What are the planned new ticketing laws, and how much could they save fans?

When hugely popular artists like Taylor Swift, Oasis or Radiohead announce a tour, it creates huge fan excitement and headlines.

However, a few hours after the tickets go on sale, this excitement is often replaced by disappointment and complaints about the large number of tickets being put back on sale at exorbitant prices.

But, New rules proposal to be announced by the government On Wednesday, we aim to change this by making it illegal to sell tickets for live events above their original cost.

Measures designed to put an end to industrial-scale ticket touting will arguably be the most significant change to buying tickets in the online age.

It comes a week after artists like. Sam Fender, Dua Lipa and Coldplay encouraged Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer will protect fans from abuse.

Here’s everything you need to know about the plans.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is expected to officially announce on Wednesday:

• Resale of tickets above face value will be illegal. Tickets may only be sold for face value plus any unavoidable fees, including service fees
• Service fees added by resale platforms will be limited to prevent exceeding the new price cap
• Resale platforms will have a legal duty to monitor and enforce compliance with the new price cap
• Individuals will be prohibited from reselling more tickets than they were entitled to purchase on the initial ticket sale
• For example, if consumers were limited to purchasing four tickets each, only four could be resold

It is not yet clear when the rules will come into force as the plans still need to go through the House of Commons. It is thought that the government will introduce primary legislation when parliament’s time allows.

The new rules will apply not just to concerts but also to sports, theatre, comedy and other forms of live entertainment.

Ticket touting has become increasingly sophisticated in recent years.

Touts purchase large numbers of tickets online for the most popular events, often with the help of automated bots.

These tickets are then relisted on secondary websites for significantly higher prices; which many feel disappoints fans and harms the live events industry.

The new laws are intended to eliminate this practice in order to increase both access and affordability for true fans.

The new rules will apply to all platforms selling tickets to fans in the UK; not just secondary ticket websites, but also social media.

This means fans offering tickets on platforms like X or Facebook Marketplace will be legally obligated to comply with the rules.

Businesses that breach the regulations may face financial penalties of up to 10% of global turnover from the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).

The amount of money fans will save will, of course, vary greatly between each show and each ticket.

While some fans may save just a few pounds, others can save hundreds, or even thousands, of money they would otherwise spend on the resale platform by purchasing tickets for the most popular events.

Analysis for the government estimates that resale tickets will be £37 cheaper on average (including fees) and fans will collectively save around £112 million a year.

The analysis suggests that around 900,000 tickets will be purchased directly from primary sellers each year as a result of the measures.

According to the CMA, typical profit margins on secondary market tickets exceed 50%; Investigations by Trading Standards revealed evidence that tickets were being resold for up to six times their original cost.

Some in the ticket industry argue that these rules will push ticket sales to darker corners of the internet.

Most of the regulated platforms guarantee the authenticity of the tickets; This means fans will get their money back if any tickets they purchase turn out to be fake.

Secondary platforms argue that fans will be more exposed to fraudulent transactions and more likely to lose their money if such platforms are shut down.

Old-school physical ticket touting may be making a comeback, with touts standing outside venues on concert nights buying and selling physical tickets for cash.

A spokesman for Viagogo, one of the main secondary ticket sites, said: “We recognize that today’s announcement from the government is part of a long, multi-year process and not a final outcome.

“Evidence shows price caps fail fans time and time again, with fraud rates in countries such as Ireland and Australia almost four times higher than in the UK as price caps push consumers towards unregulated sites.”

Viagogo argues that the right solution is “open distribution,” which means connecting primary platforms like Ticketmaster to resale platforms like Viagogo to verify tickets.

“This allows sharing of critical information to detect illegal bot activity and eliminate fraud,” Viagogo said. “Opening the market to more competition also benefits fans by helping to reduce prices.”

BBC News has also asked Stubhub and campaign group FairTicketing to respond to the plans.

Twickets, a resale platform backed by musicians like Ed Sheeran, currently does not allow fans to sell tickets for more than face value.

Another issue that has angered live music fans in recent years is the dynamic pricing practice where ticket prices fluctuate according to demand.

Last year Oasis’ reunion tour hit the headlines when it went up for sale after many fans found themselves paying hundreds of pounds more than they expected.

CMA said in september It found no evidence that prices for Oasis tickets were changing in real time due to high demand, but the backlash led to a commitment from the authority to improve pricing information from Ticketmaster.

This includes giving fans 24-hour notice of tiered pricing, providing clearer price information during online queues and ending misleading ticket labeling.

Currently, dynamic pricing will still be allowed, but companies will need to be more open with fans about it.

Royal Ballet and Opera last week announced that it will implement demand-based ticket pricing in order to “maximize” his income.

Under the proposals, consumers would be allowed to resell their tickets if they wish (for example, if they can no longer attend an event).

However, individuals will only be able to legally resell their tickets for their original cost (or less) plus any service fees.