A concert is a spectacle that should be experienced by any music fan out there.
The best case scenario is to line up for tickets as early as possible both online at your most trusted ticketing outlet, or on-site — like a ticketing service located at the mall’s department store. You hope to call dibs on seats and a front row standing area of your favorite artist.
The worst case scenario: the show sells out quickly and you hope someone changes their mind and sells it online. But that’s the tricky part. You begin to see folks who purchased tickets hours before the concert are already selling it in either a music group on social media platforms like Facebook and X. The ticket number looks legitimate, and the name of the artist and promoters sealed on the ticket looks legitimate, with its contents blocked off to avoid duplication. But the caption shows a different story altogether. The mentioned ticket pricing is marked way up versus the official listed price of the assigned seat.
This practice is called “ticket scalping.”
A Prevalent Problem
From amusement parks to basketball games, ticket scalping happens everywhere — but especially in the context of the Philippine music market. Hundreds of shows in mainstream music venues — such as SM Mall of Asia Arena, Smart Araneta Coliseum, New Frontier Theater, to name a few — happen in a span of a month One major concert after the other, ticket scalping has been subject to discourse and debate over the past decade of concert culture.
Take Olivia Rodrigo’s first headlining show held in the Philippine Arena last October 5, 2024 as an example. Tickets for all sections cost P1,500 flat. The show’s proceeds were planned to go to charity as well. Nothing’s going wrong right?
Well, a comment from a concert goer says otherwise: “Yung mga willing bumili sa scalper.. ENABLER din kasi. Dapat magkaron na ng kaukulang batas para sa scalper AT sa mga bibili sa kanila.”
Some scalpers in the same concert were reported to sell P23,000 for one ticket that was eventually turned in by the police outside of the Philippine Arena. However, the violator was not arrested as there are no anti-ticket scalping laws in place.
For a concert that’s known to be extremely accessible for all concert goers and fans alike, scalpers will find the opportunity to mark up the prices for those who are desperate to see their favorite artist live.
Anti-Ticket Scalping Legislation
For Senator Mark Villar, music fans don’t deserve exploitation of excessive and unauthorized ticket selling. Last December 9, 2024, Villar proposed a bill that aims to combat offering or selling admission tickets for entertainment events without written permission from the authorized event producer, organizer, and distributor, as well as obtaining and reselling said tickets with a mark up of more than ten percent of the original price. This proposed bill, called “Anti-Ticket Scalping Bill,” comes six years after the same legislation was filed in Congress, but somehow it never was seen in the light of day according to Attorney Gilberto Lauengco of the Philippine News Agency.
However, Villar also proposed that the bill would include employees from authorized organizations, companies and event producers to discourage ticket scalping as well. The bill mentions that violators will be fined P100,000 and/or imprisonment of six months for the first offense. This penalty could go as much as P500,000 and/or imprisonment of three years for the third and subsequent offenses.
In light of this Senate bill, we anticipate concert promoters and producers to release guidelines against ticket scalping — a healthy and hassle-free environment for concert goers everywhere.