AEG Live Sues Viagogo

AEG, the promoter of Michael’s tour, has taken Viagogo to court after the secondary ticketing site allegedly offered to sell seats to other brokers.

0ne million tickets for the fifty shows have been on sale this week, and Ticketmaster, the primary ticketing site sold out their allocation in a matter of hours. Viagogo were allocated 7% of the tickets and part of their original contract prevented bulk sales and volume discounts.

After working with Ticketmaster on the initial release, AEG decided to partner with an official ticket exchange for premium seating and fans selling tickets to each other to prevent them falling into the hands of touts, with the associated risk of counterfeit tickets or fraud. AEG now alleges that Viagogo has breached this agreement.

The controversy came as the government urged greater self-regulation of the ticketing sector, after saying in a consultation last month, that it was “disappointed” by the industry’s efforts to control touting.

Randy Phillips, president and chief executive of AEG Live, said he had originally sought an injunction against its business partner because it was “such a critical issue for us, we want them on public notice”.

After working with Ticketmaster on the initial release, AEG decided to partner with an official ticket exchange for premium seating and fans selling tickets to each other to prevent them falling into the hands of touts, with the associated risk of counterfeit tickets or fraud.

Although AEG will not abandon its deal with Viagogo, “we are going to be watching this like hawks now”, said Mr. Phillips, with audits to track who is buying tickets. He added AEG would decide whether to work with Viagogo or other secondary ticket sites in future after the concerts.

Viagogo declined to comment.

Source: Financial Times & MJWN