Face off: Should purchasing concert tickets require real-name registration?

Published: 
Listen to this article
  • Each week, two of our readers debate a hot topic in a showdown that does not necessarily reflect their personal viewpoints
  • This week, they debate whether using personal details to buy tickets to shows will prevent scalpers from taking advantage of fans
YP Readers |
Published: 
Comment

Latest Articles

Hong Kong’s education minister pledges moderated university fee hikes

Scorching Sunday for Hong Kong as city logs hottest ever March day

Hong Kong physiotherapists share their skills with trail guides in Nepal

The Lens: New travel technology is great, but keep data privacy in mind

Do you think you should need to register your name when buying concert tickets online? Photo: Shutterstock

If you are interested in joining future Face Off debates, fill out this form to submit your application.

For: Annabel Cheung, 12, St Paul’s Co-educational College

Prices for concert tickets have risen to a point where they are unaffordable for most people. For example, if you want to buy tickets to see Hong Kong boy band Mirror through public sales, you could spend between HK$480 to HK$1,280.

But this is nothing compared to how much ticket scalpers sell them for – some reports say people have sold Mirror tickets for up to HK$438,000. This is far out of reach for most Hongkongers.

This shows that if scalpers can get their hands on tickets to popular concerts, prices could rise to an extreme level, and people who actually love the group would not be able to buy them.

Hong Kong Canto-pop idols Mirror take on scalpers with real-name rule for buying concert tickets

By requiring real-name registration, we can prevent bots from automatically buying tickets and let people who genuinely want to go to a concert have a chance.

Some might say that Captcha, a fraud detection system built to stop bots, already exists to solve this problem. However, according to bot management company Netacea, cybercriminals have developed a way to bypass these measures, meaning they do little to stop bots and scalpers.

If we require identity verification, there would be no way for scalpers to buy an abundance of tickets. They would need to verify the purchase with a real name to sell it to a buyer, whose name is generally unknown to scalpers when they are buying tickets, making this method more effective than Captcha.

Thanks to bots and scalpers, it’s getting increasingly difficult for people to snag tickets to see their favourite bands. Photo: Shutterstock

Real-name verification could also be used to track which concerts people have previously attended. We could limit the number of times an individual can buy tickets to a certain band or musician’s concert series. This way, we could stop some fans from going to more than one concert in a series, so other people can buy tickets.

Some would argue that using your real name would put your personal information at risk. However, the two most common websites used to buy concert tickets in Hong Kong, Urbtix and HK Ticketing, both have industry-level security standards. This means that purchasing tickets with real-name registration puts you at the same risk as having a Google or Instagram account – which most of us already have.

If we required the use of real-name registration, we could take on scalpers and give fans a chance to attend more concerts.

Hong Kong YouTubers’ ticket experiment could be a ‘Trial and Error’

Against: Charmaine Wong, 13, St Paul’s Co-educational College

I’m sure that everyone has been to a concert to support their favourite band or orchestra.

How would you feel if you had to arrive at the concert venue three hours early, just to join an intimidatingly long line of people queuing up to get the names on their tickets checked?

Indeed, by registering your name, it makes it harder for scalpers to snap up tickets. But it also means you need to wait longer before being able to enjoy the concert.

There’s nothing like seeing your favourite band live ... if you can get a ticket, of course. Photo: Shutterstock

Plus, scalpers can work around this mechanism by asking customers to pay beforehand and registering using the personal details they have been given. If scalpers use bots to purchase tickets, they can charge a higher price with the guarantee that customers will get a spot. This could also lead to scams since the scalpers now have their customers’ personal information.

Furthermore, this could lead to an increase in people accidentally buying counterfeit tickets.

Some tech companies have spoken out against the idea, such as Timable CEO Mike Ko.

“Mayday, a popular Taiwanese band, set up a real-name registration system for its concerts, with the name of the buyer printed on the ticket,” Ko said in an interview with the Hong Kong Economic Journal. But the system was not applied to all seats, Ko explained.

“It is just too time-consuming to check [all] tickets and their holders’ identities on-site.”

Hong Kong lyricist Siu Hak on Keung To’s anti-war song, local music scene’s growth

Not only does the process waste too much time, but this also means more people need to be hired just to check the names on attendees’ tickets, increasing the operational costs for a concert.

This could ultimately have a negative financial impact on the music industry, which has already been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. This new ticketing system could also make going to a concert less appealing as people will have to wait in long queues before being able to see the performance they paid for.

It could also be tougher to surprise a loved one with concert tickets for their favourite band or singer.

Hong Kong R&B artist Gareth.T talks about his musical journey

A real-name ticketing system for all performances is essentially impossible and impractical, as the nature and market response for every show varies.

For example, at charity concerts, tickets are generally given out for free to donors and sponsors.

The idea behind real-name registration sounds good at first, but when you look at it closely, there are too many practical challenges that need to be sorted out.

Sign up for the YP Teachers Newsletter
Get updates for teachers sent directly to your inbox
By registering, you agree to our T&C and Privacy Policy
Comment