British rock band Coldplay's upcoming India tour has sparked a police investigation and alarmed fans after bootleggers snapped up the cheap tickets to resell them online for more than $1,000 each.
Thousands of music fans tried and failed to buy tickets for the three concerts scheduled for next January in the financial center of Mumbai. Tickets are being sold by popular Indian online ticketing portal BookMyShow, AFP reported.
All three concerts sold out in minutes, and those who failed to get tickets were furious when they saw the $70 tickets appear on resale websites at vastly inflated prices.
“Tickets are being sold at 10 times, 20 times, 30 times the price of the website itself. I wouldn't feel good knowing that I paid for something 30 times more than what I could have paid for it," said 19-year-old student Anna Abraham.
Local media reported that BookMyShow's chief operating officer was questioned by the police on September 30 after a complaint was filed by Mumbai lawyer Amit Vyas. He claimed the seller was working with "black market traders" to make extra money from ticket sales.
"I've spoken to close to 100 people who I know are regular concertgoers, none of them had gotten a ticket. This made me doubt it. That's when I decided to approach the police as I knew something was wrong,” said Vyas.
BookMyShow released a statement following the public backlash, saying it had "nothing to do" with unauthorized ticket sales.
"Scalping and selling tickets on the black market is strongly condemned and punishable by law in India and BookMyShow strongly opposes this practice," the company said.
Disputes over tickets to major international music or sporting events are nothing new.
In 2022, US megastar Taylor Swift lashed out at Ticketmaster following fan outrage over ticket sales for her worldwide 'Eras' tour.
The failure sparked debate about Ticketmaster's privileged position in the industry amid fan complaints of hidden fees, rampant ticket scalping and limited ticket numbers due to advance sales. | BGNES
