How Taylor Swift beat Victoria’s ticket scalpers with a nudge to the government

The Victorian government has 14 days to decide on whether to use powers to thwart ticket scalpers for major events like music concerts. But such is the importance of Taylor Swift that a request from her tour organiser was rushed through in just one day.

In June, Victorian Minister for Tourism, Sport and Major Events Steve Dimopoulos declared Taylor Swift’s Melbourne concert dates a “major event”, activating legal restrictions against selling tickets for more than 10% above their original value and limiting sales to official resellers only.

Pre-sale VIP tickets were purchasable the day before and were already listed on resale websites at excessively high markups, according to consumer organisation CHOICE.

Documents obtained through a freedom of information request by Crikey show how the decision was expedited to try and stop scalpers at the last minute after the tour’s organiser, Frontier Touring, only applied for the declaration the day after pre-sale started.

According to the Victorian government’s lobbyist register, Frontier Touring is represented by PR4PR lobbyist Philip John Reed.

A briefing for Dimopoulos includes a recommendation by the department’s deputy secretary dated at 4.59pm on June 26 that calls for the minister to declare Swift’s tour a major event by the next day, “or earlier if possible”.

The briefing says that Frontier Touring only applied for the declaration the day after the concert’s first tickets went on sale, and notes that stopping scalping would be more difficult after tickets were already on sale.

Frontier Touring’s application — which boasted that “media attention is incredible and Taylor’s fan community globally share every moment from every city” — said that demand for Swift’s concert tickets, including the unannounced third show, was expected to exceed supply and would make it a target for scalpers.

“Fans are passionate, young and inexperienced. The environment is ripe for unauthorised ticket scalpers and fraudsters to take advantage,” it said.

Later that day, the minister was briefed by the department with a recommendation for a “more urgent decision” due to the imminent nature of the ticket presales.

“Taylor Swift’s Eras tour is a global phenomenon. It has sold out with unprecedented excess demand everywhere it plays in the world,” the document says.

“It is imperative to have a major event ticketing declaration in place to protect the public from any potential ticket scalping activity and deter ticket scalpers from advertising on secondary platforms.”

The briefing also notes that a campaign to inform the public about the declaration should be undertaken and lists the average cost of these campaigns as $15,000.

By the following day, Dimopoulos had approved the declaration, written to both Frontier Touring and approved ticket reseller Ticketek, and announced the decision publicly.

“Our message to ticket scalpers is clear — don’t sell Taylor Swift tickets at inflated prices, otherwise you will be fined,” Dimopoulos said.

This article was first published by Crikey.