Gudinski: 'promoters aren't the bad guys' in Ed Sheeran ticket scalping debate

Legendary Australian music industry figure Michael Gudinski has criticised potential changes in Victorian legislation on ticket scalping following the high volume of resale incidents for Ed Sheeran's current record-breaking Australian stadium tour.

The Mushroom Group founder and head of Frontier Touring, which has brought the UK songwriter to the country, addressed discussions that promoters should immediately disclose the exact number of tickets for sale to gigs in an attempt to deter punters away from resale websites, such as Viagogo.

Appearing on Wednesday's episode of Hack, Gudinski slammed the idea, stating "for a start, how the hell do you know how many shows you're gonna get? Who is taking the risk here?"

"On the Ed Sheeran concert, let's face it, I don't need to show anyone the contract. I'm a man of my word. We guaranteed 10 shows to Ed. I had no idea that we would get 18 shows."

"These people are so off track it's not funny … the promoters aren't the bad guys here."

With the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) currently embroiled in a Federal Court case against Viagogo, Gudinski said the need to address ticket scalping in Australia is long over overdue, especially given that tickets to Sheeran's concerts were being resold by scalpers for up to $3,500 last year.

Gudinski commented "people have gone to these (resale) sites when these shows aren't even sold out.

"The Victorian Greens and Liberals are going right off the track and it's gonna be another year before anything gets done. The source is where it needs to be stopped at."

“Local parliamentarians can all have their say, but they're wrong. It needs to be federal and one law, one place. Because people can buy tickets in Brisbane and sell it in Perth for God's sake."

However, Gudinski did agree with a proposal to be implemented for a 10% limit on people trying to resell purchased tickets at a higher cost.

He concluded “it needs to be dealt with nationally once and for all.

"Seriously, it's just distraction after distraction. And you still go on the computer and you still see Viagogo on the top [referring to Google searches].

"I had hundreds of people (who) didn't get into the Ed Sheeran show in Perth because of it and I feel terrible about it. But it's not my problem. It needs to be administrated."

Images: Michael Gudinski (top) and Ed Sheearn (below).

23rd January 2018 - AUSTRALIAN OPEN FANS TURNED AWAY AFTER BUYING RESALE TICKETS

23rd November 2017 - GOOGLE UPDATES ADWORDS POLICY TO RESTRICT ONLINE TICKET SCALPERS 

17th November 2017 - AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT BEGINS TICKET SCALPING CONSULTATION 

16th November 2017 - VICTORIA GOVERNMENT TO CRACKDOWN ON TICKET SCALPING

16th November 2017 - LIVE PERFORMANCE AUSTRALIA PASSES 100 YEAR OPERATIONAL LANDMARK 

5th October 2017 - CHOICE NAMES VIAGOGO AMONG AUSTRALIA’S SHONKIEST PRODUCTS OF 2017 

1st September 2017 - GOOGLE URGED TO BLOCK ONLINE RESELLERS WHO DUPE TICKET BUYERS

28th August 2017 - ACCC COMMENCES LEGAL ACTION AGAINST TICKET RESELLER VIAGOGO 

8th August 2017 - LPA RELEASES GUIDE TO HELP CONSUMERS AVOID TICKETING SCAMS

22nd May 2017 - INFLATED TICKET RESALE PRICES IMPACTING CONSUMERS’ DISCRETIONARY ENTERTAINMENT SPENDING 

4th May 2017 - LIVE PERFORMANCE AUSTRALIA CALLS FOR FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO ‘STOP THE BOTS’ 

1st May 2016 - FRONTIER TOURING ISSUES FACEBOOK WARNING ON TICKET SCALPING AND UNAUTHORISED RESELLERS

13th August 2015 - LIVE MUSIC WORTH OVER $15 BILLION TO AUSTRALIA IN 2014

27th November 2014 - MICHAEL GUDINSKI NAMED THE MOST POWERFUL PERSON IN AUSTRALIAN MUSIC 

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