If you're a fan of both live entertainment and acquiring tickets for said live entertainment at a price that doesn't necessitate the selling of a kidney on the black market to finance this desire, then we've got the news you've been waiting to hear - Ticketmaster is shutting down Seatwave.
Seatwave - ostensibly a platform set up to allow people to sell on tickets that they, for whatever reason, no longer have a use for - has long come under criticism for essentially providing a legitimate space for ticket touting.
It has become par for the course for anyone looking to go to a gig to see the ticket allocation listed as 'sold out' on Ticketmaster to then check over on Seatwave and see dozens of tickets listed at immediately grossly inflated prices.
Even people not looking to sell tickets for a profit, who legitimately may be no longer able to go to a gig and would like to pass the tickets on, while recouping what they spent, are forced to sell their tickets at a far higher price due to the exorbitant surchages placed on every ticket sale done through Seatwave.
The decision by Ticketmaster to shut down Seatwave in Ireland and the UK comes after the Irish government have backed a bill to counter touting, it would prohibit tickets being resold at more than their face value. Meanwhile in the UK, the Competition and Markets Authority is conducting an investigation into ticket touting and may take legal action against Viagogo, a Swiss-based firm run in much the same vein as Seatwave. As such it seems that Ticketmaster are pre-emptively anticipating the long-needed restrictions that are soon to be placed on this market.
The decision to close down Seatwave, as well as another subsidiary site of Ticketmaster, Get Me In, was elaborated upon by Ticketmaster's Andrew Parsons. He described how the goal now is to establish a 'ticket-exchange' service through Ticketmaster's main site. As envisioned it would allow ticket-holders to sell their tickets on at face value or for less - however there will be a 15% surchage extracted from the sale price to cover the booking fees paid by the seller. Booking fee costs which are presumably entirely separate to the already exorbitant booking fees paid on each ticket at the point of purchase.
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They have also stated that they will demarcate 'new' and 'resale tickets' so that purchasers know exactly what type of tickets they're paying for.
There will be no new shows listed on either Seatwave or Get Me In from today, Monday 13 August. While the sites themselves will each shut down in October.
H/T: BBC
