Now is one of the greatest times in history to be a musician, due to all of the tools and resources that are available – but until recently, it wasn’t a great time to buy tickets to actually see a musician at a live music event.
That isn’t to say that ticket sales are going down; in 2015 nearly 1 million tickets were sold in North America, and it is likely that this number will keep going up. However tens of thousands of people find that tickets sell out too quickly on the official websites, so they are forced to buy overpriced tickets from questionable ticket resellers. Thankfully dodgy ticket resales could now be in the past, due to new rules from Google.
The Downside To Ticket Resellers
You’ve wanted to see one artist live for years. You’ve got all of their albums, and you love to learn their songs on your guitar – but by the time that you realise that tickets are on sale to see them, they have already sold out. The only other option is to pay twice as much on a ticket resale website – but there is always a chance that you will be conned out of your money.
This is a common problem for many people; the resale market is big business, earning up to $5 billion dollars per year. But this problem could be over for ever, as Google has recently updated their policy regarding ticket resellers.
How Google Is Changing Music Events
Google have recently released a new list of changing rules for websites that resell tickets. While the search engine giants haven’t disallowed advertising for ticket resale websites, they are introducing stricter rules that will make it harder for companies to sell tickets to misinformed people. The requirements mean that ticket resellers must make it clear that they are reselling tickets, so that people don’t assume they are an official website, and resellers also need to provide a price breakdown for the tickets – including the added costs. This will make it much easier for people to work out if they are being overcharged or not.
This will transform the way that tickets are sold for live music events, and hopefully it will improve the experience for both the musicians and the people attending their gigs. So whether you are an amateur musician who loves to check out live music, or a professional musician who is arranging their own events, this information should be music to your ears.
