The entertainment industry enthusiastically welcomes the government’s recent announcement providing for better supervision of the massive resale of show tickets.
“We are very, very happy to see that the government shares our feelings regarding the resale of tickets,” says Eve Paré, president of ADISQ, on the phone. It’s going to take a bunch of measures. To have reinforcement in this matter is very well received. »
The CAQ MP for Charlevoix–Côte-de-Beaupré, Kariane Bourassa, parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Justice, Simon Jolin-Barrette, received the latter’s mandate on Tuesday to take charge of the thorny issue of the resale of tickets ; she plans to make it “one of her priorities”. No timetable is emerging for the moment, but “it’s something that will be decided eventually.”
For now, the time has come to research, in order to paint a clearer picture of the situation with regard to show tickets that can be found on resale at exorbitant prices.
People in the industry have a lot to say on the subject. At the RIDEAU association of presenters, which brings together 350 performance halls and festivals, we are delighted to see progress on the government level, while work has been done for years to raise public awareness of the risks of resale. “It’s a scourge that was reserved for certain large venues and big artists at a certain time, but which we now see even among our multidisciplinary members, in several smaller venues,” deplores David Laferrière, president of the board of directors. administration of RIDEAU. “We are happy that new initiatives are being taken. It won’t be easy, but we will be there to facilitate the government’s work. »
ADISQ and RIDEAU have already launched an awareness campaign to warn spectators of the risks of accidentally purchasing tickets on a resale site, at a price that is much too high, or even of inadvertently obtaining fake tickets. “The money paid in addition does not go to the artists,” recalls David Laferrière. And that eats into the budget that buyers reserve for performing arts. » Furthermore, if you don’t go through the real ticket offices, the link with the venue is non-existent. “If there is a modification, a change of schedule or if the show is canceled, we cannot even be in contact with the ticket holder. » The solution: buy through the artist or venue’s website.
The means that will be taken to try to stem this problem have not yet been determined. In fact, for MP Kariane Bourassa, who is in her first term, “nothing is excluded”. “I don’t put barriers on myself. Is this going to pass through a bill? Are there going to be other measures? »
Because the Consumer Protection Act does not regulate resale between individuals, this is where changes will probably have to be made. Kariane Bourassa would like to point out that there is no question of “preventing a person who, for example, gets injured, can no longer go to a show and wants to sell their ticket” from doing so.
David Laferrière agrees that it could be difficult to legislate the sale of property between two individuals. For him, “ensuring that resale sites clearly identify themselves as such” would be a good first step. We should also possibly look into technological means to prevent resellers’ computer robots from obtaining tickets for shows en masse before real admirers have access to them.
It was the resale of tickets for the tribute to Karl Tremblay, of the Cowboys Fringants, at the Bell Center, which was “the straw that broke the camel’s back” for Kariane Bourassa. Several hundred dollars were asked by some resellers for places at this commemorative event. So much so that the wife of the leader of the group, Marie-Annick Lépine, published a message asking admirers not to buy these tickets.
“It’s shocking and it’s insulting,” comments the MP. The Ticketmaster ticket office, on which tickets were sold, is the intermediary most used for the sale and even resale of tickets for events. But many other resale platforms exist.
“It’s certain that this is an issue that concerns me personally,” says the MP. I think that’s the case for a lot of people. We have all wanted to have tickets for a festival or a show, but ultimately, we come across unavailable seats and we see these same seats on a resale site, at four or five times the price. »
