Coldplay concert: Petition seeks guidelines to prevent online ticket scalping, touting and black marketing

PIL filed against BookMyShow for ticket scalping at Coldplay concert, seeking stringent guidelines for major event ticket sales.

A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition was filed in the Bombay High Court on Monday (October 21, 2024) seeking to lay down stringent guidelines to address the practices of ticket scalping, ticket touting and black marketing of online tickets for ‘major’ events. The petition has accused ticket booking platform BookMyShow of manipulating sale of tickets for British rock band Coldplay’s concert in Mumbai.

Major events are described as those which attract large numbers of participants or spectators and held at international, national or state level, offering substantial cultural, economic, social, sporting or other benefits and requiring a high level of professional management and coordination. They generate significant tourism opportunities, for instance music concerts, live shows, cultural and sporting events.

As part of ‘Coldplay: Music of the Spheres World Tour’, the rock band is slated to perform in Mumbai on January 18, 19 and 21, 2025. The ticket sale went live on September 22, 2024, on BookMyShow, an online ticket booking platform for concerts, movies, plays, sports and live events.

The petition has alleged that the sale that went live in the noon and tickets were sold out within 30 minutes, with lakhs of users landing in the waiting list. In no time, the tickets appeared on Viagogo, a multinational ticket exchange and resale platform, and were sold at 30 to 40 times higher price than what’s mentioned on the BookMyShow platform.

The petitioner, Amit Vyas, founder-partner at Vertices Partners and a practising advocate of the High Court, stated that on the day tickets were made available for sale, the BookMyShow website turned non-responsive, blocking access for fans to buy tickets. The concert had been marred by blatant and rampant irregularities, illegalities, scalping, touting and black marketing in the sale of tickets, he stated.

The petition alleges that this systematic exploitation of fans is facilitated by companies such as BookMyShow and Live Nation.

A Division Bench of judges, comprising Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyay and Justice Amit Borkar, said that the matter was under inquiry and hence would be heard after the Diwali vacation. The Economic Offences Wing of the Mumbai Police is investigating the matter after Mr. Vyas filed a complaint.