Europe's Live Events Sector Calls On EU To Stop Predatory Ticket Resale

12 January 2026 - Press release

 

• Over 130 artists and professionals urge EU Commissioner to consider resale within Digital Fairness Act

• Signatories span 23 countries, uniting the worlds of popular and classical music with theatre, dance, and sports in protest against resale fraud

Over 130 representatives of the live events industry have signed an open letter to EU Justice Commissioner Michael McGrath, calling for help to put an end to unauthorised ticket resale in the EU. 

Signatories include iconic German bands AnnenMayKantereit, Die Ärzte, Die Toten Hosen, Einstürzende Neubauten and Rammstein. The managementcompaniesof Ed Sheeran, Nick Cave, Oasis and Radiohead have also signed, together with agents representing Florence + The Machine, Fontaines D.C., Gorillaz, Harry Styles, Katy Perry, Lorde, Olivia Dean and Sam Smith. 

The letter has backing fromthe Montreux Jazz Festival, Sunny Hill Festival, Sziget Festival andIreland's The Big Day Out Festival, as well as venues, theatre troupes, and orchestras – from the Czech National Theatre and the Estonian Drama Theatre to the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra. 

It is supported by key associations such as the Sports Rights Owners Coalition, YOUROPE - The European Festival Association (138 members from 31 countries) and the Association of Independent Music Ireland. 

The letter asks that the EU expands the scope of the Digital Fairness Act (DFA) to tackle ticket resale abuse. The upcoming law aims to strengthen consumer protection against unfair online practices. 

Across Europe, unauthorised platforms continue to facilitate industrial-scale ticket scalping, worth some €2.5bn annually. Each year, ticket scalpers are known to prey on tens of thousands of consumers (although the true number may be much higher), selling tickets at extortionate prices that are fake or duplicated, or that otherwise break the terms and conditions of entry. Fans are regularly turned away, in many cases having also paid significant sums for travel and overnight accommodation.  

Despite the introduction of stricter rules for online platforms in the Digital Services Act, the letter expresses frustration that new mechanisms for reporting illegal ticket offers have yet to prove effective. Members of FEAT, an organisation campaigning on ticket resale, have so far reported nearly 1,000 illegally offered tickets without a single takedown. Websites such as Viagogo, StubHub International, Gigsberg and Ticombo continue to contravene EU and national laws while taking advantage of consumers and event organisers.  

With the European Commission currently undertaking its impact assessment on the DFA, the letter calls for the EU to finally act on predatory ticket resale – a move that would be welcomed across the live events sector.  

Sam Shemtob, MD of FEAT, said: "World-famous German metal pioneers Rammstein have joined forces with Hungary's Mesebolt Puppet Theatre, national sports bodies and representatives of some of the biggest stars in music to tell the EU that action is needed on unauthorised ticket resale. Enforcement isn't working, and the Digital Fairness Act offers a one-off chance to specifically address the problem. The EU risks falling behind if it misses this opportunity."

Christof Huber, chairman of YOUROPE - The European Festival Association, added: "For years, platform operators with unfair and harmful business models have been taking advantage of our fans and customers. Yet we do not have the tools at our disposal to confront Viagogo and Co. in the way we would like to. As a representative of festivals across the continent, YOUROPE calls on the European Commission to act in the interest of those who guarantee millions in honest tax revenue and work for thousands of creative professionals and artists."

Claire Turnham MBE, founder, Victim of Viagogo commented: "Fans deserve fairness and safety, not exploitation and harm. We urge the EU to act now to protect consumers and stop industrial-scale ticket abuse."

Said Erica Crompton, President of The Entertainment Agents' Association: "As representatives of trusted agencies across the UK, we strongly endorse this call for decisive EU-wide action. Unauthorised resale continues to mislead consumers and damage public confidence. The Digital Fairness Act must address resale head-on to restore fairness, trust and transparency. This is a vital opportunity to safeguard the live events economy."

 

The full text of the letter is as follows: 

Dear Commissioner McGrath,

We are a coalition of organisations involved with live events in Europe, from promoters – who finance and arrange all aspects of concerts and events – to venues, artists, performers, creators and non-profit organisations. Together, we form the backbone of Europe's live events sector, with the shared goal of protecting the fan experience and supporting culture.  

We are writing to ask you to specifically address the anti-consumer, fraudulent practices associated with the unauthorised marketing of event tickets, or so-called 'resale'. E-commerce websites and platforms continue to facilitate industrial-scale illicit marketing of tickets, defrauding tens of thousands of consumers across Europe each year. 

These fans are deceived by websites that offer tickets for 'resale', which do not guarantee entry to the event. The tickets offered might be fake, resold to multiple buyers, sold in advance of the official ticket sale, or otherwise break the promoter's terms and conditions of entry. These websites encourage illicit operators through top broker schemes, who defraud victims that pay many times the original price. Consumers are often directed to these offers via adverts on search engines, which also profit from these illegal listings. As well as undermining trust in ticketing, these practices have caused disruption at many events.  

Every week, we see a new controversy – recently, a globally renowned band touring Europe saw nearly 2,000 tickets marketed to EU consumers on an unauthorised 'resale' website before any had even gone on sale.

With music tourism set to double by 2032, ticket resale is becoming increasingly borderless. Some EU Member States already have rules to ban and penalise such practices, or that entitle event organisers to prevent them. But we also need a Europe-wide approach that provides tools to ensure efficient protection for the efforts of event organisers and consumers across borders. This is in line with your objectives as Commissioner to address manipulative commercial practices and protect consumers when buying services.  

Despite stricter regulations for platforms under the Digital Services Act, illegal ticket offers continue unabated, with event organisers' reports of illicit activity frequently disregarded. A recent survey of FEAT members found that they had reported 296 listings, covering nearly 1,000 tickets, to unauthorised websites – with only one response. After escalating twenty separate complaints to regulators, only a handful of responses have been received, months after the concerts took place. We need quicker, easily enforceable takedown rules; otherwise, event organisers will remain worse off than before the DSA was conceived, as they spend time and resources on fruitless bureaucracy. 

The Digital Fairness Fitness Check found that 60% of respondents want tougher action on unauthorised ticket 'resale', concluding that more needs to be done to protect consumers from exploitative practices. To remain the gold standard in consumer protection, and to secure broad access for all individuals to cultural and sports events, the EU must act now.

See here for a full list of signatories.