Robbie Williams reveals a scalper ‘scammed’ fans out of millions (Picture: Gisela Schober/Getty Images for Bunte)
Concert tickets have been an incredibly hot topic this year, with Oasis at the centre of a huge dynamic pricing storm.
While defending his friends Liam and Noel Gallagher, Robbie Williams recalled a scalper who made millions off his fans.
‘It’s very difficult,’ the Better Man star revealed. ‘In 2006 there was a ticket scalper guy that bought a £1.5million mansion off scalping my tickets.’
At this time, a ticket to see Robbie perform would have set you back around £45 – compared to today’s £70 to £170 price range.
Robbie added to The Face that he ‘feels bad’ that fans were scammed at all but especially for such a large profit.
‘That feels bad on the people that bought the tickets, and it feels bad for me,’ he shared. ‘You f**king scammed them and scammed me.’
The scalper bought a £1.5million mansion (Picture: Gisela Schober/Getty Images for Bunte)
Scalpers have become an increasing menace to fans attempting to see their favourite artists, with tickets popping up on third-party sites before general sale even opens.
While real people sit in massive ticket queues, bots are able to buy up numerous tickets with the sole intention of reselling for an inflated price.
A study by O2 and the YouGov analysis institute found that 62% of us don’t even realise we are buying from a third-party seller.
On top of that, 64% of fans didn’t know that the price they paid was completely at the whim of that seller – not face value.
Clearly, scalping is not a new thing but technology and artist’ face value skyrocketing has allowed a massive wave of unregulated ticket sales with fans paying the price.
He insisted there’s no way Liam Gallagher would have known about dynamic pricing (Picture: Brian Rasic/Getty Images)
Groups like FanFair Alliance and some MPs are pushing to put laws in place, with pressure increasing after the backlash to Ticketmaster’s dynamic pricing.
Robbie insisted that Oasis would not have known about the decision to use in-demand price inflation, reiterating what the Gallagher brothers had said at the time.
He explained he had never been in a meeting where that pricing option was discussed, admitting the Oasis incident made him rethink his ignorance.
‘I don’t know what you do, how you make it right, how you stop being greedy, how you figure out what you’re worth whilst not extorting people,’ the Angels icon said. ‘Because at the end of the day, tickets are only too much if they don’t sell.
Robbie said if people are willing to pay, the ticket prices will stay high (Picture: WireImage)
‘If you sell out, or if you sell 95 per cent of the tickets, they weren’t too much.’
The feeding frenzy around tickets at the moment often means fans are not able to think twice before splashing huge amounts of money.
After waiting in a queue for hours, the last thing you want to do is give up when you’re finally about to pay.
While tickets have always been in high demand, with every big artist imaginable touring at the moment, maybe we will see industry changes in 2025.
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