Stereosonic to allow ticket reselling in Viagogo deal

The new American owners of the Stereosonic music festival have locked in a five-year deal with ticket on-selling platform viagogo for it to be the official ticket exchange platform for festival goers who want to offload tickets.

Viagogo recently agreed a deal with US-based SFX, who bought the Australian festival for $75 million last year. The deal will see them work with all of SFX’s festivals globally and Stereosonic, which will visit Sydney, Perth, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide in its two-day format from November, is the first festival that will use viagogo's on-selling platform.

With Stereosonic tickets now on sale, viagogo will also open its doors for people to sell their purchased Stereosonic tickets.

Viagogo’s Alex Levenson told theMusic.com.au that Stereosonic “understand that sometimes (people’s) plans change, and they want to promote a place that’s safe or anyone to sell and anyone to buy.”

There will be no restrictions on what price is charged, with the claim that the average price is usually no more than 10% above the ticket’s face value given many tickets do not sell at a premium, Viagogo asserts. However, no money will be transferred to the seller until the event has happened, as a form of security.

It is security, or certainty, which Viagogo is touting as one of the benefits of this Stereosonic deal, as a contrast with online auction sites and non-regulated selling markets.

Levenson told themusic.com.au that with non-sanctioned sites "you don’t know whether (tickets are) going to be sent or whether they’re going to be legitimate. And then you don’t have much recourse."

Even though this deal comes from a global arrangement, it is a landmark step for viagogo in Australia. Unlike the US, where secondary ticket markets and on-selling is an increasingly accepted aspect of the industry, Australia still has a fierce opposition to scalping. One of viagogo’s main selling points is that sellers don’t receive money until the event has happened, therefore securing the transactions of those purchasing tickets.

Levenson said the deal is “a clearer sign that there is a need for something like this, and the best way to do this is partnering with something who can provide a professional platform … rather than (fans) going to auction sites.”

Stereosonic’s John Curtin said in a statement “we looked at other services on offer and firmly believe that viagogo offers the best in category, world-class ticketing service that we want to provide to all of our festival attendees.

“Viagogo is also providing us with a unique platform to help us reach the global electronic music fanbase and expand Stereosonic’s footprint across the world.”

Viagogo have also partnered with Australian sporting teams from the NRL and AFL and Levenson said they were hoping to talk to other Australian festivals about partnerships.

27th May 2014 - TICKETMASTER AUSTRALIA BEGINS SOFT LAUNCH OF TICKETMASTER RESALE

27th March 2014 - FEDERAL SENATE REPORT SUGGESTS TICKET SCALPING NOT A BIG PROBLEM 

25th September 2013 - 500,000 AUSTRALIANS A YEAR CAUGHT OUT BY ONLINE TICKET SCAMS