You Me At Six's Josh Franceschi visits Parliament to protest ticket scalpers - UPDATED
UPDATE: Monday, Nov. 28 at 4:41 p.m. EST
You Me At Six frontman Josh Franceschi spoke to BBC Politics today, continuing his protest against ticket scalpers.
“When a gig is announced, fans head to primary ticket websites, often to be told it's sold out. But most of the time they're not,” Franceschi says. “It's the touts who have bought them, forcing fans to pay hiked up prices on secondary websites.”
He continues, “Enough is enough—genuine fans are being priced out of the equation. Music lovers are consumers too, and consumers have rights. In New York, legislation is in place. The U.K. must follow suit.”
Watch it below:
What do you think about this issue?
ORIGINAL POST: Tuesday, Nov. 15 at 1:37 PM EST
When tickets went on sale for You Me At Six's intimate show in London, they—unsurprisingly—sold out instantly. In response, frontman Josh Franceschi sold an extra 100 tickets to fans in person.
Franceschi is an outspoken figure in the movement against ticket touts (A.K.A. scalpers)—those who use bots to buy up large amounts of tickets and resell them to fans at inflated prices for profit. The singer made the gesture, according to his Twitter, to combat these “secondary ticketing issues” and to assure its “fans that are getting them.”
Read more: You Me At Six stop show to help injured fan
LONDON x pic.twitter.com/XqD0vplObt
— Josh Franceschi (@joshmeatsix) October 20, 2016
Franceschi's campaign against secondary ticket sellers came to a head today (Nov. 15) when the 26-year-old visited U.K.'s Parliament to discuss this ever-growing problem. Watch the full session here.
Other members of the music industry, including representatives from Ticketmaster and StubHub, joined Franceschi to address the Culture, Media and Sport Committee in a one-off session, focused on “ticket touts and the problem of using software to harvest tickets from primary sellers' online sites and selling them on at inflated prices to the detriment of fans,” as a Parliament news report says.
An amendment to the Digital Economy Bill that would have made it an offense to use a digital purchasing software to acquire an excessive number of tickets was previously tabled. The session was held to “make a recommendation from the Committee as the necessary reforms that we think are needed to stop abuse in the ticketing market” before the Bill goes back to the House. See some quotes from Franceschi during the session via Music Week below.
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Guest speaker @youmeatsix singer Josh Franceschi: “The main losers are the fans, I don't want to drive them away@ #secondaryticketing
— Music Week (@MusicWeek) November 15, 2016
Franceschi: “It's about the next generation of musicians, we have a responsibility to them to change things” #secondaryticketing
— Music Week (@MusicWeek) November 15, 2016
Franceschi: “Money's been taken out of the industry and put into the hands of people who are only concerned with lining their own pockets”
— Music Week (@MusicWeek) November 15, 2016
Other witnesses to the session included Ian McAndrew of Wildlife Entertainment, Annabella Coldrick of Music Managers Forum, Chairman of Ticketmaster UK Chris Edmonds, Head of Public Affairs/Government Relations at eBay Alasdair McGowan, Head of Legal (Europe) StubHub Paul Peak and Society of Ticket Agents and Retailers' Jonathan Brown. Here are some of their quotes, via Music Week:
Wildlife Ent's Ian McAndrew: “The relationship between primary and secondary ticket sellers is a concern, there's a lot of confusion”
— Music Week (@MusicWeek) November 15, 2016
Andrew Bingham MP: “As legislators we don't want to send the industry backwards. I'm unsure banning bots will solve it.” #secondaryticketing
— Music Week (@MusicWeek) November 15, 2016
Chris Edmonds, chairman, Ticketmaster: “Wherever demand far exceeds supply it creates frustration and disappointment” #secondaryticketing
— Music Week (@MusicWeek) November 15, 2016
Edmonds: “I'm not convinced the UK ticket industry understands the threat from bots” #secondaryticketing
— Music Week (@MusicWeek) November 15, 2016
Paul Peak, StubHub: “We're under no legal obligation to police our site” #secondaryticketing
— Music Week (@MusicWeek) November 15, 2016
Bingham (to StubHub, eBay and Ticketmaster): “You are not helping yourselves.” #secondaryticketing
— Music Week (@MusicWeek) November 15, 2016
Walker: “It goes beyond turning a blind eye, secondary sellers are covering [for touts] in some cases” #secondaryticketing
— Music Week (@MusicWeek) November 15, 2016
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“Everyone should be able to have the same chance to buy tickets at the price they were intended to,” Franceschi told BBC Newsbeat back in October.
He continues, “We're playing a very intimate show at Dingwalls in London and we've already seen tickets on websites for triple the amount they were supposed to be. They're [ticket touts] making money out of real genuine fans of music. For me, genuine fans of music have given me the chance to go off and see the world.
“This is for people who want to be in live music situations and they should not be getting ripped off in the process.”
When NME asked Franceschi about the campaign, he said, “We’re trying to change the legislation to make it illegal for secondary ticket companies to buy, for some shows, thirty per cent of the capacity of the venue and reselling them at a hiked up price. There’s been a growth in that part of the industry of over one billion pounds last year. It is illegal to tout tickets outside a venue but there don’t seem to be many people trying to give it a voice.”
He cites Mumford & Sons, Alt-J and One Direction as being supportive of the online initiative.
“We managed to get the petition up to 80,000 signatures, so albeit we didn’t get the 100,000 which on paper you need for it to be discussed in parliament, we had some very positive talks last week and I met the Minister For Culture & Performing Arts and they’re behind it,” he explained. “I’ve made a big thing about this tour, I’ve sat down with our promoters and management and told them all the companies that are no longer allowed to sell tickets for You Me At Six.
“This is about fans of live music and enough’s enough, man, there’s got to be somebody out there representing those people. Hopefully there’s some changes made.”
See that petition here.
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That intimate London set at Dingwalls will see You Me At Six headlining the Dr Martens' Stand For Something tour on Nov. 26. About standing for something, Franceschi says, “I’d like to be remembered for being part of something that celebrated individuality while encouraging people to accept and understand people for the way they are and who they are. I stand for celebrating the inner and outer beauty of all individuals.”
You Me At Six picked up the Best International Band accolade at this summer's APMAs ahead of their Night People announcement, a Jacquire King produced full-length slated to release Jan. 13. Listen to the title track here.
What do you think about the ticket scalping issue? Let us know in the comments.
Watch more: APMAs 2016—YOU ME AT SIX win Best International Band
