With the UK government pledging to introduce a cap on ticket resale pricing, it’s a big victory for campaigners.

Here, Rob Sealy, chief creative officer at Openstage, says it offers the potential to bring that secondary ticket expenditure back into the genuine live music economy…

The legislative move in the UK to cap the resale price of live event tickets is a definitive victory for fairness and a successful outcome driven by the tireless work of advocates like Adam Webb and Reg Walker. This decisive action shuts down the predatory practices of industrial scalpers, protecting the core fan and crucially, repatriating millions in potential revenue back into the music industry.

However, this legislation is merely the foundation for a profound shift. The true long-term success for artists, managers, and agents now hinges entirely on their ability to pivot from the old, transactional model to a sophisticated, data-driven direct-to-fan (D2F) strategy. The goal is clear: to reward loyal fans with face-value tickets and to capture the premium value that touts were previously stealing by giving highspending fans a premium experience worth their money.

The money that fans were willing to pay above face value demonstrates an underlying, untapped demand for exclusivity. Was the fan who paid £500 for a £100 ticket signalling their willingness to spend that sum on their favourite artist? The challenge for the industry is to identify and redirect that £400 difference into legitimate artist-controlled revenue streams.

An on-brand experience is one that not only feels premium but also deeply aligns with the artist's identity, genre, and unique connection with their audience. The premium experience must not just be clumsily expensive; it must feel exclusive and authentic to the fan, justifying the £500 price point with intangible value.

This is impossible without an effective D2F strategy built on first-party data. By encouraging fans to have an authentic direct relationship with the artist they love, allows them to bypass third party platforms that hoard valuable information to turn every fan's contact and purchase details into proprietary data.

This decisive action shuts down the predatory practices of industrial scalpers, protecting the core fan and crucially, repatriating millions in potential revenue back into the music industry

Rob Sealy

Relevant insights built on first party data empowers granular fan segmentation. Artists can identify their most engaged fans with precision. These insights should enable the creation of bespoke, value-added experiences that genuinely justify different price points.

Selling face-value tickets fairly to loyal budget-conscious fans is probably on brand for most artists. Remember the single biggest reward for any diehard fan is the guarantee of a face-value ticket.

However, we must acknowledge that we do not live in a financially equal society. The opportunity to offer exclusive, high-value experiences should remain an informed strategic choice available to every artist, manager, and agent. These decisions can only be made appropriately with amazing fan data sets.

The key benefit of this new, regulated environment is ensuring that market dynamics work primarily for the artist. By reclaiming control, the industry can now ensure that the fan paying £500 receives a genuine £500 experience, making them feel valued and respected, rather than simply exploited by predatory resale practices.

The capping of resale prices removes the tumour from the live music economy. The responsibility now lies with the industry to use data and artist-led direct-to-fan relationships to ensure the recovered revenue flows not into the pockets of others, but directly to the creators that fans love. This is the moment to transform a necessary legal protection into a dynamic fan centric business model.