Taylor Swift tickets: Viagogo boss defends resale site
Getty ImagesYou might have seen lots of people this week trying - and failing - to get tickets for Taylor Swift's UK show.
The rush to bag a seat on the Eras tour has even hit the House of Commons, with one MP complaining his daughter couldn't get one for the Cardiff show.
Cardiff Labour MP Kevin Brennan said he was appalled when he found tickets on "rip-off merchant" resale sites for £3,352 within an hour of the main sale.
But the boss of Viagogo has told the BBC the site is a force for good.
Taylor's one of several stars who've criticised resellers, sometimes referred to as secondary ticketing sites, where you'll often find tickets advertised at many times their face value.
Fans could only buy four tickets from official seller Ticketmaster - a measure that's designed to deter touts.
There have been warnings that tickets bought from sites like Viagogo could be at risk of cancellation or refusal at the venue.
The site's boss Cris Miller told the BBC companies like his exist because demand is bigger than supply for huge artists like Taylor.
"There's not going to be enough seats," he says.
"So from our perspective, ensuring that there's a secure, safe transaction that takes place is the single most important thing.
Mr Miller claims lots of fans actually prefer buying on Viagogo instead of buying tickets direct.
"They don't want to be forced to get up on Friday morning and wait in a queue that may or may not happen," he says.
"Maybe they don't know where they're going to be, nine months in advance, which is quite possible."
In an interview with BBC Radio 4's You and Yours programme - recorded just after the ballot for Taylor tickets opened last month - Mr Miller:
- insisted people would "absolutely" buy a ticket and not want to go or resell it without being driven by profit
- said less than 0.02 per cent of his customers had issues getting into venues because tickets were invalid
- described the use of bots by touts to snap up tickets for resale as "completely unfair"
Mr Miller says the company "may not be for everybody" but he was "not going to apologise for the service we provide".
"I wake up every single day, as does every body else that works at the company, thinking about one thing, and that's getting fans into these events all over the world," he says.
"We're very very confident in it and been doing it for 20 years now."
