Indian police have opened an investigation after touts bought up tickets for Coldplay’s upcoming Mumbai shows and put them back on sale for more than £750 each.
India is often missed off global tours by popular western artists and news that Coldplay would be coming to India for the first time in January to perform two nights of their world tour in Mumbai had been greeted with wild excitement by music fans.
However, as more than 700,000 people logged on to BookMyShow in an attempt to buy tickets, the website quickly crashed. Large numbers were disappointed as the tickets sold out in minutes, and many were outraged when tickets began to reappear on unauthorised third-party websites, selling for up to 85,000 rupees [£760, US$1,015].
Local media reports said police questioned the chief operating officer of BookMyShow on Monday after receiving a complaint from a Mumbai lawyer, Amit Vyas, who alleged that the vendor was working with “black marketeers” to make an extra windfall on ticket sales.
“I checked with nearly 100 people who I know are regulars at concerts, none of them had gotten a ticket,” Vyas said, according to the Indian Express newspaper. “This made me suspicious. I then decided to approach the police as I knew that something was amiss.”
BookMyShow issued a statement after the public backlash began last week saying it had “no association” with unauthorised ticket selling. “Scalping and black marketing of tickets is strictly condemned and punishable by law in India and BookMyShow vehemently opposes this practice,” the company said.
While reselling tickets on unauthorised or hidden-market channels in India is illegal, the practice is largely unchecked.
The issue of ticket scalping and unauthorised reselling for inflated prices has become a major problem for the music industry globally. Fans in the UK were recently outraged when tickets for the upcoming Oasis reunion sold out in minutes and then reappeared on secondary sites for thousands of pounds, prompting an inquiry by a regulator.
The ticket website Ticketmaster also faced criticism and political scrutiny over alleged mishandling and unfair practices relating to the sale of tickets for Taylor Swift’s Eras tour.
AFP contributed to this report