Japan ‘Only the person in question can enter’ → France ‘No extra money’… To prevent ticket scalping at concerts, customized measures are needed in Korea

Recently, there has been a case where a fan who visited singer IU's concert was unable to attend due to a misunderstanding regarding ticket fraud, increasing the need for measures to prevent ticket scalping. Currently, each agency is fighting an individual battle, such as creating disadvantageous regulations at its discretion, but looking at overseas cases, it can be seen that institutionalized anti-ticketing measures are in effect. For the sake of the maturity of the K-entertainment industry, it is time to take systematic Korean-style anti-ticketing measures.

On the 9th, IU's agency, EDAM Entertainment, again announced its position on this ticket scalping incident and acknowledged its responsibility. The situation was resolved by expressing an apology not only to the fans but also to those responsible for managing the artist. As IU's concert is the most popular concert, the agency has worked hard to prevent illegal ticket scalping. During this process, a variable beyond the agency's control occurred, and it was reported that one fan suffered unintended damage.

Due to this incident, IU's agency modified its existing anti-ticketing measures. The policy regarding illegal ticket transactions (secret royal inspector system) reward system will be abolished and ticket reservations without monetary transactions will be permitted. If the existing regulatory measures were closer to active regulation, this time the degree was lowered.

But it is not a fundamental solution. First of all, there is no legal basis, leaving the possibility of dispute. The Performance Act has punished illegal sales using macro programs since the 22nd of last month, but it is not effective. This is because ticket reservations using actual macros are already filtered out through the authentication process at the reservation office. Therefore, the industry is unanimous that additional regulations are needed, such as establishing an identity verification system or illegally punishing the act of selling at a higher price than the normal price.

If you look at overseas cases, these are things that are actually being applied. Japan, Taiwan, Canada, France, and Belgium make it illegal and punish the act of trading tickets with additional money. In particular, Japan and Belgium have entry regulations and only allow self-entry. Critic Kim Heon-sik explained, "If you verify your identity before attending a performance, the problem of ticket scalping can be quickly resolved. However, the practical inconvenience of having to hire personnel to verify ID on site is so great that the agency simply does not do it." The identity verification system can have a big impact on eradicating ticket fraud. This is the same reason why train boarding passes are sold through scalping, but airline tickets are difficult to be sold through scalping.

However, it is true that there are parts that can be sensitive as it deals with personal information. Therefore, many in the industry point out that this incident requires institutional reorganization surrounding concert ticket reservations.

Lee Min-kyung, Ten Asia Reporter 2min_ror@tenasia.co.kr