Madonna gives thumbs up to ticket touts

The Financial Times reports today that the pop star Madonna is “endorsing the sell-on of concert tickets, condemned by some concert promoters as scalping or touting, by making two leading companies in the secondary ticket market official partners for her forthcoming Sticky & Sweet tour of North America and Europe.....Secondary ticketing companies enable the public to trade their tickets online with customers who are prepared to pay above their face value. The company takes a cut of about 10 to 15 per cent.”

What do you think of secondary markets for tickets to sports events and live concerts? There are all sorts of arguments on both sides and secondary ticket agencies tend to have a rather dire reputation; images of shady touts patrolling venues looking for buyers immediately spring to mind. But if you have bought a ticket to an event weeks or months in advance and then find your circumstances have changed, why shouldn’t you have the option of using a legal secondary market?

The Cost of Fraud

Fraud could be costing the economy upwards of £20 billion a year according to the City of London Police. Fraud is merely one aspect of corruption in the economy - my graphic comes from a talk on on business corruption given at the Keynes Society by John Burbidge-King
CEO of Interchange Solutions Ltd. Fraudulent behaviour has many causes and mild fraud can often be rationalised if the person or people who commit it manage to create at least one step between them and the cash it involves. But the consequences for business in the long run can be severe.

“Tolerance” of corrupt practices indicative of other deeper problems
Created share volatility ~ loss of shareholder value
Adverse investor attitudes ~ lower capital market and credit market ratings ~ potential impact on insurance cover/premiums
Business distraction and diversion of resources in unearthing the culprits
Negative Impact on brand/reputation
Worrying for employees, customers and business partners