This blew up in my home country in early December as the Asia tour for J-pop duo YOASOBI was announced during Anime Festival Asia 2023 (AFA2023). As with almost all concerts; irrespective of artistes or groups, we have the ongoing and downright detestable plague known as 'scalping'.
(Image: Straits Times, Geek Culture, mothership)
Brief summary
SOZO, the organiser of AFA (and many other JPOP events in the region) announced on 24 Nov that YOASOBI will be holding their first ever Southeast Asia concert tour , with Singapore being the first stop in the SEA leg. Their hit openings for popular anime titles have propelled the relatively young duo to stardom:
[Idol (アイドル)]: Oshi no Ko (推しの子), 2023
[Shukufuku (祝福)]: Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury (機動戦士ガンダム 水星の魔女) , 2022
[Kaibutsu (怪物)]: BEASTARS, 2021
and more.
With a strong following of supporters and fans, it is no surprise AFA's news of their upcoming concert and ticket sales spread like wild fire, with more than 3,500 shares across Facebook:
(Image: AFA Facebook)
But wait! there's more (bad news)
Alas, the only (official) way to attend their concert was to hopefully purchase a ticket from their vendor; the not-so-envied Ticketmaster. I myself have used them before and can attest to the horror stories about their abysmal service.
So, predictably (and to no one's surprise), they were hit with a whole slew of issues from site overload, lags and a new addition to their 'repertoire'; data security breach. Oh, and of course, scalpers as the main course. Ticketmaster, you never cease to amaze.
(Image: AFA Facebook)
SOZO on the otherhand, was quick on their crisis management initiative, consistently updating followers on the situation and even going lengths to recover scalped/fradulent tickets. This should be applauded since I cannot recall of any organiser who did anything similar.
(Image: SOZO Facebook)
Aside from releasing the "very limited number of tickets" through a ballot system (which brought about a new set of issues), they have done rather well in their crisis management. However, this brings into question as to what measures could prevent something like this from occuring again.
To date, there are 3 parties in this fiasco (not counting the organisers and vendors),
Scalpers trying to sell off questionable tickets which might have been voided
People who are desperate enough to purchase from said troublemakers.
Fans hoping to snatch recovered tickets
(Image: Carousell Singapore)
Those dastardly scalpers and (foolish?) buyers!
As someone who had missed out on 'once-in-a-lifetime' events, I can understand the desire and thought processes of those who are desperate enough to buy from scalpers, which is what we call supply vs demand:
While one can argue that poor management by organisers opened up Pandora's Box in the initial chaos, we cannot deny that we consumers are also part of the problem. Scalpers know there would be people willing to pay a 'premium' for limited tickets, so they create a 'supply-vs-demand' by snatching up tickets (through botting. DNS attacks etc.) at regular prices and flipping them.
Scalper: I have overpriced tickets for your much-coverted concert.
Buyer: I don't want to miss a once-in-a-lifetime event. Take my money!
It's not against laws/regulations (sadly) and the scalpers never forced anyone to purchase from them so who's in the wrong? Morally, I would say both sides are to blame; scalpers for making a profit through dishonest means; and desperate buyers for enabling them.
No end in sight?
If you think about it, this could become a catch-22 scenario:
Partners and organisers bring in popular concerts because there is a demand.
Scalpers inhibit fans from buying tickets and flip them for profit.
Fans refuse to buy overpriced tickets, so they become wasted in scalpers' hands.
Artistes disappointed with poor attendance rate, refuse to hold subsequent concerts.
Fans lose out. The end.
While just a theory, it goes to show they is no clear answer to the scalping pandemic plaguing concerts. Either you buy overpriced tickets to support your favourite bands, duos, etc, and feed the trolls, or you stick to your principles and miss out on what could be a one-off performance.
It's all about the money, money, money.
Perhaps, organisers could come up with a system to prevent scalping, but just like digital malware, they are constantly evolving to cheat the system. Kind of admirable, if not morally right.
Lets face it, in terms of business revenue, most organisers don't care who buys the tickets, be it scalper or consumer or reseller. So long as tickets are sold, it is monies for them. In this case, you can argue it's the fear of 'cancel culture' or simply integrity which made them fight against scalpers.
Ultimately, this issue won't go away anytime soon when you mix opportunistic individuals willing to overlook morals for profit with people who are passionate about their interests and desires. Either way, damned if you do, damned if you don't.