Last June, the momentous announcement that Taylor Swift’s “Eras Tour” would be hitting Australia in 2024 sent more than 4 million fans into a ticket-buying frenzy. Devoted fans, or “Swifties” as they are eponymously known, spent several hours waiting on the official ticketing website, Ticketek, to secure their golden ticket. While many were lucky to snap one up, many more were not.
Fast forward to February 2024 and the seven upcoming sold-out Australian shows are the talk of the town. With many Swifties still on the hunt for tickets, driven by a growing desperation and a crushing sense of FOMO (Fear of Missing Out), there is surging demand for second-hand tickets. This is creating a ripe breeding ground for scammers, scalpers, and fraudsters eager to exploit the fervor. To protect consumers, Australian State Governments have taken proactive steps to regulate the secondary market for Taylor Swift concert tickets, largely aimed at prohibiting “scalping” – ie. the practice of reselling a ticket at a price much higher than what it was initially sold for by the event organiser or official ticketing agent.
In this article, we take a brief look at Victoria and NSW’s “anti-scalping” laws that apply to the sale and purchase of Taylor Swift tickets on the secondary market.
Anti-scalping laws in Victoria (Melbourne)
In Victoria, the Major Events Act 2009 (Vic) regulates the resale of tickets to major sporting events and major cultural events, including concerts, exhibitions and festivals. Under the act, if an event has been declared by the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Major Events to be a “Major Event” then it will be an offence to do any of the following:
- advertise, offer for sale, or sell tickets to the event for more than 10% increase on the face value price, ie. the price shown on the ticket;
- sell tickets to the event on any platform other than the authorised reselling platform; or
- advertise or offer tickets for sale without providing the face value price, the asking price, and the seating allocation of each ticket in the advertisement or offer.
Failure to comply with these laws can result in fines of up to $576,930, depending on the nature of the offence, whether there is more than one offence, and whether it the offending is committed by an individual or company. The law applies to anyone reselling tickets for a declared “Major Event” to be held in Victoria, whether that person is based in Victoria or elsewhere.
On 27 June 2023, the Victorian Government declared Taylor Swift’s Melbourne concerts to be “Major Events”. We discuss the practical consequences of this declaration below.
Anti-scalping laws in New South Wales (Sydney)
In NSW, the Fair Trading Act 1987 (NSW) regulates the supply, advertising and description of goods and services. It was updated in 2018 to prohibit the resale of tickets to sporting or entertainment events in NSW at a profit. Under this act, it is an offence to do any of the following:
- advertise the sale of a ticket that is more than 110% of the original ticket price;
- advertise the resale of a ticket without specifying the original ticket price or the seating allocation (ie. bay, row and seat number); or
- sell the ticket for more than the original ticket price plus a 10% transaction cost (ie. commission, booking fee, payment surcharge or ticket delivery fee incurred by the first purchaser of the ticket in connection with their purchase of the ticket).
Unlike Victoria, there is no requirement under the NSW law that the tickets must be resold via the authorised reselling platform. Also, unlike Victoria, NSW law prohibits an event organiser from cancelling or rendering a ticket invalid if it is resold in accordance with the above requirements.
Penalties for offences can be up to $22,000 (for individuals) or $110,000 (for corporations). Similar to the Victorian law, the Fair Trading Act 1987 (NSW) applies to the resale of tickets for an event to be held in NSW, whether the person selling the ticket is located in NSW or elsewhere.
So, what if you are wanting to buy or sell a ticket to one of Taylor Swift’s concerts?
If you are looking to sell your Taylor Swift concert ticket:
- only advertise and sell your ticket through the authorised resale platform (Ticketek Marketplace). While there is no restriction under NSW law requiring you to sell your ticket via the authorised reseller, the Terms of Sale governing your ticket strictly forbid resale other than through Ticketek’s official resale platform, meaning you may be in breach of contract if you sell through any other platform);
- do not advertise or offer your ticket for sale via social media sites (eg. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram), online marketplaces (eg. Gumtree or Ebay) or other ticket resale websites (eg. Viagogo, Stubhub, Ticketfinders, The Ticket Merchant, Worldticketshop, and Tix); and
- do not sell your ticket for more than 10% over the price shown on the ticket. With that said, the Terms and Conditions for the Ticketek Marketplace cap the price at which the tickets can be sold at the original face value of the ticket.
If you are looking to buy a Taylor Swift concert ticket:
- only purchase your ticket through the authorised resale platform (Ticketek Marketplace);
- do not purchase a ticket advertised on social media, online marketplaces or other ticket resale websites. Putting aside the risk of ticket scammers, there is the risk that your purchased tickets may be cancelled or you may be refused entry where they have changed hands as the result of an unauthorised resale, even if those tickets are genuine (although, as noted above, NSW law prohibits tickets being cancelled if the seller otherwise complies with the relevant rules on resales);
- if the reseller is does not provide you with information on the original ticket price and/or the seating allocation, this is a red-flag and you should be careful in proceeding;
- if the reseller is asking for an exorbitantantly high price, alarm-bells should be ringing. The same applies to resellers asking for a low price – it is most likely the sign of a deal too good to be true; and
- Lastly, beware messages or posts on social media from friends / contacts trying to sell tickets. The National Anti-Scam Centre recently reported a spike in the number of scammers compromising social media accounts to sell fake Taylor Swift tickets to the hacked account’s friend list. Unsolicited offers should be treated with caution. If a friend offers you a ticket, confirm that it is actually your friend and don’t be pressured into handing over money – scammers may try to create a sense of urgency by telling you they have other interested buyers.
TLDR
Don’t be the Anti-Hero of your Swiftie Love Story. Make sure you sell and purchase your tickets via the authorised resale platform. Don’t be enchanted by offers that are too good to be true – you may find yourself the victim of a Cruel Scammer. Worse still, you may find yourself facing big fines for breaching anti-scalping laws – you won’t be able to just Shake it Off.
We thank Olina Parrish for her contribution to this article. Olina is participating in DCCL’s IP Law Clerkship Program.
This article forms part of DCC’s Music and IP initiative and article series “The Swift Series”.