“Major” events are defined as those attracting large numbers of participants or spectators, held at international, national, or state levels, offering substantial cultural, economic, social, sporting, or other benefits. These events demand a high level of professional management and coordination and generate tourism opportunities, such as music concerts, live shows, cultural and sporting events.
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On September 22, 2024, tickets for Coldplay’s concert were made available for sale on BookMyShow, a platform that handles ticketing for concerts, movies, plays, sports, and live events. However, within just 30 minutes of being made available, all tickets were sold out, leaving tens of thousands of fans on the waiting list. Shortly after, these tickets appeared on Viagogo, an international ticket exchange and resale platform, at prices 30 to 40 times higher than their original listing on BookMyShow.
The petitioner, Amit Vyas, founding partner of Vertices Partners and a practicing lawyer at the High Court, stated that on the day tickets went on sale, the BookMyShow website became unresponsive, preventing fans from purchasing tickets. He emphasized that the concert had been severely affected by widespread irregularities, illegal ticket reselling, and ticket scalping.
Mr. Vyas alleged that companies such as BookMyShow and Live Nation facilitated this system of exploitation, leaving genuine fans at a disadvantage and denying them the right to fair access to tickets. He added that these practices not only caused economic loss to consumers but also resulted in significant financial damage to the public exchequer.
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Notably, the petition points out that concert tickets were hoarded by scalpers and resellers who used bots, a technology that automates the ticket-buying process, to snap up large volumes of tickets in mere seconds. These bots operated under multiple identities and IP addresses to bypass the restrictions imposed by primary ticket sellers (PTS) and official ticketing websites (PTW), leaving genuine customers with no chance to buy tickets at face value.
Mr. Vyas urged the High Court to establish an expert committee led by a retired judge, including a cyber expert, to study and recommend measures to regulate online ticket sales. The goal is to introduce strict regulations that ensure transparency in the ticket-selling process and prevent black market activities both online and offline.
During the court hearing, the Division Bench, comprising Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyay and Justice Amit Borkar, noted that the matter was under investigation and would be heard after the Diwali vacation. The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai Police is currently investigating the case following Mr. Vyas’s formal complaint.
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This petition serves as a warning not only to ticketing service providers but also as a voice protecting the rights of consumers, especially music lovers who wish to attend large events like the Coldplay concert. As online ticketing platforms become more prevalent, it is urgent to enforce stricter controls to ensure fairness and transparency in the purchasing process, necessitating intervention by legal and regulatory authorities.
Ticket scalping and various forms of fraudulent ticket-selling practices not only harm consumers but also erode their trust in cultural and entertainment events. Genuine fans are priced out of legal ticket-buying systems, forced to pay exorbitant prices on secondary markets to attend the events they’ve long awaited. This creates a black market and undermines transparency and fairness in the entertainment industry.
This lawsuit is hoped to be the first step toward creating positive changes that protect consumer rights and restore trust in online ticketing systems.
