Led Zeppelin reunion: promoter vows to take on touts

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Harvey Goldsmith says eBay refuses to co-operate

Oct 6, 2007
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The organiser of the Led Zeppelin reunion gig has spoken out about tackling the touts trying to sell ticket-buying passwords online.

Some fans who were successful in the recent ballot to buy tickets for the gig have started selling their ticket-buying access in online auctions today (October 2), but Harvey Goldsmith explained to NME.COM how he would be tackling the touts head on.

He said: "The selection process took place on Monday (October 1) and people were notified. The unscrupulous ones put (the codes) up on and wherever they can.

"The issue is as follows - unless the name of the person who was successful in the random ballot and their pass-code number and their photo ID match they aren’t going to get in. It’s as simple as that. So I want people to know lest their upset and disappointed.”

Goldsmith said that the root of the problem has yet to be addressed.

He said: "So long as continue to allow this to take place it will continue to happen. The whole industry wants to take ‘ticket’ off their inventory, but they won’t."

Over 1 million fans successfully registered and all those randomly selected have been notified in the last 24 hours.? ?Tickets are limited to one pair per household.??

The organisers went on to street that all purchasers' names must match the same details as those who received the passcode. If anyone attempts to purchase tickets on someone else's passcode, they will be cancelled and the registrants will be notified on email.

Any cancelled tickets will then be re-allocated in a second draw.

Check out the full story of Led Zeppelin's reunion on NME.COM.

Now find out what made Led Zeppelin reform.

Read NME.COM's brief history of Led Zeppelin and Ahmet Ertegun's story now.

Plus look at our special Led Zeppelin picture gallery.

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Comments (5)

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konnexion

Oct 3, 2007

Re: Led Zeppelin Lottery

I have a question for Mr Harvey Goldsmith. He is now saying that the code issued in the lottery email must match the identity of the buyer. How come this was not mentioned before now and is not mentioned in the email sent out to sucessful applicants ? Also how come this requirement was not built into the Ticketmaster purchase - a trivial piece of web coding ? I was able to buy a code this morning and sucessfuly purchased 2 tickets on Ticketmaster. At no stage was I informed that the code I used was invalid.

clayton24

Oct 3, 2007

Then what happens with the extra tickets that are returned or not sold?

Zepp1977

Oct 4, 2007

They said "tickets" that were sold on online auction sites would not be valid from the start . To me buying this code is no different than buying the ticket from Ebay.....it is SCALPING for a profit that does not help the charity it was intended to help. I do not think the sellers of the passcodes will donate their proceeds to the fund,do you? I hope everyone that does this loses their money ,and their chance to see Zeppelin, SO SORRY !

Jeff DuBose

Oct 4, 2007

OK, Here is my opinion. If this is a benefit concert then why the heck is this concert NOT going to be seen live on Pay-Per view?????? Over 1 million people and 20,000 seats. If it were on Pay-Per View and they charged $99.99 USA dollars millions of households here would pay to see them live no matter the time difference. Now include the rest of the world, HDTV wide screens, do whan you want,,with the company of your choice. So who is really losing out??????? Not us the fans.. But the charities this could benifit..Led Zep get your act together and put this on Pay Per View. You can do a lot for this world, like donate hundreds of millions of dollas to charities. 20,000 seats or help world hunger!!!!!!!!!!! And everyone has off Thanksgiving week here in the U.S.A. My point is proven, please comment.

milkydisco

Oct 8, 2007

Last time I checked we were allowed to buy and sell our own property in this country. Harvey Goldsmith wants to make tickets some kind of special good and create an artificial market where he calls the shots. Anyone who has actually looked at ticket prices on ebay knows that they often go for less than face value and are mainly sold by people who can't go to a gig, which is absolutely fair. The people selling Led Zep tickets/codes were limited to 2 per person and can hardly be in business as touts on the back of this concert. You'll notice that Harvey Goldsmith only limits ticket numbers on gigs that will be sure sellouts. It is well known within the industry that real touts who buy blocks of tickets are a form of insurance for promoters which is why they are happily tolerated and are rumoured to have special arrangements with certain ticket agencies. The only people being targeted here are real fans and the odd opportunist who showed the temerity to tread on a powerful promoter's turf.