Bruno Mars concert tickets, 180 million won for 8 seats.” This is the text of the world pop star Bruno Mars’ concert ticket price on a used trading site. People felt angered by the ticket price in that posting nicknamed the ‘scalped ticket,’ because the original concert ticket price is just a maximum of 250,000 won for 1 seat. Scalping refers to tickets resold for a profit. Scalping occurs in all fields. It has regularly caused controversy steadily in various fields like PSY’s water show held every summer, famous artists’ concerts, and sports games. Scalping occurs because demand exceeds supply. At that time, 1.6 million people tried to access Bruno Mars’ concert tickets. However, only 100,000 people could succeed in buying tickets. Scalpers sell the tickets because they know that some people are willing to buy a ticket despite paying a premium. Pharos investigated the trend of scalping and how Korea and other countries regulate scalping. In addition, we looked at how we can solve the problem. 

 Korea’s legal punishment for ticket scalping is insufficient. Under the current law, only resold tickets traded offline can be punished as ‘resold tickets sales,’ but there is only a fine of 200,000 won per case according to the Minor Offense Law. There are no appropriate legal regulations on online transactions such as SNS and secondhand marketplaces. Although the punishment can be made for ‘business obstruction,’ scalpers are specified as a portal or Search Ads advertiser, so it is very difficult to penalize in reality. In addition, it cannot be proven whether or not a resold tickets has been traded, so it is not easy to catch organized resold ticket transactions. In the past, resold tickets were secretly bought and sold at the entrance of large concert halls and sports stadiums. However, the process has become more sophisticated by day through the internet space, and most resold tickets have recently been traded on the online market. The way of ticket selling has changed, but many people including resold ticket buyers, are suffering because punishments and legal regulations have not been changed.

 The Korean Music Label Industry Association recently investigated the resold ticket buying experience for 572 people through Korea Research, a public opinion poll firm. 23.4% of respondents answered ‘I have an experience buying a resold ticket.’ When they bought the resold ticket, 45.5% of respondents paid an additional 10,000 ~ 50,000 won, over retail. 14.1% paid an additional 100,000 won over retail. Resold ticket damages are not limited to the people who failed to buy a ticket and resold ticket buyers. Artists and production agencies have been hurt because of resold tickets. If the scalpers fail to sell, they cancel the ticket just before the show. In that case, the artists have empty seats, which were thought to have been sold out. In addition, other harm occurs. Production agencies have an increased workload because they have to police resold tickets. Besides, the audience complains and the artist’s image is harmed.

 The war against resold tickets of various performances and sports games is not limited to Korea. Developed countries with developed artistic cultures operate fair ticket reservation systems in various ways. In Brazil, where a Taylor Swift tour will be held in November, a ‘Taylor Swift bill’ named after her was recently proposed. According to this bill, the maximum sentence for ticket scalpers will be increased from two to four years, and fines will be imposed 100 times higher than the original ticket price. In the United States, the maximum fine is 1,500 dollars (about 165 million won) for purchasing or reselling tickets using illegal programs, and a fine of up to 5,000 dollars (about 5.5 million won) for doing this again, and using or making illegal programs for profit purposes will get maximum imprisonment. In fact, in the United States, New York State has decided to punish purchasers who used the macro program ‘Ticketbot’ in 2016 with fines of up to 1,000 dollars or imprisonment of up to a year.

 Currently, the punishment regulations for online ticket transactions are not clear under the current law in Korea. Various systems and laws should be amended to the rapidly changing pace of the online environment. The attack is ahead of the defense. Although the investment in technologies to prevent illegal ticket buying is ongoing, the speed of the scalper’s transaction is so fast that it is difficult to completely block it. Therefore, it should be accompanied by the establishment of laws against scalpers and the formation of civic consciousness. If someone monopolizes and scalps the tickets, people who want to enjoy the actual concert will be harmed. It also damages artists and performance workers. In general, it hinders a country’s cultural and artistic development. The generalized performance order and norms show the people, cultural levels, and capabilities of the country. For these reasons, we must strengthen the laws related to ticket regulation, and at the same time, we must realize the seriousness of scalping as soon as possible and eradicate these transactions. 

80th Reporter • KIM YU JIN • yujinkim627@gmail.com