A new cap on the price of resold tickets for concerts, live sport and other events are among measures announced by the government, as part of plans to clamp down on ticket touts.
The government has today (January 10) launched a public consultation which sets out a range of measures in the ticket resale market that aim to better protect fans, improve access to live events and support the growth of the UK’s world leading live events sector.
The Labour government had made action on touts part of its manifesto, and has since added dynamic pricing in the primary market as part of its consultation for the sector.
It follows campaigning on the issue by industry figures and organisations in the live sector, as well as MPs. Meanwhile, artists and their promoters – including for Oasis’ 2025 reunion – have acted to cancel tickets sold on secondary markets.
According to analysis by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), typical mark-ups on tickets sold on the secondary market are more than 50%, while investigations by Trading Standards have uncovered evidence of tickets being resold for up to six times their original cost.
According to research by Virgin Media O2, ticket touts cost music fans an extra £145 million per year.
The CMA has estimated the value of tickets sold in 2019 through secondary ticketing platforms to be about £350 million, with around 1.9m tickets sold on these platforms. 1.9 million tickets accounted for around 5 to 6% of the number of primary tickets sold in 2019.
The consultation will explore a range of options to make ticket resales fairer and more transparent, which include:
• Introducing a cap on the price of ticket resales - with the consultation seeking views on a range from the original price to up to a 30% uplift, and limiting the number of tickets resellers can list to the maximum they are allowed to purchase on the primary market. These measures would prevent organised touts reselling a large number of tickets at vastly inflated prices and disincentivise industrial scale touting.
• Increasing the accountability of ticket resale websites and apps – creating new legal obligations so that they are held responsible by Trading Standards and the Competition and Market Authority for the accuracy of information they provide to fans.
• Strengthening consumer enforcement – review of existing legislation to bring it up to date, including stronger fines and a new licensing regime for re-sale platforms to increase enforcement of protections for consumers. Trading Standards can already issue fines of up to £5,000 for ticketing rule breaches. The consultation will look into whether this cap should be increased.
LIVE welcomes this positive step to put fans back at the heart of live music by tackling ticket touting
Jon Collins
Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said: “From sports tournaments to Taylor Swift – all too often big events have been dogged by consumers being taken advantage of by ticket touts. These unfair practices look to fleece people of their hard-earned income, which isn’t fair on fans, venues and artists.
“Fans enjoying themselves in the moment are what make concerts and live events the thrilling experiences that they are, which is why as part of our Plan For Change, we are putting them back in control.”
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said: "The chance to see your favourite musicians or sports team live is something all of us enjoy and everyone deserves a fair shot at getting tickets – but for too long fans have had to endure the misery of touts hoovering up tickets for resale at vastly inflated prices.
"As part of our Plan For Change, we are taking action to strengthen consumer protections, stop fans getting ripped off and ensure money spent on tickets goes back into our incredible live events sector, instead of into the pockets of greedy touts."
Rocio Concha, Which? director of policy and advocacy, said: "For far too long, fans have faced an uphill battle to find face value tickets to see their favourite artist perform or sports team play live so it's absolutely right the government wants to make ticketing fairer for consumers.
"In recent years, touts have been allowed to charge fans hundreds of pounds extra for secondary tickets, it has been very difficult for resale platforms to be held to account for poor practices and consumers have had to watch out for scam tickets circulating online. The recent Oasis ticket sales also highlighted the flaws of so-called dynamic pricing in this market – with some customers queuing for hours for tickets only to find that prices had risen dramatically and were no longer affordable.
"The government must use this consultation to regulate the industry properly, ensure ticket resales don't exploit fans and decide when the use of dynamic pricing is unfair and shouldn't be allowed."
Jon Collins, chief executive of LIVE, the live music trade body, said: “LIVE welcomes this positive step to put fans back at the heart of live music by tackling ticket touting. We have been a long-term and vociferous advocate for regulation of the secondary market, supporting the great work of the FanFair Alliance, and are pleased to see government delivering on its manifesto commitment in this area.
"We are delighted that measures which permit responsible and fair fan-to-fan resale, while eliminating third-party profiteering, will be brought forward. This will reduce the incentive for touts to squeeze fans out of the primary sale and highlights the need to set the cap on resales at or near the original price.
"We look forward to continuing to work with government to ensure fans can enjoy our world-class live music sector."
Ticketmaster responded to the consultation announcement with the following statement: “Ticketmaster is committed to making ticketing simple and transparent. Since 2018, our resale has been capped at face value, providing fans a safe place to sell tickets they can't use at the original price set by artists and event organisers.
“We support proposals to introduce an industry-wide resale price cap. We also urge the government to crack down on bots and ban speculative ticket sales.
“Ticketmaster welcomes any action to protect fans and give them the best chance of getting tickets to the events they love.”
UK Music chief executive Tom Kiehl said: “UK Music welcomes this move to support music fans and a music industry which generates £7.6 billion a year for the economy and supports 216,000 jobs.
