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Radiohead and Eden Sessions join up with Ticket Trust

By | Published on Thursday 1 March 2012

Radiohead

Hot on the heels of last week’s ‘Dispatches’ exposé on the secondary ticketing market, which is still causing a bit of a stir online though it remains to be seen whether there is any lasting impact on the resale market place, ‘ethical fan-to-fan ticket exchange’ Ticket Trust has announced two new partners.

The Association Of Independent Festivals launched the Ticket Trust last year, in partnership with D2F company Sandbag, in response to growing resentment in some quarters about the secondary market, where commercial touts – and according to ‘Dispatches’, some promoters directly – resell tickets to in-demand tours and festivals at large mark ups.

The touting in the mainstream secondary market, some feel, tarnishes the legitimate facility resale sites offer, for fans who can no longer attend a show or festival to sell their tickets on to other fans. And to that end the Ticket Trust aims to provide that service without the touting.

A number of independent festivals utilised the Ticket Trust service last year, and this morning Radiohead joined the party, appointing the website as the sanctioned platform where their fans should resell tickets to any future shows if they are unable to attend after purchase. Meanwhile Eden Sessions is the latest festival to also appoint the site as its official resale partner.

Confirming their support for the Ticket Trust, Radiohead’s management told reporters: “Radiohead are fortunate enough to have a loyal and passionate fan base cultivated over many years. Their live shows are well anticipated and rightly create a tangible sense of excitement through innovative staging. In recent years however, the band’s enjoyment of their own shows has been marred by the knowledge that a great many of their fans have been obliged to pay well over face value for their tickets. Secondary ticketing is wrong on so many levels and as management, with ultimate responsibility for the welfare of the band, we must ensure that their fans are treated fairly. This is why we are happy to work with The Ticket Trust”.

Meanwhile John Empson from The Eden Sessions told CMU: “The ‘Dispatches’ documentary on secondary ticketing further establishes the vital role of the Ticket Trust in establishing a fair market place for the public. The Eden Sessions fully supports the Ticket Trust and we will be encouraging our ticket holders to trade unwanted tickets there and not at sites that charge prohibitively high premiums. We respect our customers and giving them the chance to resell unwanted tickets at a fair price further endorses that”.

Meanwhile AIF co-founder Ben Turner told CMU: “The Ticket Trust was created by AIF with Sandbag, who work closely with Radiohead, and we’re delighted to now confirm that the band will use our face-value ticket exchange on forthcoming tour dates. There can be no greater response to the recent media spotlight on the secondary ticketing market than this development. AIF welcomes other bands and managers to join the Ticket Trust as the music industry finally starts to look within to put its house in order”.

The Ticket Trust is at www.thetickettrust.com



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