News that Live Nation is bringing Bruno Mars to NZ for two Auckland concerts has got social media buzzing and with that comes the danger of ticket scalping. Pacific Entertainment, a different concert promoter, is this week making a government approach to outlaw the practice.
He's one of the hottest artists in the world right now and he's coming to NZ shores.
However, along with his concert comes the risk of consumers buying a dud ticket.
Ian Magan (Pacific Entertainment) says, "It's a very real problem in New Zealand because Ticketmaster who are a primary ticket seller and they're contracted by us as promoters to sell our tickets for us, have now chosen to open their own resale site against our strenuous objections."
A move Magan says is a double standard and makes it very difficult to have a seamless ticket selling process, with sites like Ticketmaster Resale and Viagogo.
Magan says, "We're also meeting the Consumer organisation in Wellington along with other parties who can move forward on a responsible basis to stop this practice altogether."
Consumer, Sue Chetwin says, "The promoters are concerned as well that it gives them a bad name it gives the artist a bad name and a very poor experience for the fans."
Ticket scalping is not illegal in NZ, though there are some protections offered if an event falls under the Major Events Management Act. However, it's not enough for event organisers.
Chetwin says, "We're starting to hear from all sorts of groups and we've even started to hear from rugby franchises who are on stopping these ticket resellers from selling tickets for exorbitant prices and upsetting the fans."
Safe buying advice, if you want tickets to see Bruno is to only buy tickets from the advertised ticket agent and not from any resale sites.
