Acclaimed Australian comedian and musician Tim Minchin this week announced a tour of New Zealand and he wants to make sure his Kiwi fans aren't ripped off.
Concert ticket resale sites like Viagogo have come under fire recently for allowing scalpers to buy up large numbers of tickets with no intention of attending, all to sell the tickets back to genuine fans for huge profits.
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Minchin, who was in Aotearoa last year with his musical Matilda, has teamed up with Ticketmaster to try and protect his fans from scalpers.
"We're doing a thing called Verified Fan, which is a system that's been put in place and seems to be working for other real artists, where fans can register to become a Verified Fan which is a way of stopping scalpers buying loads of tickets and selling them to poor, desperate people for way too much money," says Minchin.
"So, you can register as a Verified Fan from now and if as many people as possible do that we will make sure that tickets end up in the hands of people who have paid a reasonable price and we don't all get fleeced."
Minchin is the first artist to use the programme in New Zealand.
"Ticketmaster's innovative, fan-first Verified Fan technology has had huge success globally in limiting the secondary ticketing market," says Maria O'Connor, managing director of Ticketmaster Australia and New Zealand.
"We are committed to working with artists and promoters in Australia and New Zealand to ensure tickets are going into the hands of genuine fans, and not bots or scalpers."
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Ticketmaster says the programme has been used on over 80 tours internationally and saved fans an estimated total of over US$100 million relative to what they would have spent on the secondary market.
Minchin's BACK tour is billed as 'old songs, new songs, f**k you songs' and will mark his first live shows in New Zealand in over a decade.
Concert dates and venues are as follows:
- ASB Theatre, Auckland - Sunday, April 14, 2019
- Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington - Thursday, April 18, 2019
More information on signing up as a Verified Fan for the gigs can be found on timminchinnz.ontouraccess.com.
Newshub.