“Music lovers have been exploited for too long by a secondary ticketing market which driven by greedy touts and automated bots charging rip-off prices and sucking money out of our sector.
“This announcement should pave the way for greater transparency over ticketing for live events and ensure music fans can see their favourite acts at an affordable price."
He added: “We want to see an end to speculative selling with a clear price cap that means tickets can only be resold under a fair and reasonable system of resale.
“There needs to be far tougher controls on the secondary market and the use of digital bots to protect genuine music fans and put them first to restore the integrity of ticket sales for live events.
“We look forward to continuing to work with the Government to ensure every part of the UK music industry’s eco-system benefits from these changes so we can ensure our sector continues to grow and thrive.”
Adam Webb, campaign manager, FanFair Alliance, said: "These suggested measures are potentially game-changing. Other countries, notably Ireland, have demonstrated how legislation to prevent the resale of tickets for profit can massively curb the illegal and anti-consumer practices of online ticket touts and offshore resale platforms. The UK simply needs to follow their example."
Twickets founder Richard Davies said: "We wholeheartedly support a cap on ticket resale prices and look forward to taking part in the consultation proceedings. Capping resale tickets at face-value is something we've been providing since we launched in 2011 in response to the rogue practices of the secondary market. So the introduction of new legislation to address this issue is a significant step forward.
“This, in turn, fosters a healthier industry, with audiences more likely to support artists and events through the purchase of things like merchandise, as well as in the wider economy with hotel stays and restaurants before shows.
"We welcome the implementation of legal obligations for resale platforms, which will help protect fans and reinforce fairness in the ticketing market. Tickets should not be treated as commodities to be traded at will but rather as licences granting access to the shared experience of live entertainment. Event organisers typically set ticket prices at reasonable levels to ensure these experiences are inclusive, not just available to those with the deepest pockets.
"Unfortunately, the exploitation of these fair pricing strategies by resellers seeking to profit unfairly undermines this principle. It often results in genuine fans being priced out of events they care deeply about."
Annabella Coldrick, chief executive, Music Managers Forum, said: “The MMF both directly and through the FanFair Alliance has been campaigning to tackle the issue of industrial scale ticket touting and put tickets back in the hands of the fans for many years. We are pleased that the government is following up on its manifesto promise and we will be pushing for effective regulation to resolve this harmful practice once and for all.”
Responding to the government’s announcement of a consultation on ticket buying and pricing practices, chair of the CMS Committee, Dame Caroline Dinenage MP, said: “The government’s proposals would go some way to help address the perverse incentives that are punishing music fans, paying too much whether to ticket companies or touts.
"Fan voices must be amplified within Whitehall and the live music ecosystem. This consultation should be a precursor to the Government launching a comprehensive fan-led review of music, as called for by the Culture, Media and Sport Committee.
"It needs to look closely at how the music industry is working and how to ensure music lovers' money gets to the small venues and fledgling artists and songwriters who feed this fundamental sector.”
O2 – which sold over 1.5 million tickets in 2024 through its Priority Tickets platform - has today published research conducted by YouGov that shows there has been a jump in support of regulation of the secondary ticketing market amongst concertgoers in the UK. Some 72% of music fans who attended live music events now believe there should be rules in place against the resale of tickets for significant profits. This figure is up from 63% in July 2024.
Gareth Griffiths, director, sponsorship and partnerships at Virgin Media O2, said: “2024 was another massive year for live entertainment, music fans and unfortunately, ticket touts. We are tired of seeing tickets taken out of fans’ hands in the name of profit and it is clear that fans feel the same. O2 is working tirelessly to try to beat the bots and protect our customers and music fans. One thing that can stop touts in their tracks is legislation. We’re calling for the UK to follow in the footsteps of countries including Ireland and France and ban the resale of concert tickets for significant profits – it's time to bring in laws to protect fans and live music.”
DYNAMIC PRICING
Alongside the consultation, ministers have launched a call for evidence into pricing practices in the live events sector, such as dynamic pricing.
Dynamic pricing (also called surge pricing) adjusts ticket prices based on demand, time and availability, which can lead to increased costs for popular events – or prices being brought down where there is increasing availability or reduced demand.
Although this is often done to sell unsold tickets and fill seats, in some cases, a lack of transparency has meant customers being caught out by last-minute price rises for high-demand events.
The call for evidence will seek views on how the ticketing system in the live events sector is working for fans and whether the current system provides sufficient protection from unfair practices. It will consider whether there is potential for new harms to consumers to arise from emerging business trends including the use of new technologies and dynamic pricing.
The government acknowledged that the secondary market “can provide a legitimate and safe way to transfer unwanted tickets to help more people to attend events”.
PHOTO: Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds at Cardiff Castle in 2024 (Mike Lewis Photography/Redferns/Getty Images)
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