𝐁𝐑𝐈𝐀𝐍 𝐌𝐎𝐋𝐊𝐎 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐅𝐀𝐍𝐅𝐀𝐈𝐑 𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟔

Dear friends, my post today will be dedicated to all of us.
It is for all those who are so looking forward to the upcoming Placebo tour that they are willing to pay any money for the coveted concert.
In 2016, an association of managers and artists from the music industry in the UK merged into an organization called the 💥𝐅𝐚𝐧𝐅𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐀𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞💥.

Photo credits at the end of zhe post

The first mention of this organization dates back to 2012.
But on July 14, 2016, a statement was issued to the British Parliament.
What is the content of this effort of people working in this field of cultural events?

📌 The managers of PJ Harvey, Arctic Monkeys, One Direction and Mumford & Sons today announced the launch of a new anti-touting campaign at a press conference at Somerset House in London.
First mentioned in 2012, the FanFair Alliance – backed by Brian Message of ATC Management/Courtyard Management, Ian McAndrew of Wildlife Entertainment, Harry Magee of Modest Management and Adam Tudhope of Everybody’s Management – is calling on the new British government to take a tougher stand against what Arctic Monkeys manager McAndrew called the “number one grievance among concertgoing fans”.

𝑺𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝑰𝑸 𝒂𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒂𝒖𝒏𝒄𝒉, 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐 𝒐𝒇 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒚 𝒉𝒆’𝒔 𝒔𝒖𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑭𝒂𝒏𝑭𝒂𝒊𝒓:
“We as a band do not want our fans to be ripped off by these enormous multinational corporations who are breaking the law in such a brazen, unethical fashion – taking advantage of genuine music lovers – that for me, personally, it’s scandalous. And that’s why I’m here today.”
Asked if he’d seen Placebo tickets selling for inflated prices on secondary sites, Molko said it “breaks your heart – you know that some people love you so much that they will buy them”, adding that although it’s “the least of my worries”, it also “reflects badly on the artist, and we’re not responsible for it, so we want to make that clear as well.”
Touting is, said Molko, a “complex issue, because venues are involved, box offices, managers… and it’s not going to be solved overnight. But this [FanFair] is the beginning of something exciting. It’s not about us being paid fairly – it’s about the fans getting tickets for a fair price.”
(𝐼𝑄 𝑀𝑎𝑔., 𝐽𝑢𝑙𝑦 2016)

http://fanfairalliance.org/
📌 So do we already know what this is all about?
This is a double resale of tickets at prices higher than the original. The resellers are aware that the fans will do everything to get to the concert of their favorites at any cost. So doubling ticket prices has ceased to appeal to artists and their managers.
And this problem, of course, affects countries other than the United Kingdom.

Photo credit: Mario Baumgartner

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒐 𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒖𝒑 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒄𝒍𝒂𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏:
'𝑰 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒂𝒔 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒂𝒔 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒔𝒄𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒍𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒓': 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒌𝒔 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒕 𝒕𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒔.
𝐴𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑎 𝐴𝑤𝑏𝑖
/.../ Over recent years the band have become increasingly frustrated with rampant online ticket touting, leading Brian to lend his support to the FanFair Alliance, a new initiative to curb the practice.
We grabbed five minutes with him at the FanFair launch to learn more...

As an artist who’s been playing live for over 20 years, how do you feel about the growth in secondary ticketing?
🔊 BM: "I think the brazen profiteering of these corporations is absolutely scandalous. I can only speak for myself and my band – Placebo certainly do not want our fans to be victims of this unethical profiteering. It appears to be institutionalised, the laws against this aren’t enforced and music fans are unaware that they’re being ripped off by fat cats in suits."

Why are you here today?
🔊 BM: "To educate myself, to speak to other artists and try to get them involved in the campaign and to use whatever platform I have to spread the message."

How has this situation affected your band and your tours?
🔊 BM: "It gets to a point where people in difficult economic times can’t afford to go to shows, so this practice impacts both the fans and the artists as well. Not solely on a financial level, but, as an artist, you want your venue to be filled with people having a good time. That’s what you live for. It’s the kind of energy that feeds your soul, it affects us that way.
This situation affects new bands too. If a ticket costs £30 but is offered on a secondary ticketing site for £60 and someone buys it, they won’t have the spare cash to spend £10 on seeing a smaller band. It makes it more difficult for up and coming artists."

Do you feel powerless in all of this?
🔊 BM: "No, not at all. I think it’s just the beginning. I’m passionate about this and I intend to make as many people as possible aware of this scandalous behaviour. Hopefully this is movement that can go global, eventually."
(𝑃𝑅𝑆 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑀𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑐, 𝐽𝑢𝑙𝑦 2016)

. 

Photo credit: Beranger Tillard

What do you say to that, dear soulmates?
I wanted to show you another Brian's face.
In addition to being a great musician and grateful that he can vent his emotions and to feed his family through Placebo creation, he also makes a huge effort to help the weak and needy, raising awareness of depression as a very dangerous disease, just doing everything to make the world a fairer place for all.
You may still remember the post about the Placebo performance at the Coronet Theater in London in 2007. Even then, an angry Brian declared war on ticket dealers.

You can read this post here:
https://bit.ly/3xiNsHN

Post by Marti

All photos are taken from IG @fansplacebo
Photo credit: @katekruczynski, @pierr_ick, @napsterju, @dolfi69
Photo edit by Marti