Radiohead Tickets Hit Secondary Platforms Despite Rigorous Sales Controls

Despite Radiohead’s best efforts to prevent scalpers accessing tickets to their upcoming UK and European shows, more than 1,000 potentially fraudulent tickets have been identified on secondary sites.

Speculative sales:

• Tickets started appearing on secondary platforms such as Ticombo and Viagogo days before the official sale began on September 12.

• As per The Guardian, German-owned platform Ticombo offered more than 1,200 tickets, for prices up to £788 ($1,074).

• Of those tickets, a Swiss company called Worldtix AG had listed 30 for a single night at the O2 in London, with a combined value of £22,000 ($29,610).

• Ticombo has since removed the listings, telling The Guardian it “takes these matters very seriously.”

Preventative measures:

• To beat scalpers, Radiohead stipulated that to buy tickets fans had to register their details prior to onsale.

• Some would then receive an ‘unlock code,’ through which they could gain access to buy up to four tickets for one of the shows.

• Receiving the code was no guarantee of a ticket.

• The band worked with fan-data and marketing firm Openstage on the registration and code-unlocking process.

• Openstage has previously worked with Bad Bunny, Lana Del Rey and Oasis.

What they said:

• Julie Calland, Radiohead manager (to The Guardian): “Fans will be encouraged to stay away from secondary sites and we will work alongside venues, promoters, and organizations like FanFair Alliance and FEAT to shut down unauthorized sales at inflated prices – tickets for the most part, don’t actually exist.”