AXS’ UK MD Chris Lipscomb has told Music Week that he welcomes the proposed price cap on tickets sold on the secondary market.
The exec was speaking following the AXS Europe victory at the Music Week Awards in the Ticketing Company category.
Describing the win as “fantastic”, Lipscomb (pictured above, far left) said AXS continues to grow its partnerships.
“Ticketing is a really tough business,” he told Music Week. “We’re just trying to do the best possible job for the fans, for the venues that we work with, for the promoters that we work with, and for the festivals that we work with. We’re working really hard and trying to be the nice guys at the end of it.”
While AXS has made ticketing simpler for fans, Lipscomb said it’s a sector that has to deal with various challenges.
“It's a seamless experience, but it's also a tough landscape with bots, bad actors and AI and all that stuff out there as well,” he said. “So we just want to make it as easy as possible for the fan, and it's going to get better and better.”
Ticketing is a really tough business
Chris Lipscomb
Perhaps the key concern for fans at the moment is the wild west of the secondary ticketing market. But there’s a strong chance that the UK could soon follow Ireland and implement a ban on huge profits on ticket resale, following years of campaigning by artists and their teams.
The Competition & Markets Authority recently backed the government plans for a price cap. The Labour government included a pledge to tackle secondary ticketing in its election manifesto.
The price cap proposal was contained in the recent ticketing consultation to tackle abuses in the secondary market by imposing a cap of between zero and 30% on resale prices.
AXS has joined Ticketmaster and O2 in supporting such a limit on profiteering.
“We're really hopeful for that,” said Lipscomb. “We're totally on the side of capped resale. The sooner that happens, – and not just the legislation, but also the enforcement of that legislation – it will absolutely benefit everyone: the fans, the ticketing companies, the artists, the venues, the promoters and the agents.”
While any government measures may take some time to fully implement, Lipscomb feels confident that a positive change is coming to the sector.
“I think ministers have made lots of positive noises,” he said. “The only downside is it might take a year or two to get everything through and then you've got to enforce it as well – that's the key thing.”
PHOTO: Will Ireland
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