I had no idea how bad the scalping situation was in the US until I tried to get tickets to a Lollapalooza aftershow (I live in Australia, and am going to Lolla as a part of a holiday).
I waited up late to get tickets, was on at exactly 10am Chicago time, suffered a website crashing hard and, within 15 minutes, the gig had sold out. Defeated, I went to bed (it was pretty late in my time zone).
Next morning, I got up, and there were 400+ tickets for sale on StubHub. For a 1300-person venue. Even if 100% of scalped tickets went on sale, on one website, within 10 hours of the event going on sale, that's still 30% scalping rate. If anyone is wondering, it was Childish Gambino at the Vic Theatre.
Now, I agree that part of the solution is to charge more for tickets (and I'm used to it - a lineup like Lollapalooza's would be impossible in Australia - tickets to a RHCP gig alone go for $150+). However, by allowing scalping to this extreme, Scalpers can buy 10x$30 tickets and sell only 2-3 of them at a ridiculous price to superfans and still turn a profit, leaving the rest unused. Everyone loses except the scalpers.
Big festivals in Australia print your name and date of birth on the ticket, and either only allow you to resell the ticket back to the festival (at cost), who then on sell it under a different name, or charge a fee to change the name on the ticket so that resellers are at a disadvantage. Both have their disadvantages, but both are better than the current situation in the US.
I waited up late to get tickets, was on at exactly 10am Chicago time, suffered a website crashing hard and, within 15 minutes, the gig had sold out. Defeated, I went to bed (it was pretty late in my time zone).
Next morning, I got up, and there were 400+ tickets for sale on StubHub. For a 1300-person venue. Even if 100% of scalped tickets went on sale, on one website, within 10 hours of the event going on sale, that's still 30% scalping rate. If anyone is wondering, it was Childish Gambino at the Vic Theatre.
Now, I agree that part of the solution is to charge more for tickets (and I'm used to it - a lineup like Lollapalooza's would be impossible in Australia - tickets to a RHCP gig alone go for $150+). However, by allowing scalping to this extreme, Scalpers can buy 10x$30 tickets and sell only 2-3 of them at a ridiculous price to superfans and still turn a profit, leaving the rest unused. Everyone loses except the scalpers.
Big festivals in Australia print your name and date of birth on the ticket, and either only allow you to resell the ticket back to the festival (at cost), who then on sell it under a different name, or charge a fee to change the name on the ticket so that resellers are at a disadvantage. Both have their disadvantages, but both are better than the current situation in the US.