list of signatories includes festival promoters, venue operators, industry associations, artist managers, agents and promoters for Ed Sheeran, Robbie Williams, Rammstein, Christine and the Queens, Jean-Michel Jarre and Sigur Rós.

Circulated among policy-makers ahead of a crunch meeting due to take place on 15 March, the letter calls for legislation to ensure that online marketplaces, including secondary ticketing sites such as Viagogo and StubHub, be required to take responsibility for collecting information on and verifying business users. Currently such platforms allow professional scalpers to operate under the guise of anonymity, with little to no accountability when fans are ripped off.

The letter was penned by the Face-value European Alliance for Ticketing (FEAT), in association with FanFair Alliance, International Federation of Musicians, Pearle — Live Performance Europe and promoters’ associations Bundesverband der Konzert- und Veranstaltungswirtschaft (BDKV) and Association of Musical Promoters (APM).

Scumeck Sabottka, founding partner of FEAT and MCT Agentur CEO, promoter and agent working with acts including Rammstein and Robbie Williams, said, “I, like others who have signed this letter, am sick and tired of parasitic secondary ticketing sites ripping off fans and live events businesses. We need tougher rules to help us fight back and I hope that a stronger framework can be established to achieve this”.

View and download the signed letter here.

Live entertainment industry professionals who wish to sign the letter can add their signatures here.

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