The music industry is an ever-changing part of our culture. With music being such an important part of our lives, it comes with a huge industry supporting it. The more music and musical culture progress, the more problems we are likely to encounter. The problems and developments we face today are, for the most part, completely different from those of twenty years ago. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay In this essay, I plan to discuss the growing issues surrounding secondary ticketing, demonstrating a detailed understanding of ticket sales, its effects, and the means in which to regulate it. I will also address the issue of current copyright issues through the concrete example of the Blurred Lines affair. Secondary ticketing may also be referred to by the more common name ticket sales. The secondary ticketing market has a negative impact not only on live music, but also on other areas of entertainment such as sporting events, theater shows and comedy shows. Ticket selling involves purchasing tickets in bulk for events such as major concerts when they are initially released, with the intention of reselling them at a higher price. Professional sales companies use multiple credit cards to create multiple identities and accounts, while a more advanced and efficient way to accumulate more tickets is to use specially programmed software to purchase those tickets, called "bots." This method is widely used by large secondary ticketing companies. These bots have the ability to secure and purchase tickets automatically the very second they first go on sale. Vantage is a black mark within the music industry and in my opinion it is not fair that these characterless touts are allowed to make money from these bots. fans who simply weren't quick enough to beat the bots to get a ticket, "charging exorbitant amounts of money in an attempt to line their pockets." Once the bots/fake accounts have accumulated the tickets, these are then sold on secondary websites such as 'Vivagogo', 'Stubhub', 'Seatwave' and 'Get Me In' for a significant profit. These secondary websites all highlight the fact that when you deal with them, you are dealing with a financially secure website. “Get Me In” and “Seatwave” are actually owned by Ticketmaster, which is now the world's largest ticket seller. To me, this just highlights the fact that it's no longer about the experience of the gig or gig the consumer attends, but rather how much money they can make. Ticket sales, however, are not a new concept. Touts could be found selling tickets outside of shows and gigs to fans who missed the initial ticket sale years ago, but it was usually at a discounted price rather than an inflated price. These type of touts can still be found today outside concert halls, trying to sell their remaining tickets while earning a few extra pounds, the only difference being that behind these classically styled touts lies a huge market waiting to exploit consumers. The value of the secondary ticketing market in the UK is now worth £1 billion a year, with an estimated value of $8 billion globally. Another reason why theTicket sales are so controversial is their lack of regulation. Secondary ticketing websites regularly allow violations of consumer law. Loopholes can often be found in the few existing ticket sales rules and regulations that allow these secondary ticketing agencies to operate. For example, although it is considered illegal to hack major agencies such as Ticketmaster to hoard a large number of tickets in addition to using fake profiles to purchase multiple tickets, such legislation is rarely put into practice by agencies (such as the National Consumer Agency). ) the police or the government. Although the general redistribution of tickets for football matches has been banned in the UK since 1994 and countries such as Norway and France consider the resale of concert tickets for profit illegal. For example, in June 2016, Paolo Nutini organized a benefit concert for the benefit of a thirteen-year-old foundation. old fan whose mother had died in her sleep and with only a limited number of tickets, many fans were disappointed. Tickets then appeared on secondary ticketing agency Vivago, priced at £625 each, 15 times the original asking price of £40. Clearly, Nutini wasn't happy about this, calling the touts "fucking shameless." In cases like this, it's clear that something needs to be done to regulate secondary sales. Nutini went on to say, “Even if you want to see someone perform, do not support or facilitate these sites. Protect yourself and other music fans from these exorbitant ticket prices. » Nutini is not the only one to have an opinion regarding touts. There are also a large number of artists fighting against ticket trafficking. In 2016, Raidohead revealed that there would be a limit of 4 tickets per person to try to reduce secondary ticketing, in addition to ensuring that the name of the person who purchased the ticket is on the ticket. Fans had to provide proof in the form of a photo ID to gain entry to the Radiohead concert. Iorn Maiden can also be included in the list of artists who fight against touts. In 2010, when tickets initially went on sale for their UK arena tour, 6,294 tickets could be found on sites such as Seatwave and Vivago the next day. They learned from their mistakes and welcomed a dematerialized ticketing system in September 2016. It was a huge success for the band with only 207 tickets available only on one website, Vivago. The group goes on to say that “With secondary ticketing much more developed now, the difference is probably much greater. » Ticket sales will never completely stop, there will always be friends swapping tickets and people trying to make a little extra money, but it pays off when artists get involved in regulating the sale of their tickets. However, when it comes to secondary ticketing law, in the UK last year the use of bots was made illegal. In my opinion this would be a good step for Ireland to take to begin the battle against vantage. Although using bots is illegal, purchasing one is not, and for as little as £500, many promotion agencies will find it difficult to abstain. One company I mentioned previously, StubHub, earns a 15% commission on each sale and, with prices on its website reaching over £5,000 (Ireland v England at Twickenham, March 2018), it is not not surprising that thisindustry is booming. Sinn Féin TD Maurice Quinlivan has proposed a bill that would make it illegal to resell tickets on which more than 10% profit is made. A draft of the bill has already been put forward by Noel Rock after tickets to U2's Joshua Tree concert in Croke Park in June 2017 were sold on sites like Seatwave, for a whopping €1,042. These exorbitant prices prompted Noel to issue the initial petition prohibiting any unauthorized person from selling or offering for sale tickets to major sporting, musical or theatrical events at a price higher than the officially set price. The current project proposed by Quinlivann has received majority support, with the exception of agencies such as Ticketmaster Ireland and Seatwave. “The media frenzy surrounding ticket resale has only served to sow public confusion and sensationalize the issue. Less than 1% of tickets sold by Ticketmaster Ireland on behalf of its customers are subsequently resold – a very different story to what is told in the Irish press.” Large-scale secondary ticketing is indeed having a negative impact on the entire music industry and it is all too clear to see that it is getting out of control. This is now starting to affect the relationship between fans and artists. With some fans having to pay extortionate prices to see their favorite artists and, more often than not, fans not being able to afford a ticket in the first place. This in turn can affect the artist's income, as fans cannot afford concert merchandise, records, downloads, etc. because they paid an extortionate amount for a ticket in the first place. Additionally, because ticket distributors are able to charge higher prices for their tickets, they are essentially making profits and gains that the artist could potentially receive if the distributors did not exist. This could essentially lead to a decrease in the quality of live shows, a decrease in the number of live shows, or even the resignation of some artists. This may also present a lack of new artists due to fewer funds available to recruit them, which will have a huge impact on the future of music culture. The music industry relies heavily on live concerts, but if people can't afford to attend live concerts due to extorted prices, and if artists start to stop performing live shows, the future of the music industry The music industry could be uncertain. The next topic I will discuss is a recent copyright infringement case, also known as the Blurred Lines case. First, copyright is a legal right granted to the creator of a work of art, music, theater, writing, etc. Copyright infringement occurs when this exclusive right is ignored and someone else attempts to reproduce a similar or exactly the same work. Copyright does not last forever and generally expires 70 years after the death of the composer/writer/author, etc. It is very difficult to follow the laws surrounding copyright because it is an extremely complex law with a wide range of subsections. Copyright is a common debate among lawyers who have different opinions on how it should be interpreted and affected. It's very common for us to break copyright law every day, this could be in the form of uploading a video to Instagram with a song playing on the radio in the background or in the case of most young unsigned artists, covering an original song from someone else and uploading it to their media platform.