The coming weeks will see some of the biggest names in international music — Bryan Adams, Maroon 5, and Coldplay — perform in India. While the news is music to fans’ ears, there’s a growing concern that dampens their excitement — the menace of fake ticket sales and ticket scalping (buying tickets in bulk and selling them at a higher price).
During singer-actor Diljit Dosanjh’s Dil-luminati concert in Delhi in October, the foul play left many of his fans deeply disappointed, with some paying hefty amounts to buy fake tickets and others falling prey to scalpers.
Dosanjh addressed the issue at his Jaipur concert a few days later and apologised to his fans. “If anyone has been affected by a ticket scam, I apologise. We are not responsible for this. Authorities are looking into the matter. Our tickets sold out so fast, even we didn’t get to know,” he said.
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When we reached out to Zomato Live, the official ticketing partner for Dosanjh’s show, a spokesperson for the platform tells us, “Our endeavour is to always be a ‘fan first’ platform and ensure a fair and equitable experience for all,” adding, “We have taken legal action against fraudulent websites and individuals that are mimicking our platform and selling non-existent tickets. Additionally, we are working closely with authorities to have these illegal operations shut down. We will continue to pursue legal action against any entity involved in ticket scalping activities.”
Furthermore, the spokesperson urged fans to “avoid purchasing tickets from third-party reselling platforms.”
The scam is not only a problem for the artists and ticketing platforms but also for the concert organisers. Deepak Chaudhary, Founder and Managing Director of Eva Live, which is bringing Bryan Adams back to India in December, notes that while ticket reselling at inflated prices is difficult to control quickly, they have implemented several measures to combat fraudulent activities.
“We have started sending physical tickets to users at their home addresses. Another measure that we take as organisers is restricting the number of tickets a user can purchase in a single transaction. For Bryan Adams, we limited it to no more than four tickets per transaction. So that helps to a certain level,” Chaudhary explains.
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Music producer and singer Salim Merchant, who has performed at numerous concerts, recounts his own experience of being scammed while purchasing tickets for a Taylor Swift concert in the UK. He shares, “I went to watch Taylor Swift in the UK and I bought really expensive tickets from a third-party website. It wasn’t a fake website but the tickets were fake,” he says, adding, “These are reselling websites which is really ridiculous, all the governments must put a ban to it.”
He adds, “The worst thing is you can’t tell tickets are fake or real. The tickets allowed me to the concert but completely different seats.I bought tickets for £1500 ( ₹1.63 lakh approximately) but was seated in the £100-pound ( ₹10,000 approximately) row, which was literally behind the stage. It was a crazy fiasco.”
Do these scams affect the artiste-fan relationship? Singer Aditi Singh Sharma, known for hits like Aali Re, Main Heroine Hun, and Sooraj Dooba Hai, says she thinks it doesn’t. “I am not sure if the relationship between fan and artistes gets affected because it’s not really an artiste’s fault, but I definitely do feel that the fans get very disappointed. But it won’t let them love the artiste any less. That is what I believe and hope so.”
“When you are doing multiple tours, it’s impossible for us artistes to be involved in every ticket sale or organising,” she wraps up
